Yakima is the extreme case in this group: a location quotient of 10.08x means that fuel and travel-center lending carries a far larger share than it does nationally, and gas stations and truck stops lead the area's own ladder at 1 of 39. The 52 approvals between FY2017 and FY2026 total $68.1 million, which puts Yakima at 21 in a field of 600, remarkable for a mid-sized valley economy. The median loan of $1.3 million is 1.20x the national class median, with central loans from $513,450 to $1.7 million.

A franchise-heavy single-county book

Yakima County, WA supplies every one of the 52 loans. Franchise units are 44.2% of loans, a large branded share, and 7(a) carries 44 loans against 8 for 504. PCB Bank shows 8 loans and $10.0 million, Celtic Bank Corporation 6 loans and $5.3 million, and Readycap Lending, LLC 5 loans and $6.7 million. All of them have large averages, in line with the multi-million-dollar median, so these look like site and building deals, not small refinancings.

Years that can be read

FY2017 gave 12 loans and $10.6 million and FY2018 10 loans and $9.9 million. FY2019 fell to 6 loans and $4.5 million, FY2021 gave 7 loans and $12.0 million and FY2024 6 loans and $14.1 million, the biggest dollar year shown. FY2020, FY2022, FY2023, FY2025 and FY2026 are hidden. A minimum of 10.9% of approvals dated FY2017 to FY2024 were later cancelled. Also hidden are a harsher cancellation measure and the loss rate, and neither is a zero.

The study for a fuel and travel site

Truck stops and travel centers are counted here with gas stations lacking a convenience store, and electric vehicle charging is absent from the index, so the study must name the format it means. In a valley with agricultural freight and a highway corridor, the traffic test should separate local trips from through trucks and count competing sites at each interchange. A location quotient of 10.08x invites a hard question about saturation. Environmental history, tanks and remediation exposure belong in the cost test beside the $1.3 million median, and the cash model should stress fuel margin and seasonal harvest traffic. The appraisal should split land, building, equipment and business value. Metro membership follows the July 2023 map.

SBA gas station and truck stop loans in the Yakima, WA Metro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026	52
Gross dollars approved	$68.1 million
Median loan	$1.3 million
Middle half of loans, from	$513,450
Middle half of loans, to	$1.7 million
SBA 7(a) loans	44
SBA 504 loans	8
Franchise share of loans	44.2%
Rank among metro and micro areas for gas station and truck stop loans	21 of 600
Rank of gas station and truck stop among the classes in this area	1 of 39
Location quotient (share of loans against the national share)	10.08x
Median loan against the national median for the class	1.20x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor)	10.9%
The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling)	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 gas station and truck stop loans approved in the Yakima, WA Metro Area, by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Loans	Dollars
FY2017	12	$10.6 million
FY2018	10	$9.9 million
FY2019	6	$4.5 million
FY2020	withheld	withheld
FY2021	7	$12.0 million
FY2022	withheld	withheld
FY2023	withheld	withheld
FY2024	6	$14.1 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
PCB Bank	8	$10.0 million
Celtic Bank Corporation	6	$5.3 million
Readycap Lending, LLC	5	$6.7 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
Yakima County, WA	52

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.

The code is the borrower's industry. Truck stop or travel center cannot be split out. EV charging has no entry in the 2022 NAICS index.

Shared code: Truck stops and travel centers sit inside 457120 with gas stations that have no convenience store.

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-49420-C01.

Related feasibility study pages

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a gas station and truck stop project in the Yakima, WA 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

Gas Station Feasibility Study in the Yakima, WA Metro Area