Business structure: by employment size and turnover

Key points

• In 2024 there were 45,155 active enterprises in the Lancashire-12 area and in the Lancashire-14 area there were 54,510.
• In the Lancashire-12 area 39,835 of the enterprises were of the 'micro' size, employing fewer than 10 persons. This was 88.2% of the total.
• Only 165 enterprises, or 0.4% of the total, were of the 'large' size employing over 250 persons.
• Preston had the most enterprises at 5,685, accounting for 12.6% of the Lancashire-12 and 10.4% of the Lancashire-14 totals.
• At MSOA level 'Preston Town Centre' had most enterprises at 825, followed by 'Elswick, Singleton & Weeton' in Fylde where there were 725.
• At all geographic levels the highest percentage of enterprises had turnovers in the range of £100,000 to £199,000.
• In Lancashire-12 14,580 enterprises had turnovers in the £100k-£199k band (32.3%) and there were 17,645 enterprises in this band in Lancashire-14 (32.4%).
• The number of local units in the Lancashire-12 area rose slightly from 51,980 in 2023 to 52,120 in 2024.

Page updated May 2025