A headline like, “Regional and rural small businesses outperform metropolitan-based businesses,” is sure to get my attention. This one is from Australia, and mirrors U.S. trends.
In Australia:
![]() |
Business looks good at the Exchange Hotel, in Grenfell, Australia (population 1900). Photo (CC) by Pip Wilson. |
- All small business monthly growth for October 2011 was 2.8%, while regional and rural small businesses grew at 4.7%.
- The year to date growth for all business was 1.9%, compared to rural small business at 2.7%.
So, rural small business in Australia is doing very well, based on data from ANZ Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. They issue monthly sales trends reports on small business, based on transactions processed through their merchant systems.
If you’d like more detail, you can read the press release or download the PDF version with graphs from Noodls: Small Business sales trends grow in October.
How is rural small business doing in your country?
New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.
- 3 Major factors in rural remote work: incentives, flexible workspaces, and a sense of community - June 6, 2022
- How to recruit new residents, remote workers, or remote entrepreneurs - June 2, 2022
- How cooperatives improve small town economies - May 8, 2022
- Metaverse business idea: virtual world tour guide - April 15, 2022
- Make extra money from extra workspace: co-working and 3rd workplaces in small towns - March 28, 2022
- Trade show booth design trend: hand drawn visuals - March 21, 2022
- New business sign design? Don’t use cursive script - February 14, 2022
- Way more people prefer rural than urban, new Pew Research study finds - February 1, 2022
- Top 5 Rural and small town trends 2022 - January 3, 2022
- How to start a real small small business - December 17, 2021