What SBA's own loan files show about lending in the Ashland, OH Micro Area, every asset class together, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.
141 approvals for projects in Ashland, OH between FY2017 through FY2026 total $26.7 million gross. Ashland sits at 388 of 928 within all CBSAs on approvals. In addition, $50,000 gives the middle loan; the bulk of loans runs from $28,500 to $150,000. The median here is 0.24x of the national median, placing the typical loan under what the country sees. Beyond that, Ashland reads only the counties in its area, not a mix of unrelated markets: 141 approvals in all.
136 7(a) approvals stand against 5 loans in 504. Also, Loan Analytics does not print a franchise share for Ashland, because it rests on too few loans. Worth noting: under 7(a) cases, the top names by approvals stand as The Huntington National Bank booking 101 loans for $10.4 million followed by PNC Bank, National Association at 5 loans and $127,000. Separately, no development company in Ashland reaches the listing threshold. These names follow SBA records on 141 loans; they list loans approved and nothing further, never what lenders ask for around Ashland.
8 for automotive mechanical repair tops the class table. Separately, 114 loans lie beyond all named classes, so the 141-loan file reaches beyond any class table. Worth noting: Ashland County carries all of 141 loans, which makes area and county match. For context, year by year, FY2017 begins at 18 loans and $2.4 million; FY2021 tops the series at 21 loans and $3.4 million, and FY2026 closes the run at 7 loans and $4.8 million.
11.0% of FY2017 through FY2024 approvals in Ashland have been cancelled before they funded, a floor; 15.0% marks the ceiling with undisbursed loans included. Beyond that, 0.00% of FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans in Ashland were charged off, a floor; 0.00% went to charge-off inside five years of being approved, out of 73 disbursed loans. Here, treat each percentage above as a minimum, as loans approved recently got too little opportunity to cancel or default, across 141 loans. In addition, membership here follows the core-based area which includes any loan's county of the project, following the July 2023 CBSA list as issued; every county is matched by name, while a record whose project county cannot be assigned is omitted from any area. Also, named class or not, any loan under either program across Ashland is counted toward its $26.7 million total.
Within Ashland, a feasibility study of a property must begin with the particular site, never the 141-loan file. Beyond that, market demand in Ashland leads the work: can Ashland's household base carry the volume needed, net of nearby competition around Ashland County? Also, the local median runs 0.24x measured against the nation's median, so most loans here are small; an outsized request must show it can carry its debt. Next, debt service coverage links sales to outlay in Ashland: expected net income measured on the payments due, and a downside case. Then the appraisal completes the test on the Ashland site: value as built must cover the request sought. A sponsor armed with an independent study of Ashland, before calling on a bank, addresses those floors up front; approval stays with lender and SBA in Ashland, and no study can promise it.
| Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026 | 141 |
|---|---|
| Gross dollars approved | $26.7 million |
| Median loan | $50,000 |
| Middle half of loans, from | $28,500 |
| Middle half of loans, to | $150,000 |
| SBA 7(a) loans | 136 |
| SBA 504 loans | 5 |
| Franchise share of loans | withheld |
| Rank among metro and micro areas by loans | 388 of 928 |
| Median loan against the national median | 0.24x |
| Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor) | 11.0% |
|---|---|
| The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling) | 15.0% |
| 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 | 73 |
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 Ashland, OH Micro Area, by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | 18 | $2.4 million |
| FY2018 | 17 | $1.3 million |
| FY2019 | 16 | $4.5 million |
| FY2020 | 12 | $1.0 million |
| FY2021 | 21 | $3.4 million |
| FY2022 | 16 | $2.9 million |
| FY2023 | 10 | $636,900 |
| FY2024 | 17 | $4.4 million |
| FY2025 | 7 | $1.4 million |
| FY2026 | 7 | $4.8 million |
| Asset class | Loans |
|---|---|
| Not in any of the 39 asset classes | 114 |
| Automotive mechanical repair (car and truck) | 8 |
Classes with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are withheld, and more where a small one could be derived.
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| The Huntington National Bank | 101 | $10.4 million |
| PNC Bank, National Association | 5 | $127,000 |
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 |
|---|---|
| Ashland County, OH | 141 |
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-11740.
A worked example of the feasibility study a lender would read for a glamping resort project in Ohio, 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 Ashland, OH Micro 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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