What SBA's own loan files show about lending in the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC Metro Area, every asset class together, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.
342 SBA loans for projects in Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC from FY2017 and FY2026 total $254.8 million gross. Worth noting: Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton stands at 219 of 928 against the complete list of core-based areas by loan count. Here, $350,000 gives the typical loan; half of all loans spans $125,000 to $945,000. For context, locally the median is 1.68x of the nation's median, which puts ticket size more than the usual national size. Worth noting: Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton keeps to its home counties, never a whole state's average: 342 approvals altogether.
325 loans under 7(a) sit beside 17 loans under 504. Beyond that, 11.7% of the loans on file involve a franchise brand in Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton. In 7(a) loans, the top lending names by loans rank as Live Oak Banking Company booking 42 loans and $54.7 million, Wells Fargo Bank National Association with 31 loans for $1.9 million, plus The Huntington National Bank with 13 loans totalling $3.5 million. In addition, within 504, the largest CDCs by approvals come out as Business Expansion Funding Corporation holding 11 loans for $5.8 million. Lender names come from SBA files for 342 approvals; they record past loans alone, never the terms that lenders ask for in Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton.
Full-service restaurant with 13, automotive mechanical repair at 11, 9 in gas station and truck stop, followed by fitness center with 9 lead the named classes by approvals. Also, 233 approvals sit apart from every named class, so the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton total reaches beyond any class table. For context, 5 approvals in child care center inside Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton are too few for a trend. Across the counties, Catawba County (188), Burke County (75), followed by Caldwell County (51) carry the most loans. By year, FY2017 begins at 27 loans and $13.7 million; FY2025 sets the high mark at 51 loans and $37.8 million, then FY2026, the latest year, completes the file at 37 loans and $28.4 million.
7.9% of FY2017 through FY2024 loans in Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton were cancelled before disbursement, a floor. The ceiling count on this page stays withheld, so the floor alone is shown. In turn, no loss floor is shown for Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC; the cohort is too small, and a blank never means zero. In turn, take every rate in this section as a floor, since approvals made recently received too little time to cancel or go bad, across 342 loans. Area membership in the file rests on the core-based area which includes the loan's county of the project, on the July 2023 boundaries in force; counties are paired by name, while any loan whose site county cannot be assigned is dropped from each area by design. Separately, named class or not, any approval in either program in Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton is tallied in its $254.8 million total.
Throughout Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, a proper study aimed at a project opens with the project itself, never the 342-loan file. Market demand in Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton is the opening test: does Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton's neighbourhood demand sustain the turnover planned, against competitors in areas such as Catawba County? Here, the local median runs 1.68x measured against the nation's median, so construction quotes could run ahead in many cases; cost the actual scope against offers from nearby trades. The debt service test links demand to cost for Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton: forecast income compared with the debt payments, and a weak-sales case. Then, then the appraisal ends the sequence for Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton: value as built must support the borrowing proposed. Beyond that, a client who brings a separate report of Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, prior to calling on the lenders above, has answered the outcome floors first; the verdict sits with the bank and SBA in Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, and no study promises it.
| Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026 | 342 |
|---|---|
| Gross dollars approved | $254.8 million |
| Median loan | $350,000 |
| Middle half of loans, from | $125,000 |
| Middle half of loans, to | $945,000 |
| SBA 7(a) loans | 325 |
| SBA 504 loans | 17 |
| Franchise share of loans | 11.7% |
| Rank among metro and micro areas by loans | 219 of 928 |
| Median loan against the national median | 1.68x |
| Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor) | 7.9% |
|---|---|
| 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 loans approved in the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC Metro Area, by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | 27 | $13.7 million |
| FY2018 | 38 | $29.3 million |
| FY2019 | 32 | $20.6 million |
| FY2020 | 18 | $12.4 million |
| FY2021 | 31 | $31.2 million |
| FY2022 | 23 | $15.1 million |
| FY2023 | 38 | $34.8 million |
| FY2024 | 47 | $31.4 million |
| FY2025 | 51 | $37.8 million |
| FY2026 | 37 | $28.4 million |
| Asset class | Loans |
|---|---|
| Not in any of the 39 asset classes | 233 |
| Full-service restaurant | 13 |
| Automotive mechanical repair (car and truck) | 11 |
| Gas station and truck stop | 9 |
| Fitness center | 9 |
| Hotel and motel | 8 |
| Dental office | 8 |
| Limited-service restaurant | 7 |
| Self storage | 5 |
| Child care center | 5 |
Classes with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are withheld, and more where a small one could be derived.
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Business Expansion Funding Corporation | 11 | $5.8 million |
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Live Oak Banking Company | 42 | $54.7 million |
| Wells Fargo Bank National Association | 31 | $1.9 million |
| The Huntington National Bank | 13 | $3.5 million |
| First Community Bank (VA) | 12 | $6.1 million |
| Readycap Lending, LLC | 11 | $10.1 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.
| County | Loans |
|---|---|
| Catawba County, NC | 188 |
| Burke County, NC | 75 |
| Caldwell County, NC | 51 |
| Alexander County, NC | 28 |
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-25860.
A worked example of the feasibility study a lender would read for a hotel project in North Carolina, financed with a conventional bank loan.
Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a commercial project in the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC 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.
Start with the data.
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