A Padua Wealth Data report has revealed which state and capital city has the highest concentration of financial advisers, with one state showing only a double-digit population.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No one in the advice\u00a0will be surprised to hear that the overall number of individuals on the Financial Advice Register (FAR) is now hovering around a historic low of just 15,012 as\u00a0at\u00a02 July.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But where are they\u00a0actually residing?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Melbourne came in as the nation\u2019s advice capital with 3,641 concentrated within\u00a0the city, capturing almost a quarter (24.3 per cent) of the profession, while Victoria overall has 4,284 (28.5 per cent).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sydney\u00a0was a close second\u00a0at 3,320 (22.1 per cent) but the\u00a0report\u00a0explained that, because it was focusing on the metro city region, areas such as the Central Coast, Newcastle and Wollongong\u00a0weren\u2019t\u00a0captured\u00a0by this statistic, excluding\u00a0a \u201cmeaningful share of NSW advisers\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When taking a\u00a0state\u00a0view, NSW came in above Victoria at 4,542 advisers or 30.3 per cent of all financial advisers in Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Regardless of if you focus on states of cities, though, the pair continue to dominate the Australian advice industry, capturing\u00a046.4 per cent across the two major cities and 58.8 per cent on a state level.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Looking outside the two major cities, Brisbane and Perth were also relatively close with 1,684\u00a0and 1,411 advisers, respectively, and Adelaide rounded out the top five with\u00a0just 928.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Adviser population by capital city metro regions\u00a0<\/p>\n
City\u00a0
\nNumber of advisers\u00a0
\nPer cent of profession\u00a0<\/p>\n
Melbourne\u00a0
\n3,641\u00a0
\n24.3\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sydney\u00a0
\n3,320\u00a0
\n22.1\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brisbane\u00a0
\n1,684\u00a0
\n11.2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Perth\u00a0
\n1,411\u00a0
\n9.4\u00a0<\/p>\n
Adelaide\u00a0
\n928\u00a0
\n6.2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Source: Padua Wealth Data, July 2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
The overall population by state followed a similar pattern with Queensland in third at 3,093 advisers, Western Australia at 1,531 and South Australia\u00a0just above four digits at 1,010.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As for the three remaining states, the ACT and Tasmania both had less than 2 per cent of advisers with a total of just 260 and 243, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By far the smallest advice population, according to the report, can be found in the Northern Territory where there are just 28.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The report subsequently identified a significant disparity between the number of advisers operating in the Northern Territory and the state\u2019s total population \u2013 267,000 \u2013 with a ratio of just 0.19, which it said could be partly a result of small and far spread of residents in the region.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Advisers by state\u00a0<\/p>\n
State\u00a0
\nNumber of advisers\u00a0
\nPer cent of profession\u00a0<\/p>\n
NSW\u00a0
\n4,542\u00a0
\n30.3\u00a0<\/p>\n
Victoria\u00a0
\n4,284\u00a0
\n28.5\u00a0<\/p>\n
Queensland\u00a0
\n3,093\u00a0
\n20.6\u00a0<\/p>\n
Western Australia\u00a0
\n1,531\u00a0
\n10.2\u00a0<\/p>\n
South Australia\u00a0
\n1,010\u00a0
\n6.7\u00a0<\/p>\n
ACT\u00a0
\n260\u00a0
\n1.7\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tasmania\u00a0
\n243\u00a0
\n1.6\u00a0<\/p>\n
Northern Territory\u00a0
\n28\u00a0
\n0.2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Source: Padua Wealth Data, July 2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
While the results are\u00a0largely unsurprising, the report noted that, no matter which\u00a0state\u00a0you look at, there is a clear concentration within capital cities\u00a0which signal a greater accessibility gap for regional areas that are often disproportionally older\u00a0and most in need.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the smaller states, advice is\u00a0almost entirely\u00a0a capital-city function, with\u00a0very little\u00a0presence beyond the metropolitan core. This matters because it compounds the capacity ceiling.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRegional and rural Australia skews older than the metros, and the 60-plus cohort is precisely where advice need is most acute. The Australians with the highest\u00a0needs\u00a0are therefore disproportionately\u00a0located\u00a0where adviser coverage is thinnest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis access problem can only be addressed by changing how advice reaches the Australians who do not live near a capital city, which points once again toward scalable, technology-supported delivery.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n