SBA 504 Loan Industry Report: State Production

SBA 504 Loans: 2025 State Production

We are reviewing utilization of the SBA 504 program by state.  It’s clear that the program has areas of the country where Small Businesses benefit greatly from the SBA 504 loan program and areas where it is rarely used.    Below we rank the states by highest utilization as measured by approvals per million people.  

 Biggest “Opportunities” for Growth for SBA 504 loan Industry?

Analyzing the SBA 504 loan approvals by controlling for population illustrates what parts of the country could benefit most from more exposure to the program.

Let’s use the state of Tennessee as an example from the chart below.  In FY 2025 there were 26 SBA 504 approvals in the state of Tennessee.   This is a rate of 3.6 SBA 504 loans per 1 million population.  The national average for the SBA 504 program is 20 SBA 504 loans per 1 million population.   If the state of Tennessee grew to just the national average it would have done 144 approvals in 2025, a growth of 454% or 118 more SBA 504 loans.

The next chart shows the raw data for SBA 504 Loan approvals last year.   Clearly, California is the state that moves the needle in the SBA 504 world.  Its not only the most populous state but has a high utilization of the program.