Doing Business in Blagoevgrad

The Blagoevgrad Economy

According to a 2026 study by the Institute for Market Economics, Blagoevgrad Municipality is the largest economy in south-western Bulgaria. It had 6,562 companies in 2024, over 250 more than before the pandemic, and 27,367 people in work. Construction companies created the most value added, followed by trade, manufacturing and transport.³

Source: Blagoevgrad Municipality: Economic profile of Blagoevgrad by the Institute for Market Economics, 2026³

By company count, trade leads with 1,942 companies in 2024, followed by transport with 904, professional activities with 649, construction with 515, industry with 380 and tourism with 305.³

Employers and Industry

In the Institute for Market Economics study of the Blagoevgrad economic centre, the largest employers were public: the South-Western State Enterprise, with more than 1,500 staff, and the general hospital, with 500. The companies with the highest revenues were in trade, and export revenue reached BGN 1.82 billion in 2021, third in the country per person.⁴

Carlsberg, which has a production base in Blagoevgrad, planned a BGN 23 million building with a line for beer in 0.5 litre cans, with the start expected in the first half of 2023.⁶

Investment

Investment by enterprises in Blagoevgrad Municipality reached €130–145 million a year in 2023 and 2024, and cumulative foreign direct investment was close to €140 million at the end of 2024. Foreign investment in Blagoevgrad Province reached €2,348 per person in 2024.^3,7

Workforce, Universities and Salaries

• More than 8,500 students studied at the city’s two universities, South-West University and the American University in Bulgaria, in 2025.
• 42% of residents of the municipality aged 25–64 have a university degree, and among those aged 25–44 the share is over 50%.
• Trade and construction employed about 4,300 people each in 2024, manufacturing 3,500 and transport 2,900.
• Unemployment in the municipality was 4.2% in 2025, against 8.9% for Blagoevgrad Province, and 79.3% of the province’s residents aged 20–64 were employed.
• The average gross salary in the municipality reached €1,116 a month in 2025, 20% above the provincial average. In Blagoevgrad Province it was €956 a month in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Source: Blagoevgrad Municipality: Economic profile of Blagoevgrad by the Institute for Market Economics, 2026; Institute for Market Economics: Regional Profiles, Blagoevgrad Province; Ministry of Labour and Social Policy: Labour market bulletin, fourth quarter of 2025^3,7,2

Transport and Location

The Blagoevgrad economic centre also takes in Kocherinovo, Simitli and Rila, and draws 1,700 workers a day from them, 1,029 of them from Simitli.⁴

In October 2022, the municipality announced plans for a new industrial zone near the village of Zelen Dol, next to the Struma Motorway, starting with about 650 decares and later expanding to 1,100 decares. 80% of the planned site is municipal property.⁵

Registering a Company in Blagoevgrad

Bulgaria has one national Commercial Register, so a company based in Blagoevgrad can be filed online from anywhere with a qualified electronic signature, or on paper at the Registry Agency’s Blagoevgrad office. After registration, the company deals with the Blagoevgrad office of the National Revenue Agency for tax and VAT, and with Blagoevgrad Municipality for local taxes and fees.^8,9

Source: Registry Agency: Commercial Register contacts; Council of Ministers IISDA: National Revenue Agency offices; Blagoevgrad Municipality: Contacts; Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry: Regional chambers^8,9,10,11

The full steps, documents, fees and timings are in the guide to registering a company in Bulgaria.