Worked Example: SBA 7(a) Assisted Living Feasibility Study in Utah
A worked example of the feasibility study a lender would read for an assisted living project in Utah, financed with an SBA 7(a) loan.
What SBA's own loan files show about lending in the Brigham City, UT-ID Micro Area, every asset class together, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.
Brigham City, UT-ID logged 179 SBA approvals in FY2017 to FY2026, worth $73.6 million in gross dollars. Brigham City counts as a mid-table area, ranked 337 of 928 by loans. Brigham City, with every class pooled, is read in Brigham City, UT-ID. No ID and UT state page offers that view of Brigham City.
$50,000 to $496,500 spans the middle half of Brigham City loans, and $167,000 is the median. Brigham City sits below the national level: its 0.80x ratio to the national median means Brigham City requests sized nationally may look large. 137 of the Brigham City loans are 7(a); 42 are 504; Brigham City borrowers meet 7(a) most. Brigham City franchised businesses took 8.4% of loans, so a branded concept in Brigham City needs a brand-cost check in Brigham City.
In Brigham City, UT-ID, self storage (8 loans); gas station and truck stop (6 loans) lead by loans in Brigham City. Another 135 Brigham City loans sit in no tracked class, so Brigham City totals describe operating businesses, not only property. Brigham City lending concentrates by county: Box Elder County, UT (174 loans) and Oneida County, ID (5 loans). Brigham City 7(a) leaders: Zions Bancorporation, National Association ($8.5 million, 29 loans); Cache Valley Bank ($5.1 million, 17 loans); Mountain America FCU ($3.8 million, 16 loans). Brigham City 504 lending is led by 31 loans at Mountain West Small Business Finance ($21.9 million); 11 loans at Intermountain Business Lending, Inc. ($8.6 million). Zions Bancorporation, National Association's 29 loans, like every Brigham City lender figure, are an SBA record of Brigham City loans held or once held. No Brigham City lender is judged by these counts.
Brigham City approvals peaked in FY2019 at 23 loans and $14.4 million, bottomed at 10 in FY2020, and ended FY2026 at 20, lower than the 22 of FY2017. Brigham City cancellations stand at 10.6%, a floor, for Brigham City approvals in FY2017 to FY2024; Brigham City's ceiling is withheld, never zero in Brigham City. A charge-off floor for Brigham City would rest on a thin cohort of 179 loans, so Brigham City withholds it; withheld is not zero. Brigham City faces a geography limit: Brigham City, UT-ID uses the July 2023 definition; 179 loans are matched by county, and unplaceable Brigham City loans are omitted, so Brigham City counts and rates are floors.
Any Brigham City study defines its Brigham City trade area first, since lending in Box Elder County, UT differs from lending across Brigham City, UT-ID. In Brigham City, a self storage project has deep precedent; other Brigham City concepts must bring their own evidence of Brigham City demand. Brigham City costs belong on local bids; test Brigham City debt service coverage for a loan near $167,000, and again near $496,500. Brigham City, UT-ID spans ID and UT, so a Brigham City study weighs licensing and incentives in ID and UT separately, and a Brigham City appraisal needs Brigham City comparables from the right side of Brigham City, UT-ID. Brigham City is micropolitan, so a Brigham City appraisal should say how thin the Brigham City comparables are. Nothing printed for Brigham City predicts approval; each Brigham City lender still reviews a study.
| Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026 | 179 |
|---|---|
| Gross dollars approved | $73.6 million |
| Median loan | $167,000 |
| Middle half of loans, from | $50,000 |
| Middle half of loans, to | $496,500 |
| SBA 7(a) loans | 137 |
| SBA 504 loans | 42 |
| Franchise share of loans | 8.4% |
| Rank among metro and micro areas by loans | 337 of 928 |
| Median loan against the national median | 0.80x |
| Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor) | 10.6% |
|---|---|
| The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling) | withheld |
| Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor) | withheld |
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 Brigham City, UT-ID Micro Area, by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | 22 | $10.4 million |
| FY2018 | 14 | $5.9 million |
| FY2019 | 23 | $14.4 million |
| FY2020 | 10 | $2.6 million |
| FY2021 | 19 | $10.3 million |
| FY2022 | 11 | $4.2 million |
| FY2023 | 23 | $7.3 million |
| FY2024 | 19 | $9.7 million |
| FY2025 | 18 | $3.7 million |
| FY2026 | 20 | $5.0 million |
| Asset class | Loans |
|---|---|
| Not in any of the 39 asset classes | 135 |
| Self storage | 8 |
| Gas station and truck stop | 6 |
Classes with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are withheld, and more where a small one could be derived.
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain West Small Business Finance | 31 | $21.9 million |
| Intermountain Business Lending, Inc. | 11 | $8.6 million |
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Zions Bancorporation, National Association | 29 | $8.5 million |
| Cache Valley Bank | 17 | $5.1 million |
| Mountain America FCU | 16 | $3.8 million |
| U.S. Bank, National Association | 12 | $1.1 million |
| KeyBank National Association | 10 | $284,900 |
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 |
|---|---|
| Box Elder County, UT | 174 |
| Oneida County, ID | 5 |
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-14940.
A worked example of the feasibility study a lender would read for an assisted living project in Utah, financed with an SBA 7(a) loan.
Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a commercial project in the Brigham City, UT-ID 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.
Contact Us