SBA Loan Statistics: What Public Data Does and Does Not Show

This report collects public figures on small business lending that people often look for when they search for SBA loan statistics. Every number is quoted from a named public source: the Federal Reserve Banks, the FDIC and the SBA Office of Advocacy. The last section states what those sources do not measure.

How many small businesses are there, and how much work do they do? #

The SBA Office of Advocacy reports 36.2 million small businesses in the U.S. They account for almost 46 percent of private sector employment. From March 2023 to March 2024, small businesses created approximately 9 out of every 10 net new jobs. They opened 1.1 million new establishments and created a net increase of 1.2 million new jobs.

What share of small employers applied for financing, and what happened? #

In the Federal Reserve's 2025 survey, 60% of employer firms applied for financing in the prior 12 months. A narrower 38% applied for a loan, line of credit, or merchant cash advance, nearly unchanged from the 2024 survey. Among applicants, 42% received the full amount sought, 36% received some or most, and 22% received none. The survey groups loans, lines of credit and cash advances together. It does not report SBA-guaranteed loans as a separate category.

Where do applicants go, and how do costs compare with expectations? #

Applicants most often sought financing at large banks, followed by online lenders and small banks. The share that applied at online fintech lenders rose from 17% in the 2020 survey to 29% in the 2025 survey. Sixty percent of online-lender borrowers said actual borrowing costs were higher than expected, and 4% said lower. Among borrowers at small banks the higher-than-expected share was 37%, and at large banks 32%.

For a business that qualifies and can wait through underwriting, a bank loan, SBA-guaranteed loan or bank line of credit is the better choice on this cost evidence. These sources do not measure why applicants choose non-bank lenders.

How fast do banks approve small business loans? #

The FDIC's survey of banks, conducted in 2022, found that three-in-ten banks can approve a small and simple loan within one business day, including more than half of large banks. The FDIC also reports that very few banks allow a small business loan application to be completed entirely online. For start-ups, large banks more often rely on government guarantees, such as those provided by the SBA, while small banks more often use soft information from meeting applicants.

How do small firms use debt and their owners' own money? #

In the 2025 survey, 31% of employer firms had no outstanding debt, up from 21% in the 2020 survey. Of firms with debt, 59% used a personal guarantee to secure it and 51% used business assets. Eighty-six percent of firms use financing on a regular basis, most commonly credit cards and loans. In the Federal Reserve's nonemployer chartbook, about half of nonemployer firms had no debt. Nonemployer firms were more likely than employer firms to rely on owners' personal funds to address financial challenges (64% and 54%, respectively).

What this report does not measure #

None of these sources reports SBA loan counts, dollar volume, lender rankings, loan performance or default rates, or any SBA figure for 2020. The SBA Office of Advocacy source counts businesses, not loans. The Federal Reserve survey covers merchant cash advances only inside a combined loan, line of credit and cash advance category. No source here reports merchant cash advance default rates, factor rates or market size. Searchers who need SBA loan data should use the SBA's own published loan reports.

@techreport{northcotelendingresearch2026sbaloanstatisticswhatpub,
  title        = {SBA Loan Statistics: What Public Data Does and Does Not Show},
  author       = {{Northcote Lending Research}},
  institution  = {Northcote Lending Research},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {nov},
  url          = {https://northcotelendingresearch.com/reports/sba-loan-statistics-what-public-data-does-and-does-not-show},
  note         = {Covers Releases 2024–2026}
}