A new study finds significant regional differences in business financing practices, with businesses in some southern states borrowing larger amounts from the Small Business Administration.
Businesses in Georgia take out the biggest Small Business Administration loans — $795,216 on average, according Florida-based law firm Fleysher Law Bankruptcy & Debt Attorneys, which analyzed SBA loan records from 2021 to in 2024.
“This data shows clear differences in how businesses across the country access financing,” a spokesperson from Fleysher Law said in a news release. “But it’s important to consider that though large loans mean that the company needs money, it doesn’t automatically signal financial trouble. In fact, many businesses borrow money for working capital, this gives them the ability to do things such as purchase equipment and develop products.”
Fleyscher Law provided a list of the top 10 states ranked by highest average business debt, including the state’s rank, average loan value, number of loans, and total SBA loan value:
Fleysher Law noted that in Georgia, the state with the highest average business loans, companies typically borrowed almost $800,000 each in 8,099 loan approvals, collectively piling up more than $6.4 billion in debt.
In second-ranked Texas, businesses maintained average loans of $770,887 per company. The 18,920 loan approvals totaled $14.5 billion, “showing the massive appetite for cash among businesses working across this diverse economy with its booming energy, tech and manufacturing sectors all demanding heavy investment,” according to the release.
In keeping with its status as America’s economic powerhouse, California tallied the highest total loan amount, $24.2 billion. California also led in total number of approvals, 31,610, while the average loan amount for California businesses was $765,968.
Alaska had the second-lowest approval count — just 522 loans, but companies borrowed an average of $725,285 each, notching the state fourth-place status in the list. Alaskan businesses secured $378.5 million in combined funding, “suggesting those firms that do borrow are shouldering massive commitments compared to the state’s tiny population,” a spokesperson said in the release.
The Fleysher Law study examined three main types of loans, 7(a), 504, and Micro loans.
“In the most basic form, the 7(a) is for flexible needs, the 504 is for things like buying real estate, buildings or large equipment and the SBA Microloan is for new or smaller businesses needing smaller amounts of money (up to $50,000),” the spokesperson said. “These three loan types gave a great coverage of different business needs in each state.”
Data on SBA loan programs and loans is publicly available from several sources..
Accessing SBA Loan Recipient Data
Data on SBA loan recipients is available through several resources:
SBA’s Official PPP Data Portal provides data on PPP loans, including downloadable datasets.
ProPublica’s PPP Loan Search Tool is an interactive database that allows searches by business name, ZIP code, or lender.
Hello Skip’s PPP and EIDL Lookup Tools provides search functionalities for both PPP and EIDL loan recipients.
These tools can help you locate information on a particular business or geographic area.
