What SBA's own loan files show about lending in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY Metro Area, every asset class together, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.
Buffalo-Cheektowaga is a market of very small loans. Across FY2017 to FY2026 SBA approved 2,383 loans there, $683.2 million gross, placing it 48 of 928. Buffalo-Cheektowaga's median loan is only $100,000, 0.48x the national figure, and its central band of loans runs $30,000 to $261,000. Of the total, 2,220 are 7(a) loans and 163 are 504. Franchises account for 7.2% of loans, so independent operators carry the record. Anyone sizing a project here against national averages will overshoot what local lending has typically looked like.
Named classes start with full-service restaurant at 165 loans, then limited-service restaurant at 105, liquor store at 56, fitness center at 53 and automotive mechanical repair at 47; 1,658 loans fall outside the named classes. Erie County holds 2,048 loans and Niagara County 335, so Buffalo-Cheektowaga is essentially one large county and a smaller neighbor. Volume began at 303 loans and $67.5 million in FY2017, bottomed at 164 loans and $44.2 million in FY2020, and peaked at 351 loans and $106.0 million in FY2025, before 207 loans and $70.5 million in FY2026.
Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company dominates 7(a) with 1,007 loans and $146.5 million, followed by KeyBank National Association at 282 loans and $83.8 million and NBT Bank, National Association at 169 loans and $40.0 million. The page lists no 504 lender for Buffalo-Cheektowaga. Those counts come from SBA's records of loans each bank holds or held; they say nothing about any bank's practices, and no lender requirement can be read from them. A Buffalo-Cheektowaga borrower is best served by treating them as evidence of where small loans have gone.
Buffalo-Cheektowaga cancelled 11.7% of approvals at minimum, FY2017 to FY2024 taken together, or 13.3% if undisbursed loans are included. Among its 999 funded loans of FY2017 to FY2021, charge-offs reach at least 4.6%, and 2.3% occurred within five years; open loans may raise both. Buffalo-Cheektowaga draws its boundary by running every loan's county through the July 2023 delineation, and loans in unplaceable counties are dropped. Because tickets are small, a study should not inflate cost or revenue beyond what a typical local project supports; it should test demand, build-out, coverage on a weaker year and local comparables for the appraisal. Restaurants and liquor stores each have their own checks, from sales per seat to licence transfer. Daniel Smith, MAI, signs the studies.
| Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026 | 2,383 |
|---|---|
| Gross dollars approved | $683.2 million |
| Median loan | $100,000 |
| Middle half of loans, from | $30,000 |
| Middle half of loans, to | $261,000 |
| SBA 7(a) loans | 2,220 |
| SBA 504 loans | 163 |
| Franchise share of loans | 7.2% |
| Rank among metro and micro areas by loans | 48 of 928 |
| Median loan against the national median | 0.48x |
| Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor) | 11.7% |
|---|---|
| The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling) | 13.3% |
| Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor) | 4.6% |
| Charged off within five years of approval | 2.3% |
| Loans in that cohort | 999 |
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 Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY Metro Area, by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | 303 | $67.5 million |
| FY2018 | 258 | $54.9 million |
| FY2019 | 225 | $60.8 million |
| FY2020 | 164 | $44.2 million |
| FY2021 | 189 | $81.9 million |
| FY2022 | 210 | $78.3 million |
| FY2023 | 227 | $63.1 million |
| FY2024 | 249 | $56.0 million |
| FY2025 | 351 | $106.0 million |
| FY2026 | 207 | $70.5 million |
| Asset class | Loans |
|---|---|
| Not in any of the 39 asset classes | 1,658 |
| Full-service restaurant | 165 |
| Limited-service restaurant | 105 |
| Liquor store | 56 |
| Fitness center | 53 |
| Automotive mechanical repair (car and truck) | 47 |
| Beauty salon | 47 |
| Coffee shop and snack bar | 28 |
| Dental office | 27 |
| Medical office (physicians) | 26 |
| Hotel and motel | 25 |
| Child care center | 25 |
| Rehabilitation and therapy clinic | 23 |
| Grocery store | 20 |
| Beverage manufacturing (breweries, wineries, distilleries) | 18 |
| Gas station and truck stop | 13 |
| Car wash | 11 |
| Veterinary clinic | 10 |
| Caterers (includes banquet halls with catering staff) | 7 |
| Nonresidential lessor (flex, office and retail investor buildings) | 5 |
Classes with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are withheld, and more where a small one could be derived.
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company | 1,007 | $146.5 million |
| KeyBank National Association | 282 | $83.8 million |
| NBT Bank, National Association | 169 | $40.0 million |
| Northwest Bank (PA) | 124 | $22.9 million |
| Five Star Bank (NY) | 103 | $18.9 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.
| County | Loans |
|---|---|
| Erie County, NY | 2,048 |
| Niagara County, NY | 335 |
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-15380.
A worked example of the feasibility study a lender would read for a short-term rental project in New York, financed with a conventional bank loan.
Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a commercial project in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY 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.
Start with the data.
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