Feasibility Study Data for the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro Area

What SBA's own loan files show about lending in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro Area, every asset class together, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.

Boston-Cambridge-Newton lending, in outline

$4.63 billion over 15,096 loans is the Boston-Cambridge-Newton total, FY2017 through FY2026. Boston-Cambridge-Newton sits at 6 of 928 among areas ranked by loans. Boston-Cambridge-Newton loans center on $100,000, the median. $50,000 to $300,000 spans the Boston-Cambridge-Newton middle half. Against the national median, Boston-Cambridge-Newton comes to 0.48x. Boston-Cambridge-Newton splits into 13,166 loans under 7(a) and 1,930 under 504. Boston-Cambridge-Newton shows a franchise share of 5.6%. $4.63 billion is the Boston-Cambridge-Newton dollar total.

Boston-Cambridge-Newton: where the loans land

Full-service restaurant (885) tops Boston-Cambridge-Newton; limited-service restaurant (452) and beauty salon (342) follow. Next in Boston-Cambridge-Newton comes fitness center at 315 loans. The Boston-Cambridge-Newton record also holds 11,239 loans in no tracked class. SBA assigns Boston-Cambridge-Newton loans mostly to Middlesex County, MA (4,353), Essex County, MA (2,910), and Norfolk County, MA (2,101). Strafford County, NH is the smallest listed Boston-Cambridge-Newton county, with 498 loans, so the area is uneven.

Boston-Cambridge-Newton: lenders in the record

The lenders named for Boston-Cambridge-Newton are today's holders of each loan. Boston-Cambridge-Newton 7(a) holders include Eastern Bank with 3,815 loans ($425.9 million), TD Bank, National Association with 1,335 loans ($156.7 million), and Rockland Trust Company with 618 loans ($184.4 million). Boston-Cambridge-Newton lists, for 504, Bay Colony Development Corporation with 719 loans ($456.8 million) and South Eastern Economic Development Corporation with 73 loans ($52.3 million). For a Boston-Cambridge-Newton borrower, these rows give background only. Nothing in Boston-Cambridge-Newton rows states what a holder requires.

Boston-Cambridge-Newton: outcome rates and data limits

Boston-Cambridge-Newton approvals of FY2017 to FY2024 end in cancellation at 11.8%, a floor. Boston-Cambridge-Newton reaches 13.2% if undisbursed loans count as cancelled; that is the Boston-Cambridge-Newton ceiling. 6,913 Boston-Cambridge-Newton loans make the FY2017 to FY2021 cohort; 5.6% are charged off, a floor. The Boston-Cambridge-Newton five-year figure is 3.9%. Boston-Cambridge-Newton rates are floors. Loans season, and Boston-Cambridge-Newton events can still raise them. Boston-Cambridge-Newton is built from county names. Boston-Cambridge-Newton applies the July 2023 delineation, and loans with no county match are omitted from it. Boston-Cambridge-Newton totals hold untracked-class loans too.

Boston-Cambridge-Newton: testing a project

By year, FY2017 was busiest for Boston-Cambridge-Newton, at 2,128 loans and $366.6 million, and FY2020 quietest, at 1,162 loans and $357.0 million. FY2026 closes the Boston-Cambridge-Newton series at 1,325 loans, $502.5 million. In Boston-Cambridge-Newton, demand testing starts with Middlesex County, MA and the businesses already serving it. Boston-Cambridge-Newton costs sit beside a $100,000 median. Boston-Cambridge-Newton stands at 0.48x nationally. In Boston-Cambridge-Newton, debt service is tested against a slow case. Any Boston-Cambridge-Newton reviewer sees the floors. Appraisal in Boston-Cambridge-Newton needs area comparables. Value and cost must agree in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton study. Absorption near Middlesex County, MA is tested for Boston-Cambridge-Newton on a slow case. The Boston-Cambridge-Newton study states its limits beside Middlesex County, MA findings.

SBA loans in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY202615,096
Gross dollars approved$4.63 billion
Median loan$100,000
Middle half of loans, from$50,000
Middle half of loans, to$300,000
SBA 7(a) loans13,166
SBA 504 loans1,930
Franchise share of loans5.6%
Rank among metro and micro areas by loans6 of 928
Median loan against the national median0.48x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor)11.8%
The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling)13.2%
Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor)5.6%
Charged off within five years of approval3.9%
Loans in that cohort6,913

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 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro Area, by fiscal year

05001000150020002500FY2017FY2018FY2019FY2020FY2021FY2022FY2023FY2024FY2025FY2026Loans, FY2017: 2128Loans, FY2018: 1935Loans, FY2019: 1478Loans, FY2020: 1162Loans, FY2021: 1167Loans, FY2022: 1171Loans, FY2023: 1267Loans, FY2024: 1714Loans, FY2025: 1749Loans, FY2026: 1325
Fiscal yearLoansDollars
FY20172,128$366.6 million
FY20181,935$417.7 million
FY20191,478$414.7 million
FY20201,162$357.0 million
FY20211,167$549.1 million
FY20221,171$426.7 million
FY20231,267$463.8 million
FY20241,714$525.7 million
FY20251,749$602.4 million
FY20261,325$502.5 million

Loans by asset class

Asset classLoans
Not in any of the 39 asset classes11,239
Full-service restaurant885
Limited-service restaurant452
Beauty salon342
Fitness center315
Automotive mechanical repair (car and truck)277
Child care center256
Dental office164
Liquor store152
Coffee shop and snack bar129
Medical office (physicians)118
Grocery store116
Beverage manufacturing (breweries, wineries, distilleries)97
Rehabilitation and therapy clinic84
Gas station and truck stop70
Caterers (includes banquet halls with catering staff)65
Car wash47
Veterinary clinic45
Hotel and motel34
Behavioral health and addiction treatment27
School (elementary and secondary, including charter)25
Self storage23
Warehouse and distribution22
Data center22
Life science lab (research and development)20
Nonresidential lessor (flex, office and retail investor buildings)17
Skilled nursing12
Assisted living (without nursing care)11
Multifamily (lessors of residential buildings)6

Classes with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are withheld, and more where a small one could be derived.

Most active SBA lenders

SBA 504: lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
LenderLoansDollars
Granite State Economic Development Corporation756$453.7 million
Bay Colony Development Corporation719$456.8 million
New England Certified Development Corporation335$279.7 million
South Eastern Economic Development Corporation73$52.3 million
Cape & Islands Community Development, Inc.23$19.3 million
SBA 7(a): lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
LenderLoansDollars
Eastern Bank3,815$425.9 million
TD Bank, National Association1,335$156.7 million
Rockland Trust Company618$184.4 million
Santander Bank, National Association547$120.1 million
Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company489$95.0 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.

Where the loans are, by county

CountyLoans
Middlesex County, MA4,353
Essex County, MA2,910
Norfolk County, MA2,101
Suffolk County, MA1,792
Plymouth County, MA1,742
Rockingham County, NH1,700
Strafford County, NH498

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-14460.

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a commercial project in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH 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.

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