2026-H2 edition · Recurring index
SBA Lending Index: What 2,125,909 Loan Level SBA Approvals Show About Pricing, Size and Structure
A dated, recurring index built directly on 2,125,909 individual SBA 7(a) and 504 approval records covering fiscal years 1992 through 2025. Every figure below is computed from the loan level file, not from a summary report. Sample sizes and exclusions are stated on every table.
By Edward Freeman, PeerSense Capital Advisory. PeerSense is an independent capital advisory. It sources capital through a curated network of commercial lenders and capital sources.
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration 7(a) and 504 loan approval data (public release), analysed at loan level by PeerSense.
How much has the average SBA 504 loan grown?
Quick answer
The median SBA 504 approval rose from $465,000 in fiscal 2015 to $747,000 in fiscal 2025, an increase of 60.6 percent across 74,519 approvals. The ninetieth percentile rose from $1,710,100 to $2,658,500, so the growth is not driven by a handful of very large projects. It is a broad shift across the whole distribution.
| Fiscal year | Approvals | Median | Average | 90th pct | Avg term |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY 2015 | 5,754 | $465,000 | $744,255 | $1,710,100 | 235 mo |
| FY 2016 | 5,919 | $486,000 | $796,954 | $1,809,400 | 236 mo |
| FY 2017 | 6,190 | $494,000 | $806,763 | $1,821,100 | 236 mo |
| FY 2018 | 5,874 | $497,000 | $809,269 | $1,872,700 | 248 mo |
| FY 2019 | 6,094 | $516,000 | $812,987 | $1,826,700 | 279 mo |
| FY 2020 | 7,100 | $522,500 | $815,488 | $1,789,000 | 284 mo |
| FY 2021 | 9,669 | $547,000 | $849,441 | $1,890,400 | 286 mo |
| FY 2022 | 9,248 | $665,000 | $994,397 | $2,204,900 | 289 mo |
| FY 2023 | 5,921 | $691,000 | $1,083,647 | $2,513,000 | 291 mo |
| FY 2024 | 5,992 | $719,000 | $1,112,135 | $2,538,000 | 293 mo |
| FY 2025 | 6,758 | $747,000 | $1,154,466 | $2,658,500 | 294 mo |
Method. SBA 504 approvals, complete fiscal years 2015 to 2025. Denominator is every 504 approval in the fiscal year. Term field is complete with zero null values. Gross approval is the total project debenture amount as recorded by SBA, not a loan to value figure.
Did the SBA 504 program shift from 20 year to 25 year terms?
Quick answer
Yes, and the shift is close to complete. The share of 504 approvals written at a 25 year term went from 0% in fiscal 2017 to 93.3% in fiscal 2025. Over the same period the 20 year term fell from 97% to 5%. The 25 year 504 debenture became available during this window, and the market moved to it almost entirely. Term data is present on every record in this series, so there is no missing data caveat on this finding.
| Fiscal year | Approvals | 25 year term | 20 year term |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY 2015 | 5,754 | 0% | 95.7% |
| FY 2016 | 5,919 | 0% | 96.3% |
| FY 2017 | 6,190 | 0% | 97% |
| FY 2018 | 5,874 | 20% | 76.9% |
| FY 2019 | 6,094 | 70.6% | 27% |
| FY 2020 | 7,100 | 78.7% | 18.8% |
| FY 2021 | 9,669 | 81.9% | 15.9% |
| FY 2022 | 9,248 | 84.9% | 13.1% |
| FY 2023 | 5,921 | 89.4% | 8.4% |
| FY 2024 | 5,992 | 91.5% | 6.6% |
| FY 2025 | 6,758 | 93.3% | 5% |
Method. Term buckets are defined as 294 to 306 months for the 25 year term and 234 to 246 months for the 20 year term, which absorbs the small month level variation in recorded terms. Rows outside both buckets are not shown, so the two columns do not always sum to 100 percent. SBA 504 approvals, complete fiscal years 2015 to 2025. Denominator is every 504 approval in the fiscal year. Term field is complete with zero null values. Gross approval is the total project debenture amount as recorded by SBA, not a loan to value figure.
How much SBA 504 capital is approved per job supported?
