Thailand Has Zero Small But High-Revenue Provinces (2026)
In short
Zero. Not one of Thailand's 77 provinces combines a small company count with above-average revenue per company, as of 17 July 2026. Seven provinces beat the national average of 40.3 million baht in revenue per company, led by Rayong at 96.7 million baht. Every one of those seven ranks above the median company count of 6,728, and even the smallest of the seven, Prachin Buri, still sits 9 places above the median rank. The closest any small province comes is Chumphon, with 5,350 companies and 28.7 million baht per company, just 71 percent of the national average.
Is there a small but quietly wealthy Thai province?
No. Cross tabulating every province's company count against its revenue per company turns up zero provinces with a small roster of companies and an above-average payout per company, based on the DBD registry as of 17 July 2026 (DBD, 2026). Seven provinces beat the national average of 40.3 million baht in revenue per company: Rayong, Prachin Buri, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Bangkok, Chachoengsao, Samut Prakan and Samut Sakhon. Every single one of those seven also ranks above the median company count of 6,728, which sits at the 39th spot out of 77 provinces including Bangkok. The smallest company count among the seven belongs to Prachin Buri, with 8,073 registered companies, and even that ranks 48th out of 77, a full 9 places clear of the median. High revenue per company and a large roster of companies move together in this country. A small, quietly wealthy province simply does not exist in the current registry.
Company count rank of the 7 above-average provinces
- Prachin Buri48
- Chachoengsao57
- Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya63
- Samut Sakhon67
- Rayong68
- Samut Prakan74
- Bangkok77
Figures in company count rank out of 77, 1 equals fewest companies.
The median rank is 39. Every one of the seven richest-per-company provinces clears it, and the lowest of the seven still clears it by 9 places.
The 7 provinces above the national revenue-per-company average
| Province | Companies | Revenue per company, baht | Company count rank of 77 | Ranks above the median (39) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prachin Buri | 8,073 | 80,793,495 | 48 | 9 |
| Chachoengsao | 13,799 | 61,492,357 | 57 | 18 |
| Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya | 20,425 | 73,143,255 | 63 | 24 |
| Samut Sakhon | 31,030 | 43,218,166 | 67 | 28 |
| Rayong | 33,083 | 96,740,533 | 68 | 29 |
| Samut Prakan | 97,609 | 49,396,528 | 74 | 35 |
| Bangkok | 812,799 | 62,186,398 | 77 | 38 |
Ranked by company count, smallest first, among 77 provinces, as of 17 Jul 2026.
Why this matters for anyone reading a province as a market
A popular investor instinct treats a small company count as a sign of an underserved, quietly profitable market waiting to be found. This data says that instinct is wrong at the province level in Thailand. Provinces with fewer than the median 6,728 companies average just 13.6 million baht of revenue per company, while provinces at or above that median average 25.6 million baht, almost double. Chumphon comes closest to breaking the pattern, with only 5,350 companies yet 28.7 million baht per company, 71 percent of the national average, and it still falls short. The seven provinces that do clear the national average, Rayong, Prachin Buri, Chachoengsao and Ayutthaya among them, host deep water ports, petrochemical complexes and industrial estates tied to the Eastern Economic Corridor and the Bangkok metropolitan supply chain, the kind of capital-heavy infrastructure that concentrates both companies and revenue in the same place rather than trading one for the other. For site selection, credit models or regional investment theses, a low company count in a Thai province is a signal of a genuinely thin market, not a hidden concentration of wealth. Scale and revenue efficiency travel together here, not apart.
Definitions
- Revenue per company
- Total reported revenue for a province divided by its registered company count, a measure of average company size in revenue terms.
- Median company count
- The company count of the province that sits exactly in the middle when all 77 provinces are ranked from fewest to most companies.
- Company count rank
- A province's position when all 77 provinces are sorted from fewest to most registered companies, with rank 1 being the fewest.
- National average revenue per company
- Total reported revenue for all of Thailand divided by the total count of registered companies nationwide, used as the cutoff line each province is measured against.
Assumptions
- A company's province is its registered address, which can differ from where it actually operates.
- Revenue per company uses total registered companies as the denominator, including companies that have not filed a financial statement, so it reflects registration scale rather than only reporting companies.
