Trade sector · August 2026
Density low, the market is shrinking — check the causes before you invest. Density, 16-month trend and market movement for every federal state and 23 Vienna districts — recomputed monthly.
Active locations in Vienna
Shortest path to a decision: the three districts with the lowest number of Massage businesses per 10,000 inhabitants — on paper the largest market gaps in Vienna (for population ≥ 20,000).
Note: low density is a signal, not a guarantee. Combine it with the market movement above and the OSM visibility below before you commit.
The stock is shrinking slightly since May 2025 (-2.1 % post method change). For founders the direction is a signal, but not the whole picture — low per-capita density can still spell opportunity if the remaining businesses are overloaded.
Method change May 2025. Before May 2025 the figures come from the annual report (reference-date based), from May 2025 on from the monthly OgdAufrechteGewerbeberechtigung snapshots. The two sources count slightly differently — hence the visible break between April and May 2025. For the churn indicator we use only the clean May-2025-plus window, so the calculation is not distorted by the method jump.
Seasonal fluctuations. Smaller month-to-month movements are normal — trade licences are issued in bursts (month turns, quarter ends) and deregistered (often at year ends). A single month at +5 or −3 is not a trend break.
What a line does not show. The stock is a stock, not a flow. 500 active trade licences at a steady monthly stock can mean: (a) 500 dormant businesses with no movement, or (b) 480 stable plus 20 deregistering this month and 20 newly registering. The churn indicator measures exactly that difference — the curve does not show it.
Why we don't go back further. The GISA dataset only exists in structured form from 2018, before that only as non-anonymised internal data. Annual reports from 2019 could theoretically be integrated — that is a planned expansion. Currently: monthly snapshots since March 2025.
Context
Commercial massage is a regulated trade under GewO 1994 § 94. The certificate of competence covers 750 teaching units of training plus at least 6 months of relevant practical experience. The training is offered by WIFI, BFI and private masseur academies, among others. The distinction from Heilmassage (a medical-technical profession under the MTD-Gesetz) is essential — Heilmassage for physical complaints is reserved for masseurs who hold the medical-technical services qualification.
In Vienna, around 1,800 trade licences are active, and over 11,700 across Austria. The market has grown noticeably since the pandemic — wellness and preventive massage are more in demand. The OSM map shows a high concentration of mobile and fixed studios, particularly in districts with high population density (Favoriten, Simmering, Ottakring).
Massage is seasonal: autumn and winter see the highest booking numbers (muscle tension, cold-related muscle aches, preventive care before Christmas). The summer months are typically weaker, except in tourism regions. Anyone who registers in spring has time to build up a client base for the winter peak season.
Advertising with 'therapeutic effect', 'healing' or 'treatment of pain' is prohibited for masseurs, even when the techniques are identical. Only MTD-Heilmasseurs (with separate training) may provide medically indicated massages. A carelessly worded Instagram post can lead to a complaint before the chamber.
Massage rooms are subject to the hygiene ordinance for relevant services: hand disinfection, fresh towels per client, disinfectable surfaces, and separate sanitary facilities when treating genital or anal areas. Spot checks by the Bezirkshauptmannschaft are common.
Mobile masseurs who work mainly in another provider's studio risk being classified as bogus self-employed. This particularly affects hotel and spa masseurs — here the form of employment should be cleanly clarified in advance (contract for work vs. free service contract vs. employment).
Regulated trade under GewO 1994 § 94 + Masseur-Ausbildungsverordnung. Gewerbeschlüssel 4801. Distinction from Heilmassage: MTD-Gesetz.
Insider analysis · Vienna
The typical active business in Vienna is 10 years old (median). 14 % are younger than 3 years, 20 % older than 20 years. Dominant legal form: 95.1 % sole proprietors.
Distribution of age in years across all 1,762 active locations. Median 10 years · P10–P90 2–24 years.
Bars = number of businesses per age-year bucket. Highlighted bar = median age. Small buckets under 5 businesses are suppressed as "·" (GDPR minimum cell size against re-identification).
When were the currently active businesses founded?
Solo (natural person) vs. registered company (GmbH, OG, KG, AG).
The higher the Gini index, the more the sector concentrates in a few postal-code areas. 0 = evenly distributed, 1 = everything in a single postal-code area. Vienna has 23 districts, which split into several postal-code areas.
Complementary signal
Our data shows how many businesses exist. Google Trends adds how often people search for “Massage” — the demand side. Together you see whether a market is constrained by supply or by demand.
Google Trends is a free third-party tool. We store nothing and pass no data on — the link opens directly on trends.google.com in a new tab.