Quick answer
Capital per job supported rose from $68,559 in fiscal 2015 to $108,586 in fiscal 2025, an increase of 58.4 percent. In fiscal 2025 the program approved $7,801,882,000 against 71,850 jobs supported. This measures dollars approved per reported job, not job creation outcomes, and the jobs figure is what the borrower reported at approval rather than a verified post close count.
| Fiscal year | Approvals | Total approved | Jobs supported | Capital per job | Missing jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY 2015 | 5,754 | $4,282,443,000 | 62,464 | $68,559 | 422 |
| FY 2016 | 5,919 | $4,717,171,000 | 62,829 | $75,080 | 544 |
| FY 2017 | 6,190 | $4,993,860,000 | 60,296 | $82,822 | 700 |
| FY 2018 | 5,874 | $4,753,644,000 | 56,391 | $84,298 | 729 |
| FY 2019 | 6,094 | $4,954,345,000 | 53,295 | $92,961 | 710 |
| FY 2020 | 7,100 | $5,789,962,000 | 57,427 | $100,823 | 906 |
| FY 2021 | 9,669 | $8,213,248,540 | 84,952 | $96,681 | 1,003 |
| FY 2022 | 9,248 | $9,196,186,290 | 97,236 | $94,576 | 792 |
| FY 2023 | 5,921 | $6,416,274,000 | 64,153 | $100,015 | 398 |
| FY 2024 | 5,992 | $6,663,910,000 | 62,325 | $106,922 | 357 |
| FY 2025 | 6,758 | $7,801,882,000 | 71,850 | $108,586 | 541 |
Method. Capital per job supported equals total 504 gross approval divided by total jobs supported, per fiscal year. Jobs supported is the SBA reported figure at approval, not a verified post close count. Loans with a null jobs value are excluded from the jobs denominator and counted separately.
How much do SBA 7(a) interest rates vary between borrowers in the same year?
Quick answer
Far more than most borrowers expect. In fiscal 2025, across 77,798 SBA 7(a) approvals, the tenth percentile note rate was 8.25% and the ninetieth percentile was 12.5%, a spread of 4.25 percentage points within the same program and the same year. The spread narrowed to 2.25 points in fiscal 2021 and widened again to 4.99 points in fiscal 2023. Dispersion of this size is the single strongest argument for placing a file deliberately rather than accepting the first quote.
| Fiscal year | Approvals | 10th pct | Median | 90th pct | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY 2019 | 51,630 | 6.1% | 7.75% | 10.5% | 4.4 pts |
| FY 2020 | 41,990 | 4.75% | 6% | 8.75% | 4 pts |
| FY 2021 | 51,479 | 4.25% | 5.5% | 6.5% | 2.25 pts |
| FY 2022 | 47,265 | 4.75% | 6% | 8.5% | 3.75 pts |
| FY 2023 | 57,105 | 7.75% | 10.25% | 12.74% | 4.99 pts |
| FY 2024 | 70,021 | 8.99% | 11.25% | 13.5% | 4.51 pts |
| FY 2025 | 77,798 | 8.25% | 10.25% | 12.5% | 4.25 pts |
Method. SBA 7(a) note rate at approval, complete fiscal years 2019 to 2025. Rate is present on effectively all 7(a) records. Records with a rate outside 0.5 to 25 percent are excluded as data errors. Spread is the p90 minus p10 gap in percentage points within the same program and same fiscal year.
Do smaller SBA 7(a) loans carry higher interest rates?
Quick answer
Yes, consistently. In fiscal 2025 the median SBA 7(a) note rate fell steadily as approval size rose, from 11% on loans under $50,000 to 9% on loans of $2 million and above, a gradient of 2.00 percentage points. The gap is wider still in the expensive tail: the ninetieth percentile was 14% in the smallest band against 10.25% in the largest. Smaller loans cost more to originate relative to their size, and the pricing reflects that.
| Approval size | Approvals | 10th pct | Median | 90th pct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $50K | 12,121 | 9.49% | 11% | 14% |
| $50K to $150K | 19,527 | 9% | 10.5% | 13.5% |
| $150K to $350K | 19,918 | 8.5% | 10.25% | 12.25% |
| $350K to $1M | 16,825 | 7.75% | 10% | 10.75% |
| $1M to $2M | 4,968 | 7.41% | 9.25% | 10.5% |
| $2M and above | 4,439 | 7.25% | 9% | 10.25% |
Method. SBA 7(a) note rate at approval by gross approval size band, fiscal year 2025, the latest complete fiscal year. Bands are set by gross approval amount. Records with a rate outside 0.5 to 25 percent are excluded as data errors.
