Child Care Center Feasibility Study in the Madison, WI Metro Area
What SBA's own loan files show about child care center lending in the Madison, WI Metro Area, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.
Child care weighs heavily in the Madison metro
Child care ranks third of 39 asset classes in the Madison metro area, and the location quotient of 2.33x shows lending for it running at more than double the national weight. Across FY2017 to FY2026 the files carry 61 child care center loans and $52.8 million approved. A median of $540,000 is 1.19x the nationwide class median, and the Madison middle half spans $240,000 to $1.2 million. Madison places 38 of 493 in the metro and micro ranking. At $1.2 million the top of the range is over twice the $540,000 median, which stretches the spread upward.
Program split and brand share
Of Madison's 61 loans, 39 are 7(a) and 22 are 504. Franchise share is 16.4%. Since the industry code includes in-home providers as well, Madison's figures cannot isolate centers from family homes.
Leading holders and printed years
Summit CU has 7 of the 7(a) loans ($2.8 million), Oak Bank has 5 ($3.9 million), and Lake Ridge Bank has 5 ($838,500). These are recorded holdings and no statement of any lender's approach. The printed years are FY2017 (8 loans, $5.2 million), FY2019 (7, $2.4 million), FY2020 (10, $7.6 million), FY2021 (7, $8.3 million), FY2022 (7, $6.3 million) and FY2024 (5, $5.7 million). FY2021 brought the highest dollars among them, while FY2020 brought the most loans. Loan Analytics withholds FY2018, FY2023, FY2025 and FY2026. No county list is printed for this cell.
Outcome rates are absent
Loan Analytics keeps back Madison's cancellation and charge-off rates for child care, so no floor, ceiling or loss figure is given and none is zero. Loans reach the metro only if their project county matches the July 2023 area list by name.
The Madison study agenda
A study should set licensed capacity against the number of young children within reach of the site, and test staffing ratios and payroll. Because the median is $540,000 with 22 of the 61 loans under 504, cost work will include a real building, outdoor space and code compliance. Debt service should be run on a staged enrollment ramp, and the appraiser should say how much value sits in the property and how much in the licensed operation.
SBA child care center loans in the Madison, WI Metro Area
| Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026 | 61 |
|---|---|
| Gross dollars approved | $52.8 million |
| Median loan | $540,000 |
| Middle half of loans, from | $240,000 |
| Middle half of loans, to | $1.2 million |
| SBA 7(a) loans | 39 |
| SBA 504 loans | 22 |
| Franchise share of loans | 16.4% |
| Rank among metro and micro areas for child care center loans | 38 of 493 |
| Rank of child care center among the classes in this area | 3 of 39 |
| Location quotient (share of loans against the national share) | 2.33x |
| Median loan against the national median for the class | 1.19x |
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 Madison, WI Metro Area, by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | 8 | $5.2 million |
| FY2018 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2019 | 7 | $2.4 million |
| FY2020 | 10 | $7.6 million |
| FY2021 | 7 | $8.3 million |
| FY2022 | 7 | $6.3 million |
| FY2023 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2024 | 5 | $5.7 million |
| FY2025 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2026 | withheld | withheld |
Most active SBA lenders
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Summit CU | 7 | $2.8 million |
| Oak Bank | 5 | $3.9 million |
| Lake Ridge Bank | 5 | $838,500 |
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.
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-31540-C36.
Related feasibility study pages
- Child care center feasibility study consultant
- Feasibility Study Data for the Madison, WI Metro Area
- Child Care Center Feasibility Study in Wisconsin
- Wisconsin feasibility study consultant
- Feasibility Study Data by Metro Area
- Feasibility studies for SBA 7(a) and 504 loans
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