Each dot is a trade sector. Left = lower density per 10,000 residents, top = more movement (registrations and deregistrations over the last 15 months).
Density per 10,000 inhabitants plus market dynamics over the last 15 months. Sorted by density, descending.
| Federal state | Locations | per 10k | Density | Market dynamics | net 11 mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oberösterreich → | 2,756 | 17.9 | Very tight | Active market | +1.3 % |
| Salzburg → | 997 | 17.4 | Very tight | Active market | +1.0 % |
| Burgenland → | 449 | 14.9 | Getting tight | Active market | -0.9 % |
| Niederösterreich → | 2,417 | 14.0 | Getting tight | Active market | +0.6 % |
| Kärnten → | 738 | 12.9 | Some room | Growing, volatile | +4.1 % |
| Steiermark → | 1,521 | 12.0 | Some room | Growing, volatile | +2.0 % |
| Tirol → | 852 | 10.9 | Room to grow | Active market | +1.7 % |
| Wien(here) | 1,762 | 8.6 | Room to grow | Shrinking, volatile | -2.1 % |
| Vorarlberg → | 298 | 7.2 | Room to grow | Growing, volatile | +2.8 % |
Sorted by Massage density per 10,000 inhabitants, descending. “Licensed” = GISA trade licences, “OSM” = shop addresses visible in OpenStreetMap, “since May 25” = district net delta post method break (clean signal, without the May-2025 jump).
| Postcode | District | Lic. | OSM | Inh. | per 10k | Density | since May 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1010 | Innere Stadt | 85 | 1 | 15,879 | 53.5 | Very tight | falling -6.6 % |
| 1080 | Josefstadt | 70 | 3 | 24,232 | 28.9 | Very tight | rising +9.4 % |
| 1070 | Neubau | 88 | 7 | 31,394 | 28.0 | Very tight | falling -2.2 % |
| 1060 | Mariahilf | 83 | 1 | 31,070 | 26.7 | Very tight | rising +2.5 % |
| 1040 | Wieden | 67 | 4 | 33,450 | 20.0 | Very tight | rising +3.1 % |
| 1090 | Alsergrund | 74 | 7 | 41,782 | 17.7 | Getting tight | falling -3.9 % |
| 1130 | Hietzing | 84 | 4 | 56,496 | 14.9 | Getting tight | falling -5.6 % |
| 1180 | Währing | 75 | 2 | 51,177 | 14.7 | Getting tight | falling -2.6 % |
| 1030 | Landstraße | 121 | 6 | 99,954 | 12.1 | Getting tight | rising +2.5 % |
| 1140 | Penzing | 103 | 6 | 99,469 | 10.3 | Getting tight | falling -1.9 % |
| 1190 | Döbling | 72 | 1 | 76,203 | 9.4 | Getting tight | rising +1.4 % |
| 1020 | Leopoldstadt | 104 | 6 | 114,122 | 9.1 | Some room | rising +3.0 % |
| 1170 | Hernals | 51 | 2 | 56,652 | 9.0 | Some room | falling -7.3 % |
| 1050 | Margareten | 47 | 2 | 54,060 | 8.7 | Some room | falling -9.6 % |
| 1150 | Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus | 56 | 1 | 75,384 | 7.4 | Some room | falling -9.7 % |
| 1160 | Ottakring | 74 | 1 | 101,599 | 7.3 | Some room | falling -6.3 % |
| 1230 | Liesing | 86 | 2 | 124,846 | 6.9 | Some room | falling -2.3 % |
| 1120 | Meidling | 66 | 2 | 102,344 | 6.5 | Room to grow | rising +3.1 % |
| 1220 | Donaustadt | 138 | 8 | 235,361 | 5.9 | Room to grow | falling -0.7 % |
| 1210 | Floridsdorf | 93 | 4 | 191,527 | 4.9 | Room to grow | falling -6.1 % |
| 1100 | Favoriten | 73 | 0 | 225,013 | 3.2 | Room to grow | falling -7.6 % |
| 1200 | Brigittenau | 27 | 0 | 86,686 | 3.1 | Room to grow | rising +3.8 % |
| 1110 | Simmering | 25 | 0 | 112,214 | 2.2 | Room to grow | falling -7.4 % |
Lic. vs. OSM: GISA also counts mobile or home-based businesses without a shop; OSM shows only those with a visible address. Vienna total: 1,762 licensed vs. ~159 in OSM (70 with postcode, 89 without).
Quick answers to the typical questions about Massage in Austria.
Free · no account
Everything on this page — density, trend, market movement, demographics, districts — is calculated from open data and stays freely accessible. No account, no paywall, no tracking. The figures are recomputed every month from the GISA snapshot; the method is written down, and so are its limits.