Great Falls lending, in outline

SBA approved 131 loans in Great Falls from FY2017 to FY2026, $54.9 million in gross dollars. By loan count, Great Falls stands 405 of 928 among all areas. The Great Falls median loan is $150,000. For Great Falls, the middle half lies at $30,000 to $440,650. Great Falls: 0.72x of the national median. Program mix for Great Falls: 104 7(a), 27 504. Franchise brands account for 6.1% of Great Falls loans. Great Falls dollars add to $54.9 million.

Great Falls: which classes and counties lead

Rehabilitation and therapy clinic (5) tops Great Falls; child care center (5) follows. The Great Falls record also holds 94 loans in no tracked class. Great Falls consists of Cascade County, MT, where SBA places 131 loans.

Great Falls: lenders in the record

Holders in Great Falls may not be the makers. Great Falls lists, for 7(a), Wells Fargo Bank National Association (15 loans, $372,900), Bravera Bank (8 loans, $1.2 million), and First Interstate Bank (7 loans, $2.0 million). Great Falls lists, for 504, High Plains Financial, Inc. with 16 loans ($9.4 million) and Big Sky Economic Development Corporation with 6 loans ($3.8 million). Great Falls rows serve a borrower as background. The Great Falls rows are silent on holder terms.

Great Falls: cancellations and charge-offs

Great Falls cancellation, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals: 21.3%. It is a floor for Great Falls. Great Falls withholds a ceiling: Great Falls loans are too few. No Great Falls charge-off rate prints. The Great Falls cohort is below the minimum. Read Great Falls as neither zero nor clean. Treat Great Falls rates as floors. Later events lift them, Great Falls included. Great Falls loans are placed by county name. Great Falls follows the July 2023 delineation. Great Falls omits loans with no county match. Great Falls totals hold untracked-class loans too.

Great Falls: what a study has to test

Great Falls volume ranged from 5 loans in FY2019 to 28 in FY2025, the latter for $8.0 million. FY2017 opened the Great Falls series with 12 loans ($2.4 million). The latest year, FY2026, shows 9 loans and $3.8 million for Great Falls. A Great Falls study weighs local demand against Cascade County, MT competitors, not national patterns. Great Falls costs sit beside a $150,000 median. Great Falls stands at 0.72x nationally. Great Falls coverage cannot assume smooth sailing. Great Falls floors say why. Great Falls appraisal evidence comes from area sales. Great Falls income evidence sits beside it. Absorption near Cascade County, MT is tested for Great Falls on a slow case. Beside Cascade County, MT findings, the Great Falls study lists what it could not test.

SBA loans in the Great Falls, MT Metro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026	131
Gross dollars approved	$54.9 million
Median loan	$150,000
Middle half of loans, from	$30,000
Middle half of loans, to	$440,650
SBA 7(a) loans	104
SBA 504 loans	27
Franchise share of loans	6.1%
Rank among metro and micro areas by loans	405 of 928
Median loan against the national median	0.72x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor)	21.3%
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 loans approved in the Great Falls, MT Metro Area, by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Loans	Dollars
FY2017	12	$2.4 million
FY2018	11	$1.5 million
FY2019	5	$502,400
FY2020	8	$2.5 million
FY2021	13	$8.2 million
FY2022	13	$9.9 million
FY2023	11	$2.5 million
FY2024	21	$15.6 million
FY2025	28	$8.0 million
FY2026	9	$3.8 million

Loans by asset class

Asset class	Loans
Not in any of the 39 asset classes	94
Rehabilitation and therapy clinic	5
Child care center	5

Classes with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are withheld, and more where a small one could be derived.

Most active SBA lenders

SBA 504: lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
Lender	Loans	Dollars
High Plains Financial, Inc.	16	$9.4 million
Big Sky Economic Development Corporation	6	$3.8 million

SBA 7(a): lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
Lender	Loans	Dollars
U.S. Bank, National Association	35	$2.8 million
Wells Fargo Bank National Association	15	$372,900
Bravera Bank	8	$1.2 million
First Interstate Bank	7	$2.0 million
Live Oak Banking Company	5	$2.2 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
Cascade County, MT	131

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.

All assets: every 7(a) and 504 approval in the metro, including those outside the 39 asset classes.

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 MT-24500.

Related feasibility study pages

Worked examples

Worked Example: SBA 504 Car Wash Feasibility Study in Montana, Two Self-Serve Bays and One In-Bay Automatic

A worked example of the feasibility study a lender would read for a car wash project in Montana, financed with an SBA 504 loan.

State: Montana · Asset: Car wash · Program: SBA 504

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a commercial project in the Great Falls, MT 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

Feasibility Study Data for the Great Falls, MT Metro Area