- Two provinces worth of rows with no province code on file were excluded from the province ranking, though their companies remain in the national totals used for the average.
Methodology
For each of Thailand's 76 provinces plus Bangkok, entity_count and total_revenue were pulled from the DBD registry aggregate table as of 17 July 2026. Revenue per company is total reported revenue divided by entity_count for each province, matching the method used for the national average, which divides total national reported revenue of 80,146,498,562,463.62 baht by all 1,989,709 registered companies. Provinces were then ranked twice, once by revenue per company against the national average and once by entity_count against the median entity_count of all 77 provinces, and the two rankings were cross tabulated to test whether any province appears in both the small-count half and the above-average-revenue half. Two rows with no province code on file were excluded from the province-level ranking. All figures are aggregate company statistics from filed and registered records, not survey estimates.
How we verified this
- National average revenue per company recomputed as 80,146,498,562,463.62 baht divided by 1,989,709 companies equals 40,280,513 baht, the cutoff used for the seven above-average provinces.
- Median company count recomputed by sorting entity_count for 77 provinces, 76 plus Bangkok with two unclassified rows excluded, ascending: the 39th value is 6,728, tied between Phetchaburi and Chaiyaphum, so 37 provinces sit below it and 40 sit at or above it.
- Each of the seven provinces with revenue per company above 40,280,513 baht was checked against its own company count rank: Prachin Buri ranks 48th, Chachoengsao 57th, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya 63rd, Samut Sakhon 67th, Rayong 68th, Samut Prakan 74th and Bangkok 77th, all above the median rank of 39, so 48 minus 39 equals 9 places clear at the tightest case, confirming zero provinces qualify as small but rich.
- Chumphon's revenue per company recomputed as 153,527,454,323.69 baht divided by 5,350 companies equals 28,696,720 baht, and 28,696,720 divided by 40,280,513 equals 71.2 percent of the national average, the closest any below-median-count province comes to qualifying.
- Group averages recomputed as the simple mean of each province's own revenue per company: 13,561,051 baht across the 37 below-median-count provinces against 25,556,620 baht across the 40 at-or-above-median-count provinces, a ratio of 1.88.
References
- Department of Business Development. (2026). Registered juristic persons and financial statement aggregates by province. Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. https://www.dbd.go.th/
- ASEAN Briefing. (2024). Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor: what you need to know. https://www.aseanbriefing.com/news/thailand-eastern-economic-corridor/
Frequently asked questions
Is there a Thai province with few companies but high revenue per company?
No. None of Thailand's 77 provinces combine a company count below the median of 6,728 with revenue per company above the national average of 40.3 million baht, as of 17 July 2026.
Which province comes closest to being small but rich?
Chumphon, with 5,350 registered companies, below the median, and 28.7 million baht of revenue per company, about 71 percent of the national average, the highest ratio of any below-median-count province.
Which of the seven above-average provinces has the fewest companies?
Prachin Buri, with 8,073 companies. It still ranks 48th of 77 by company count, 9 places above the median rank of 39.
Why do a large company count and high revenue per company go together in Thailand?
The provinces that clear the national revenue-per-company average host industrial estates, ports and petrochemical complexes tied to the Eastern Economic Corridor or the Bangkok metropolitan supply chain, infrastructure that draws in both more companies and more revenue at once rather than concentrating revenue among a small set of firms.
Cite this page
Chatpong L. (2026). Thailand Has Zero Small But High-Revenue Provinces (2026). Max Data Insights. https://maxdatathailand.com/insights/thailands-missing-small-but-rich-provinces-2026
Data & corrections
Download the data (CSV)Spot something off, or want to ask about the data? Email insights@maxsolutions.co.th. We publish corrections.
Written by
Chatpong L.Founder, Max Data, Max Solutions Co., Ltd.
Chatpong L. leads Max Data, a company-intelligence platform built on Thailand's official business registry. He writes about the structure of the Thai economy using primary registry data. His work covers company formation, industry concentration, and regional business activity.
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This page reports company-level and aggregate statistics only. It names no individuals and makes no claims about any person. Figures are provided for information and may be revised as source data updates.