Feasibility Study Data for the Ames, IA Metro Area

Ames, IA: loan volume and median size around Ames

SBA approved 146 loans for projects in the Ames, IA metro area between FY2017 and FY2026, worth $61.5 million in gross dollars. Ames holds rank 378 of 928 against every other statistical area, Ames among them. The median ticket in Ames is $161,500, with half of all loans between $75,000 and $407,500. The national comparison is plain: at 0.78x of the national median. Tickets in Ames run smaller than the national median.

Ames, IA: program mix and lender names serving Ames

The program split in Ames is 122 under 7(a) and 24 under 504. Ames is a 7(a) market first. In Ames, the franchise share of Ames loans is 13.7%. Among 7(a) Ames holders, U.S. Bank, National Association stands first, at 29 loans and $6.7 million, followed by BayFirst National Bank with 8 loans and $1.3 million. The count for Lincoln Savings Bank is 7 loans, and First Interstate Bank at 6. No 504 holder in Ames reaches the five-loan Ames line needed to be named. Read the lender Ames rows as SBA records of holdings. A line for U.S. Bank, National Association Ames appears on the strength of SBA's Ames holder field; nothing here speaks to what BayFirst National Bank asks of an applicant.

Ames by asset class and by county in Ames, IA

The larger share of the Ames record falls outside the class table: 83 loans under other industry codes. Class Ames figures here cover only part of the Ames area. Among tracked Ames classes, full-service restaurant leads with 18 loans, then limited-service restaurant with 10, and automotive Ames mechanical repair (car and truck) at 8. Smaller Ames classes follow, among them fitness center at 7 loans. By county, Story County, IA accounts for 106 loans, followed by Boone County, IA with 40. The two counties hold very different loan counts, so the Ames figures blend them.

Ames, IA: reading the outcome floors for Ames

Looking at FY2017 to FY2024 approvals, Ames cancellations came to at least 15.9%; no ceiling is published beside the 15.9% floor, as Loan Analytics withholds the ceiling under its small-count rule. No charge-off Ames rate is shown for Ames: too few Ames loans reached the funded cohort, so Ames gets no Ames rate, and a blank never means none. Annual approved loans peaked in FY2025 at 20 loans and $4.1 million, whereas FY2018 was the low Ames point before FY2026, at 12 loans and $7.2 million. Ames is built from project counties such as Story County, IA. Then county membership trails the 2023 delineation, with Ames counties matched by name.

Ames: demand, cost, coverage and appraisal in Ames, IA

A study for an Ames project must start from one Ames site and one Ames county, given how unlike its Ames counties can be. Full-service Ames restaurant is the lead Ames class in Ames, so it has to examine Ames dining rooms and their weeknight trade and kitchen capacity against peak service, then what prime cost leaves for debt. Projects in limited-service Ames restaurant here the questions are drive-through and counter throughput and build-out cost for a small box. Cash flow for an Ames loan Ames should be run against a downturn; the Ames collateral value needs local evidence under it. For Ames, with smaller tickets the norm in Ames, a larger request will draw questions the Ames study should answer first.