Sixth of 458 areas, yet only fourteenth locally

Among 458 areas, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is sixth for car wash loans, yet within the area the class comes fourteenth of 39. A location quotient of 1.01x sits right at the national share. The file has 116 approvals and $162.0 million gross. Median size is $1.0 million, or 1.09x the national figure, with the inner half of loans from $371,250 to $2.0 million. Cook County holds 64 of the loans, Lake County, IL 14, DuPage County 12, Kane County 7, and McHenry County and Lake County, IN 6 each.

The program mix splits as follows: 79 loans in SBA 7(a) and 37 in SBA 504. Franchise flags appear on 6.9% of loans.

The 504 companies lead

SomerCor 504, Inc. holds 18 loans worth $24.4 million and Small Business Growth Corporation 13 worth $14.6 million, the two 504 holders on SBA's list. For 7(a), the table reads The Huntington National Bank (12 loans, $6.9 million), Byline Bank (11, $24.1 million), Millennium Bank (IL) (8, $11.8 million), U.S. Bank, National Association (8, $4.1 million) and Celtic Bank Corporation (5, $18.8 million). Byline's and Celtic's loans are large for their count. Rows like these report present holders; they imply nothing about a holder's standards.

Loan Analytics withholds the cancellation rate for Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, so no figure for it is printed here and none is implied. Of 57 Chicago-area loans funded across FY2017 to FY2021, 0.00% show a charge-off so far and 0.00% a charge-off inside five years; these are floors from a small group, not guarantees. Approvals fell from 15 in FY2017 to 7 in FY2020, then rose to 16 in FY2025, worth $13.6 million.

What a Chicago-area car wash study must test

Volume is everything in a car wash, so the study begins with traffic counts on the site's street, the visibility of the entrance and the stacking room for queues. It then models the mix of express tunnel, in-bay and membership customers. Equipment takes a large share of cost, and water and wastewater rules shape permitting, so timing risk belongs in the budget. Where the borrower owns the land, an appraiser should value the dirt and building apart from the wash business. One data limit: car, truck and mobile washes all share a single industry entry, so no single type can be isolated. Chicago totals take in a loan only if its county was matched on the July 2023 list.

SBA car wash loans in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026	116
Gross dollars approved	$162.0 million
Median loan	$1.0 million
Middle half of loans, from	$371,250
Middle half of loans, to	$2.0 million
SBA 7(a) loans	79
SBA 504 loans	37
Franchise share of loans	6.9%
Rank among metro and micro areas for car wash loans	6 of 458
Rank of car wash among the classes in this area	14 of 39
Location quotient (share of loans against the national share)	1.01x
Median loan against the national median for the class	1.09x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor)	withheld
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	57

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 car wash loans approved in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metro Area, by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Loans	Dollars
FY2017	15	$19.3 million
FY2018	10	$12.9 million
FY2019	11	$29.8 million
FY2020	7	$7.3 million
FY2021	14	$15.5 million
FY2022	8	$14.7 million
FY2023	13	$21.0 million
FY2024	13	$15.2 million
FY2025	16	$13.6 million
FY2026	9	$12.9 million

Most active SBA lenders

SBA 504: lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
Lender	Loans	Dollars
SomerCor 504, Inc.	18	$24.4 million
Small Business Growth Corporation	13	$14.6 million

SBA 7(a): lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
Lender	Loans	Dollars
The Huntington National Bank	12	$6.9 million
Byline Bank	11	$24.1 million
Millennium Bank (IL)	8	$11.8 million
U.S. Bank, National Association	8	$4.1 million
Celtic Bank Corporation	5	$18.8 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
Cook County, IL	64
Lake County, IL	14
DuPage County, IL	12
Kane County, IL	7
McHenry County, IL	6
Lake County, IN	6

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.

Car and truck washes, including mobile washes, share one code.

Shared code: Truck washes share 811192.

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 MA-16980-C02.

Related feasibility study pages

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a car wash project in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN 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.

Daniel Smith, MAI

Car Wash Feasibility Study in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metro Area