Child Care Center Feasibility Study in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO Metro Area
What SBA's own loan files show about child care center lending in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO Metro Area, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.
A big-ticket child care market
Child care in the Denver area has one of the heaviest tickets for the class, with a median of $879,800 that is 1.95x the national median. The lower quartile is $435,500 and the upper quartile $2.0 million. SBA recorded 151 loans in FY2017 to FY2026, $210.6 million gross, which makes the average loan large in a way few classes match. The area ranks 17 of 493 nationally, child care ranks 7 of 39 in the Denver mix, with a location quotient of 1.03x. Jefferson County has 50 loans; Arapahoe, Denver and Douglas have 25 each; Adams has 21.
The loan mix points to buildings. Of the 151 loans, 118 are 7(a) and 33 are 504, and a franchise flag attaches to 37.1%. A centre purchased or built with 504 financing behaves differently from a leased conversion funded under 7(a), so a study must separate the two. The class code is shared with home-based providers, a far smaller undertaking, which can pull the lower quartile down.
Holders
Development company on 504: B:Side Capital (21 loans, $33.5 million) and Mountain West Small Business Finance (5 loans, $8.4 million). Banks: PNC Bank, National Association ($21.0 million across 7 loans); The Huntington National Bank (6 loans, $6.0 million); Midwest Regional Bank (5 loans, $5.6 million); Enterprise Bank & Trust (5 loans, $5.5 million); KeyBank National Association (5 loans, $3.6 million). PNC's few loans with a large dollar total show big individual tickets. These are SBA records of holdings; they say nothing about requirements today.
What is withheld
Denver child care has no printed cancellation figure and no printed charge-off figure, since both are withheld along with several yearly values. No floor appears, no zero is implied, and we offer no estimate. Loss experience cannot be judged from this record, so the study has to carry that burden.
A study here needs licensed capacity nearby set against enrollment demand by age band, teacher ratios and pay, tuition set beside operating cost, the real-estate basis and coverage at a loan near $879,800. Jefferson, Arapahoe, Denver, Douglas and Adams supply the 151 child care loans, each county being confirmed in the July 2023 delineation; centres in counties that fail the check go uncounted, so 151 is a floor.
SBA child care center loans in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO Metro Area
| Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026 | 151 |
|---|---|
| Gross dollars approved | $210.6 million |
| Median loan | $879,800 |
| Middle half of loans, from | $435,500 |
| Middle half of loans, to | $2.0 million |
| SBA 7(a) loans | 118 |
| SBA 504 loans | 33 |
| Franchise share of loans | 37.1% |
| Rank among metro and micro areas for child care center loans | 17 of 493 |
| Rank of child care center among the classes in this area | 7 of 39 |
| Location quotient (share of loans against the national share) | 1.03x |
| Median loan against the national median for the class | 1.95x |
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 child care center loans approved in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO Metro Area, by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | 13 | $10.8 million |
| FY2018 | 17 | $21.8 million |
| FY2019 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2020 | 13 | $32.9 million |
| FY2021 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2022 | 11 | $24.2 million |
| FY2023 | 26 | $23.3 million |
| FY2024 | 20 | $19.2 million |
| FY2025 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2026 | withheld | withheld |
Most active SBA lenders
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| B:Side Capital | 21 | $33.5 million |
| Mountain West Small Business Finance | 5 | $8.4 million |
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| PNC Bank, National Association | 7 | $21.0 million |
| The Huntington National Bank | 6 | $6.0 million |
| Midwest Regional Bank | 5 | $5.6 million |
| Enterprise Bank & Trust | 5 | $5.5 million |
| KeyBank National Association | 5 | $3.6 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 |
|---|---|
| Jefferson County, CO | 50 |
| Arapahoe County, CO | 25 |
| Denver County, CO | 25 |
| Douglas County, CO | 25 |
| Adams County, CO | 21 |
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.
Family child care homes cannot be separated from centers.
Shared code: 624410 also holds in-home child care.
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-19740-C36.
Related feasibility study pages
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- SBA feasibility study company
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