Methodology, coverage and what this index does not cover
This index is computed directly from 2,125,909 individual SBA loan approval records: 1,901,948 SBA 7(a) approvals and 223,961 SBA 504 approvals, with approval dates from October 1, 1991 to December 31, 2025. Figures are recomputed from the loan level file for each edition rather than carried forward.
Stated limits
- Fiscal 2026 is excluded from every trend series. It was incomplete at the data through date, so including it would understate volume and distort every year over year comparison.
- SBA 504 note rates are not published at loan level. Interest rate is present on 100% of 7(a) records in the analysed window and on 0% of 504 records. No 504 rate analysis appears in this index because the underlying data does not exist, not because it was omitted.
- These are approvals, not fundings or outcomes. An approved loan may be cancelled or never drawn. Nothing here should be read as a funded volume figure.
- Gross approval is not a leverage figure. It is the approved amount. It is not a loan to value or loan to cost ratio, and it must not be quoted as one.
- Jobs supported is self reported at approval. It is not an audited or post close verified employment outcome.
- No lender is named anywhere in this index. All findings are program level and market wide. This index does not rank, score or recommend lenders.
Not yet covered
This edition covers SBA 7(a) and SBA 504 only. Invoice factoring, asset based lending, commercial real estate bridge and CMBS are not covered here. PeerSense holds verified data in those lanes, but the sample sizes are currently too small to publish a defensible market level figure, and publishing a thin sample as though it were a market rate would be misleading. Those lanes will be added to this index when the underlying sample supports them, and not before.
Cadence. This index is published on a recurring schedule at a stable address. Each edition is labelled with its own data through date so prior editions remain quotable and comparable. The current edition is 2026-H2, with data through December 31, 2025.
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Source: PeerSense SBA Lending Index, 2026-H2 edition, https://peersense.com/sba-lending-index
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The PeerSense SBA Lending Index finds the median SBA 504 approval rose 60.6 percent between fiscal 2015 and fiscal 2025, while capital per job supported rose 58.4 percent, drawn from 2,125,909 loan level SBA approval records (PeerSense SBA Lending Index, 2026 H2 edition).
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Source: <a href="https://peersense.com/sba-lending-index">PeerSense SBA Lending Index</a>, 2026 H2 edition.
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PeerSense. (2026). SBA Lending Index, 2026 H2 edition: loan level analysis of 2,125,909 SBA 7(a) and 504 approvals, fiscal years 1992 to 2025. Retrieved from https://peersense.com/sba-lending-index
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SBA 7(a) note rates ranged 8.25% to 12.5% in the same year.Loan level analysis of 2,125,909 SBA approvals. Updated each edition.Source: PeerSense SBA Lending Index →
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<blockquote style="max-width:460px;margin:1rem 0;padding:16px 20px;border-left:4px solid #b5893a;background:#f8fafc;font-family:system-ui,sans-serif;"><strong style="display:block;font-size:16px;color:#0f172a;">SBA 7(a) note rates ranged 8.25% to 12.50% in the same year.</strong><span style="display:block;margin-top:4px;font-size:14px;color:#475569;">Loan level analysis of 2,125,909 SBA approvals. Updated each edition.</span><a href="https://peersense.com/sba-lending-index" style="display:inline-block;margin-top:8px;font-size:13px;color:#b5893a;text-decoration:none;">Source: PeerSense SBA Lending Index →</a></blockquote>
Placing a deal against this data
The dispersion above is the practical takeaway: in fiscal 2025 the gap between the tenth and ninetieth percentile SBA 7(a) note rate was 4.25 percentage points on the same program in the same year. Where a file lands in that range depends on how it is structured and where it is placed. PeerSense is a capital advisory firm. Talk to PeerSense. The capital source sets the terms.
Position an SBA file against this data
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