How Cleveland ranks for car wash

Cleveland, OH stands 19 of 458 among metro and micro areas, on 39 SBA approvals from FY2017 to FY2026 worth $29.8 million. Share of loans for car wash in Cleveland comes to 0.86x of the national share: Cleveland weights the class lightly. Inside Cleveland, the class ranks 11 of 39, neither leading nor minor. Each Cleveland project county is in OH.

In Cleveland, the median loan is $322,000, and the central loans span $50,000 to $1.2 million. The median is 0.35x the national class median, so Cleveland tickets run lighter. Of Cleveland's loans, 29 are 7(a) and 10 are 504, a lender focus. 504 in Cleveland is the fixed-asset program. The share of franchised loans in Cleveland is 0.00%, brand reliance in brief. For Cleveland borrowers, that is context only.

Car wash lenders in Cleveland

Among 7(a) loans in Cleveland, SBA names as holders 13 loans worth $1.7 million at The Huntington National Bank; and 6 loans worth $10.2 million at Celtic Bank Corporation. No 504 holder is listed for Cleveland. Every Cleveland row is an SBA record. The Cleveland lenders named hold or held them. Cleveland figures show files, not conduct. No Cleveland row says what a lender requires. Across Cleveland counties, Cuyahoga County, OH records 18 loans; next come Lake County, OH (11), Lorain County, OH (5) and Medina County, OH (5).

Year by year, Cleveland shows FY2017: 8 loans, $6.3 million, FY2022: 5 loans, $5.5 million, FY2023: 6 loans, $3.1 million and FY2024: 6 loans, $6.6 million. FY2018 through FY2021, FY2025 and FY2026 stay blank for Cleveland on thin counts, and Cleveland blanks say nothing about activity. Cleveland has no published cancellation floor. Too few Cleveland approvals exist to print one. Cleveland has no published charge-off floor. In Cleveland, a thin cohort means unpublished. The Cleveland totals follow the 2023 federal list, with Cleveland loans placed by project county, and Cleveland omits unmatched counties. Car washes, truck washes and mobile units share a single code, so Cleveland counts treat them as one combined group.

Proving a car wash project in Cleveland

Cleveland treats car wash figures as background; a study decides. Each Cleveland study must establish land and building against equipment earnings. Cleveland analysis should establish stacking room for the entrance lane. The study should show a wet season and a winter case. Cleveland borrowers should expect the study to document how every wash type shares a code. In Cleveland, the study must show water, sewer and zoning approvals. Cleveland tests demand, cost, coverage and value. Cleveland lenders get evidence, not a promise.

SBA car wash loans in the Cleveland, OH Metro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026	39
Gross dollars approved	$29.8 million
Median loan	$322,000
Middle half of loans, from	$50,000
Middle half of loans, to	$1.2 million
SBA 7(a) loans	29
SBA 504 loans	10
Franchise share of loans	0.00%
Rank among metro and micro areas for car wash loans	19 of 458
Rank of car wash among the classes in this area	11 of 39
Location quotient (share of loans against the national share)	0.86x
Median loan against the national median for the class	0.35x

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)	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 car wash loans approved in the Cleveland, OH Metro Area, by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Loans	Dollars
FY2017	8	$6.3 million
FY2018	withheld	withheld
FY2019	withheld	withheld
FY2020	withheld	withheld
FY2021	withheld	withheld
FY2022	5	$5.5 million
FY2023	6	$3.1 million
FY2024	6	$6.6 million
FY2025	withheld	withheld
FY2026	withheld	withheld

Most active SBA lenders

SBA 7(a): lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
Lender	Loans	Dollars
The Huntington National Bank	13	$1.7 million
Celtic Bank Corporation	6	$10.2 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
Cuyahoga County, OH	18
Lake County, OH	11
Lorain County, OH	5
Medina County, OH	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.

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-17410-C02.

Related feasibility study pages

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a car wash project in the Cleveland, OH 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 Cleveland, OH Metro Area