Only 19.5% of Australian trade businesses publish a checkable ABN

Short answer

19.5% of 66,104 Australian trade businesses publish an ABN that can be confirmed against the national register. It varies by trade from 25.1% of electricians to 5.7% of car washes.

An ABN is free to obtain, free to publish and free for anyone to check. It is the single easiest identity check available to someone hiring a tradesperson. Across 66,104 Australian trade businesses, 19.5% publish one anywhere a customer can find it.

That is not evidence of anything improper. Most sole traders simply never put it on their website. It does mean that for the other five businesses in six, the check is unavailable — and people assume it is available.

By trade

TradeBusinessesPublish a confirmable ABN
Electricians3,99625.1%
Plumbers3,55325.1%
Mechanics19,89824.2%
Roofers1,36924.2%
Heating & Cooling2,13822.7%
Tilers62122.1%
Locksmiths1,00321.5%
Garage Door Specialists58420.9%
Arborists91819.2%
Solar Installers1,51618.3%
Builders9,04918.2%
Pool Services1,44417.9%
Pest Controllers1,39617.8%
Driving Schools1,54117.2%
Painters1,27717%
Fencing Contractors1,00716.7%
Gardeners & Landscapers2,25915.8%
Car Detailers1,25114.3%
Cleaners3,84312.7%
Pet Groomers2,17110.6%
Removalists1,2349.9%
Photographers2,4636.7%
Car Washes1,5735.7%

The gap between electricians at 25.1% and car washes at 5.7% is more than twofold, between trades doing similar work for similar customers at similar prices. We do not have a confident explanation for it.

By state

StateBusinessesPublish a confirmable ABN
NSW20,17421.5%
VIC16,58817%
QLD14,91221.7%
WA7,10617.8%
SA4,33816.9%
TAS1,19715.3%
ACT1,05216.3%
NT68120.9%

Method

Every business in the directory is checked the same way: where an ABN is published on the business's own website, it is confirmed against the national register. A business with no published ABN is recorded as not checked, never as failed — those are different facts. Measured 2026-09-22 across 565,935 scanned records.

Common questions

What percentage of Australian tradies have an ABN?
19.5% of the 66,104 Australian trade businesses measured publish an ABN that can be confirmed against the national register. Many more will hold one without publishing it.
Which trade is most likely to publish an ABN?
Electricians, at 25.1%. The lowest is Car Washes at 5.7%.

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