What SBA's own loan files show about lending in the Altoona, PA Metro Area, every asset class together, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.
Altoona, PA is a metropolitan area, and its 105 SBA approvals in FY2017 to FY2026 carried $55.7 million in gross dollars. Altoona borrowers cancel at a rate that, across 105 loans, sits outside our margin. Altoona differs from the national floor. Altoona ranks as a mid-table area, 457 of 928 by loan count. In Altoona, PA, every asset class is pooled for Altoona. That view of Altoona is missing from PA and national tables.
$80,000 to $658,600 spans the middle half of Altoona loans, and $200,000 is the median. Altoona sits close to the national level, at 0.96x the national median, so a Altoona study should size its request from Altoona approvals. Altoona: 7(a) leads the mix, with 94 7(a) loans against 11 under 504. Altoona franchised businesses took 18.1% of loans, so a branded concept in Altoona needs a brand-cost check in Altoona.
Hotel and motel (8 loans); limited-service restaurant (8 loans) lead the tracked classes in Altoona. Altoona also holds 72 loans outside every tracked class; Altoona small business lending shows here. Blair County, PA (105 loans) lead by county; a Altoona study names which county it covers. Altoona 7(a) lending is led by 31 loans at Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company ($3.3 million); 16 loans at First Commonwealth Bank ($9.7 million). Altoona 504 list: Altoona-Blair County Development Corporation ($2.5 million, 5 loans). Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company, with 31 loans, tops the Altoona rows, each an SBA record of Altoona loans held or once held; none judges Altoona lenders.
The Altoona series opens at 13 loans in FY2017 and closes at 10, lower than the start; its high is 16 loans ($7.2 million) in FY2021, its low 8 in FY2022. In Altoona, FY2019 and FY2020 counts are withheld, but Altoona reads none as zero, since few of 105 loans stand behind each. Altoona cancellations stand at 22.6%, a floor, for Altoona approvals in FY2017 to FY2024; Altoona's ceiling is withheld, never zero in Altoona. Of the 36 loans in the Altoona cohort for FY2017 to FY2021, 0.00% are charged off, a floor. 0.00% of the Altoona cohort was charged off in five years. Altoona faces a geography limit: Altoona, PA uses the July 2023 definition; 105 loans are matched by county, and unplaceable Altoona loans are omitted, so Altoona counts and rates are floors.
Any Altoona study defines its Altoona trade area first, since lending in Blair County, PA differs from lending across Altoona, PA. If a Altoona concept resembles hotel and motel, Altoona offers size and lender precedent; other Altoona concepts must rest on their own Altoona evidence. Test Altoona coverage of debt service on a $200,000 loan, and on a $658,600 loan, after pricing Altoona costs from bids. Altoona is metropolitan; a Altoona appraisal belongs in one submarket, not behind Altoona averages. The Altoona record frames questions, and each lender in Altoona decides on its own.
| Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026 | 105 |
|---|---|
| Gross dollars approved | $55.7 million |
| Median loan | $200,000 |
| Middle half of loans, from | $80,000 |
| Middle half of loans, to | $658,600 |
| SBA 7(a) loans | 94 |
| SBA 504 loans | 11 |
| Franchise share of loans | 18.1% |
| Rank among metro and micro areas by loans | 457 of 928 |
| Median loan against the national median | 0.96x |
| Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor) | 22.6% |
|---|---|
| The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling) | withheld |
| Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor) | 0.00% |
| Charged off within five years of approval | 0.00% |
| Loans in that cohort | 36 |
Both rates are floors. SBA withholds the status of open loans, so a loan counts as charged off only once SBA reports it; a rate needs at least 30 loans in its cohort and is otherwise not reported.
SBA loans approved in the Altoona, PA Metro Area, by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | 13 | $2.2 million |
| FY2018 | 10 | $4.7 million |
| FY2019 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2020 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2021 | 16 | $7.2 million |
| FY2022 | 8 | $3.6 million |
| FY2023 | 15 | $9.1 million |
| FY2024 | 13 | $6.6 million |
| FY2025 | 11 | $9.0 million |
| FY2026 | 10 | $7.2 million |
| Asset class | Loans |
|---|---|
| Not in any of the 39 asset classes | 72 |
| Hotel and motel | 8 |
| Limited-service restaurant | 8 |
Classes with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are withheld, and more where a small one could be derived.
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Altoona-Blair County Development Corporation | 5 | $2.5 million |
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company | 31 | $3.3 million |
| First Commonwealth Bank | 16 | $9.7 million |
Lenders with 5 or more loans here; a lender with fewer is not listed, and loans SBA or a receiver holds are counted but never listed as a lender.
| County | Loans |
|---|---|
| Blair County, PA | 105 |
Counties with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are not listed.
Metro is the CBSA (metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area) of the loan's project county, July 2023 delineation (OMB Bulletin 23-01). The county is matched by name (manifests/ld2/county-cbsa-map.csv); a loan whose county cannot be placed in a 2023 CBSA is left out of every metro.
All assets: every 7(a) and 504 approval in the metro, including those outside the 39 asset classes.
A value marked withheld rests on fewer than 5 loans, or is withheld so that such a figure cannot be derived from other published figures.
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) and 504 loan-level FOIA files (data.sba.gov), as of 2026-09-30; areas from the U.S. Census Bureau CBSA delineation, July 2023 (OMB Bulletin 23-01); Loan Analytics metro cell MT-11020.
A worked example of the feasibility study a lender would read for a gas station project in Pennsylvania, financed with a USDA Business and Industry guaranteed loan.
Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a commercial project in the Altoona, PA Metro Area, financed under SBA 7(a), SBA 504, USDA Business and Industry or a conventional bank loan. Tell us the project and the lender's deadline, and we reply with scope, timeline and fee.
Start with the data.
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