Open data · Medellín

Medellín Business Opportunity Map

Where each type of business is located, neighborhood by neighborhood, how much supply each area has per resident, and how it grew from 2020 to 2024. Built from 187,020 active businesses in the City of Medellín tax registry.

Industry

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Urban districts (comunas) 1 to 16. Tap or hover over a neighborhood to see details. Supply per resident: Businesses within reach (1.5 km) per 10,000 residents, using the two-step floating catchment area method (2SFCA).

What the data shows

Health and dental. Formal health supply grew 60% in five years (from 1,906 to 3,041 businesses). El Poblado has 108 per 10,000 residents, eight times the urban average (13.6), and has doubled since 2019. Belén, the most populous district (216,000 residents), sits right at the average, and its stratum 3–4 hillside neighborhoods, such as La Loma de Los Bernal, La Mota, and La Gloria, are among the least served middle-income areas.

3,096 active businesses in urban districts · +59.5% in five years · 13.6 per 10k residents

Where demand outpaces supply

Neighborhoods with an average socioeconomic stratum of 3 or higher and at least 8,000 residents that have the least supply within reach (1.5 km) per resident. The index compares each one with the average of stratum 3+ neighborhoods: 0.30 means 30% of that supply.

Neighborhood	District	Residents	Avg. stratum	Index
Tejelo	Castilla	12,185	3	0.05
Altamira	Robledo	11,576	3	0.13
La Loma de Los Bernal	Belén	18,466	4.1	0.28
La Mota	Belén	11,080	3.4	0.31
La Gloria	Belén	12,988	3.7	0.38

Neighborhood	District	Residents	Avg. stratum	Index
Tejelo	Castilla	12,185	3	0.18
San Lucas	El Poblado	9,423	5	0.23
Altamira	Robledo	11,576	3	0.32
La Loma de Los Bernal	Belén	18,466	4.1	0.36
Calasanz Parte Alta	La América	12,131	3.4	0.43

Neighborhood	District	Residents	Avg. stratum	Index
Tejelo	Castilla	12,185	3	0.02
Altamira	Robledo	11,576	3	0.09
La Loma de Los Bernal	Belén	18,466	4.1	0.21
Calasanz Parte Alta	La América	12,131	3.4	0.24
San Germán	Robledo	9,253	3.2	0.28

Neighborhood	District	Residents	Avg. stratum	Index
Altamira	Robledo	11,576	3	0.27
Tejelo	Castilla	12,185	3	0.29
San Lucas	El Poblado	9,423	5	0.31
Los Balsos No.1	El Poblado	10,980	5.4	0.53
La Mota	Belén	11,080	3.4	0.57

Neighborhood	District	Residents	Avg. stratum	Index
Tejelo	Castilla	12,185	3	0.15
Altamira	Robledo	11,576	3	0.28
San Miguel	Villa Hermosa	10,181	3.1	0.51
La Castellana	Laureles Estadio	12,716	5	0.52
Boston	La Candelaria	15,183	3.7	0.54

This is a list to investigate, not a recommendation to open: a neighborhood may have little supply because it is residential or because of zoning rules.

Ranking by district

District	Active	% of city	Population 2025	Per 10k residents	Growth 2020–2024	Quality of life 2024

Change in active businesses between the end of 2019 and the end of 2024. Multidimensional Living Conditions Index (0 to 100), City of Medellín.

What is this map for?

Before opening a location, investing in ads, or deciding where to expand, every business in Medellín asks the same question: where are my customers, and where is my competition? This map answers the second part with official data, neighborhood by neighborhood.

Business activity in the city is highly concentrated: La Candelaria, El Poblado, and Laureles hold 53% of active businesses in the urban districts on less than 30% of the land. For a business, that means more competition and pricier ads in those areas, and less contested opportunities elsewhere.

How to use it

Opening or relocating a business: compare neighborhoods by number of competitors and growth before signing a lease.
Planning Google Ads and Meta Ads campaigns in Medellín: decide which neighborhoods and radiuses to focus spend on, and which saturated areas to exclude.
Market research and business plans: use official, citable figures on each industry by district.
Commercial real estate investment: spot corridors where more businesses open than close, such as Castilla, Aranjuez, or Belén, depending on the industry.
Agencies and consultants: start from a location-based diagnosis before proposing a local marketing strategy.

What it means for advertisers

Concentration means pricier auctions. Where many competitors cluster, local clicks cost more. A 2 km radius in El Poblado is not the same as one in Belén.
Net growth signals new demand. Districts where more businesses open than close tend to have underserved customers and fewer advertisers.
The map builds hypotheses, it does not predict CPL. The next step is to test the targeting with a small campaign and measure real cost per lead.

Want to know where to advertise your business?

I combine this map with your campaigns, your Business Profile, and your sales data to show you where to invest first.

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Frequently asked questions

Where does the data come from?

From the City of Medellín industry and commerce tax registry (RIT), published as open data on GeoMedellín. Each business has coordinates and an economic activity code (ISIC/CIIU).

How many businesses are there in Medellín?

The registry lists 187,020 active businesses within Medellín, including rural districts. It only counts formal businesses registered for the local business tax.

What is the best neighborhood to open a business in Medellín?

It depends on the industry and the customer. The map shows where competition is highest and where each industry grew from 2020 to 2024 and which neighborhoods have little supply per resident; combined with audience data and a test campaign, it helps you choose with less risk.

How often is it updated?

The published data runs through 2025-03-28. I update the map when the City publishes a new version of the registry.

Can I use this data?

Yes. The City data is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0: you can use it as long as you credit the City of Medellín and GeoMedellín as the source.

Does the map tell me my cost per customer?

No. The map shows where supply is, not cost per lead. It helps you form targeting hypotheses that you then validate with a real campaign.

Methodology

Main source: industry and commerce establishments in the Tax Information Registry (RIT), published by the Finance Department on GeoMedellín under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Records up to 2025-03-28.
District and neighborhood are assigned from coordinates, matching each point to the official POT boundaries instead of the registry text field.
Active = no cancellation date. Excludes 1,373 records outside Medellín and 4,559 without available dates (about 1%).
Industries by ISIC (CIIU) code: health (8610, 8621, 8622, 8691, 8692, 8699), restaurants (5611–5619), real estate (6810, 6820), beauty (9602), gyms (9311, 9312, 9319).
Limitations: formal, tax-registered businesses only. 2024 openings may be undercounted due to registration lag. Many gyms register under other codes, so that industry is indicative.
Population: 2025 projections by neighborhood and district from DANE and the City of Medellín (2018 Census base). Average stratum: mean socioeconomic stratum of the blocks in each neighborhood.
Supply per resident: two-step floating catchment area method (2SFCA) with a 1.5 km radius. Each business splits its capacity across the population within 1.5 km, and each neighborhood adds up what is within its reach, so a residential area next to a commercial zone does not show up as underserved.
Growth 2020–2024: active businesses at the end of 2019 versus the end of 2024. Population counts residents only, not workers or tourists, which inflates supply per resident downtown.