SBA 7(a) intelligence
The share of each state's FY2020–23 SBA 7(a) loans that lenders charged off, from 373,981 public loan records. The spread is real: District of Columbia fails at 22x the rate of Alaska.
| # | State | Failure rate | Failed loans | Cohort loans |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 5.71% | 22 | 385 |
| 2 | New York | 5.5% | 626 | 11,389 |
| 3 | Hawaii | 4.47% | 20 | 447 |
| 4 | Maryland | 4.36% | 132 | 3,028 |
| 5 | Nevada | 4.29% | 80 | 1,865 |
| 6 |
| Florida |
| 4.27% |
| 575 |
| 13,452 |
| 7 | Delaware | 4.26% | 26 | 610 |
| 8 | New Jersey | 4.23% | 273 | 6,456 |
| 9 | Louisiana | 3.25% | 46 | 1,416 |
| 10 | Texas | 2.96% | 437 | 14,740 |
| 11 | California | 2.95% | 655 | 22,181 |
| 12 | Arizona | 2.85% | 110 | 3,866 |
| 13 | South Dakota | 2.79% | 16 | 573 |
| 14 | Virginia | 2.76% | 87 | 3,149 |
| 15 | Illinois | 2.74% | 186 | 6,799 |
| 16 | Connecticut | 2.73% | 67 | 2,456 |
| 17 | Alabama | 2.73% | 37 | 1,354 |
| 18 | Colorado | 2.67% | 137 | 5,139 |
| 19 | Wyoming | 2.64% | 9 | 341 |
| 20 | Mississippi | 2.44% | 31 | 1,271 |
| 21 | Pennsylvania | 2.37% | 158 | 6,670 |
| 22 | South Carolina | 2.3% | 51 | 2,215 |
| 23 | Georgia | 2.2% | 133 | 6,043 |
| 24 | Missouri | 2.18% | 80 | 3,665 |
| 25 | Tennessee | 2.17% | 48 | 2,214 |
| 26 | Oregon | 2.17% | 67 | 3,090 |
| 27 | Rhode Island | 2.02% | 14 | 694 |
| 28 | Massachusetts | 1.98% | 95 | 4,793 |
| 29 | Ohio | 1.96% | 255 | 13,029 |
| 30 | Minnesota | 1.9% | 125 | 6,576 |
| 31 | Iowa | 1.87% | 26 | 1,388 |
| 32 | Wisconsin | 1.85% | 78 | 4,220 |
| 33 | Utah | 1.83% | 61 | 3,338 |
| 34 | Washington | 1.79% | 96 | 5,356 |
| 35 | Indiana | 1.72% | 76 | 4,414 |
| 36 | Kentucky | 1.69% | 28 | 1,658 |
| 37 | Michigan | 1.62% | 137 | 8,467 |
| 38 | North Carolina | 1.45% | 63 | 4,350 |
| 39 | Oklahoma | 1.42% | 30 | 2,113 |
| 40 | Montana | 1.41% | 11 | 778 |
| 41 | New Mexico | 1.41% | 13 | 919 |
| 42 | Arkansas | 1.36% | 16 | 1,175 |
| 43 | Kansas | 1.31% | 22 | 1,679 |
| 44 | Maine | 1.3% | 14 | 1,077 |
| 45 | West Virginia | 1.16% | 8 | 691 |
| 46 | New Hampshire | 1.15% | 18 | 1,567 |
| 47 | Vermont | 1.15% | 7 | 608 |
| 48 | Nebraska | 1.07% | 13 | 1,212 |
| 49 | North Dakota | 0.96% | 5 | 520 |
| 50 | Idaho | 0.89% | 15 | 1,682 |
| 51 | PR | 0.62% | 10 | 1,621 |
| 52 | Alaska | 0.26% | 1 | 384 |
High-cost, high-churn metros fail more; steady rural economies fail less. State names link to the lenders actually funding deals there — a bank that knows the local market is your best defense against becoming a row in this table. See also: which franchises fail the most and which banks' loans fail the most.
DealRoom analysis of public SBA lending records. Failure = charge-off on the FY2020–23 cohort; newer loans are too young to score. States need 100+ cohort loans to be ranked.
Buying in a high-failure state?
The state average isn't your destiny — deal quality and loan structure are. A specialist can tell you what kills deals in your market and how to structure around it.
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