Campgrounds ahead of restaurants

Brainerd, MN is a micropolitan area where the leading tracked class is RV park and campground, 22 loans, ahead of hotel and motel at 16 and full-service restaurant at 13. The area holds 390 loans and $202.4 million for FY2017 to FY2026, ranking 195 of 928, with 263 loans in no tracked class. Coffee shop and snack bar has 7, assisted living 6, and beverage manufacturing and automotive mechanical repair 5 each.

Of the 390 loans, 273 are 7(a) and 117 are 504, so 504 real estate financing accounts for a large slice of the total. One institution stands behind nearly all of it: Midwest Business Finance Corporation holds 108 of the 504 loans, worth $80.3 million. Median borrowing is $189,800, 0.91x the national figure, and a middle band of loans from $78,350 to $465,475; only 6.7% of loans carry a franchise brand. Crow Wing County, MN has 272 loans and Cass County, MN 118.

The 7(a) holders

SBA's holder records identify where loans are held now; they are silent on lender policy. Old National Bank and First Western Bank & Trust each hold 33 7(a) loans, though the first holds $24.5 million and the second $8.7 million. Security Bank USA holds 16 for $787,700, Frandsen Bank and Trust 15 for $3.8 million and Northeast Entrepreneur Fund, Inc. 13 for $1.3 million, so several of the leading holders carry small average loans.

Cancelled approvals make up a low floor of 6.0% for approvals through FY2024. The matching ceiling for Brainerd is withheld by Loan Analytics, and the five-year charge-off rate is left out; it estimates neither and treats neither as zero. Among 227 funded loans, 3.1% have been charged off to date. Approvals peaked at 76 loans and $42.1 million in FY2021 and fell to 17 loans in FY2023.

Testing a Brainerd project

A study should separate seasonal visitor demand from year-round resident demand and should test whether a new campground, lodging or food use competes with supply already financed. If 504 financing is planned, note the narrow lender field. Debt service has to survive the off-season. The appraisal must support value. Counties come from the 2023 delineation, and nothing here forecasts approval.

SBA loans in the Brainerd, MN Micro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026	390
Gross dollars approved	$202.4 million
Median loan	$189,800
Middle half of loans, from	$78,350
Middle half of loans, to	$465,475
SBA 7(a) loans	273
SBA 504 loans	117
Franchise share of loans	6.7%
Rank among metro and micro areas by loans	195 of 928
Median loan against the national median	0.91x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor)	6.0%
The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling)	withheld
Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor)	3.1%
Charged off within five years of approval	withheld
Loans in that cohort	227

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 Brainerd, MN Micro Area, by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Loans	Dollars
FY2017	42	$15.4 million
FY2018	32	$8.1 million
FY2019	37	$13.2 million
FY2020	56	$19.0 million
FY2021	76	$42.1 million
FY2022	47	$27.3 million
FY2023	17	$14.8 million
FY2024	24	$16.1 million
FY2025	35	$23.9 million
FY2026	24	$22.4 million

Loans by asset class

Asset class	Loans
Not in any of the 39 asset classes	263
RV park and campground	22
Hotel and motel	16
Full-service restaurant	13
Limited-service restaurant	10
Coffee shop and snack bar	7
Assisted living (without nursing care)	6
Beverage manufacturing (breweries, wineries, distilleries)	5
Automotive mechanical repair (car and truck)	5

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)
Lender	Loans	Dollars
Midwest Business Finance Corporation	108	$80.3 million

SBA 7(a): lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
Lender	Loans	Dollars
Old National Bank	33	$24.5 million
First Western Bank & Trust	33	$8.7 million
Security Bank USA	16	$787,700
Frandsen Bank and Trust	15	$3.8 million
Northeast Entrepreneur Fund, Inc.	13	$1.3 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

County	Loans
Crow Wing County, MN	272
Cass County, MN	118

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-14660.

Related feasibility study pages

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a commercial project in the Brainerd, MN 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.

Daniel Smith, MAI

Feasibility Study Data for the Brainerd, MN Micro Area