Feasibility Study Data for the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC Metro Area

What SBA's own loan files show about lending in the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC Metro Area, every asset class together, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.

Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal: volume, rank and ticket size across Hilton Head Island, SC

463 SBA approvals landed here for Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal projects from FY2017 through FY2026, carrying $346.7 million across every asset class. Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal holds rank 178 of 928 against every other statistical area, Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal among them. The median ticket in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal is $305,000, with half of all loans between $92,500 and $827,000. Against the country, Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal borrowers take larger loans, at 1.47x of the national median. The typical ticket there sits well above the nationwide figure.

Hilton Head Island, SC: program mix and lender names serving Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal

The program split in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal is 438 under 7(a) and 25 under 504, so 7(a) accounts for most loans. Franchise brands account for 20.7% of loans in this metro area. 77 loans worth $15.9 million put TD Bank, National Association Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal first among 7(a) holders; next is Wells Fargo Bank National Association, 31 loans for $7.1 million. Live Oak Banking Company holds 21 loans, with 19 more at The Huntington National Bank. Under 504, Provident Business Financial Services, Inc. is the lead holder with 12 loans and $18.9 million, and 8 loans sit at Appalachian Development Corporation. In Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, these are SBA's records of Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal loans held, now or earlier. TD Bank, National Association Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal appears where SBA gives it as the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal holder; nothing here ranks one holder above another.

Hilton Head Island, SC: the class table and county table for Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal

Most of the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal total sits outside the tracked asset classes: 309 loans that carry codes outside the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal table. The Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal class rows therefore describe a minority of Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal lending. The Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal class table opens with full-service restaurant, 35 loans, then hotel and motel with 30, while coffee shop and snack bar has 12. Lower in the table come limited-service restaurant with 11 and fitness center at 10. The county table starts with Beaufort County, SC at 394 loans and then Jasper County, SC at 69. Two counties are listed, and Beaufort County holds most of the loans.

Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal: outcome rates, trend and data limits in Hilton Head Island, SC

A minimum of 10.0% of Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal approved loans made in FY2017 to FY2024 never funded. A ceiling for Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal would sit above 10.0%, but Loan Analytics leaves it unprinted rather than guess. The FY2017 to FY2021 cohort of 167 disbursed Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal loans shows Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal charge-offs to date of at least 8.4%; the first Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal five years after approval account for 5.4%. Loans keep aging, so these are floors that can only rise. The busiest year was FY2025, with 80 loans for $51.9 million; the thinnest Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal year before FY2026 was FY2020, with 26 loans for $29.5 million. Membership in the Hilton Head Island, SC metro area follows the project county: Beaufort County, SC, Jasper County, SC and the rest, counties are assigned under the July 2023 Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal delineation, with Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal counties matched by name.

Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal projects and the study behind them in Hilton Head Island, SC

In Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, a study must start from the individual county, given how unlike its Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal counties can be. The top class by loan count is full-service restaurant, so a study there should test liquor licence timing and cost, the lease term against payback, and weeknight trade. Projects in hotel and motel here turn on staffing cost per occupied room, with the brand and flag question close behind. A Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal operator's coverage should hold in a soft year; the appraisal needs local sales and Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal rents behind it. With bigger tickets common in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, the ask must be tied to what the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal site earns, whatever the area norm.

SBA loans in the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC Metro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026463
Gross dollars approved$346.7 million
Median loan$305,000
Middle half of loans, from$92,500
Middle half of loans, to$827,000
SBA 7(a) loans438
SBA 504 loans25
Franchise share of loans20.7%
Rank among metro and micro areas by loans178 of 928
Median loan against the national median1.47x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor)10.0%
The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling)withheld
Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor)8.4%
Charged off within five years of approval5.4%
Loans in that cohort167

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 Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC Metro Area, by fiscal year

020406080FY2017FY2018FY2019FY2020FY2021FY2022FY2023FY2024FY2025FY2026Loans, FY2017: 40Loans, FY2018: 48Loans, FY2019: 33Loans, FY2020: 26Loans, FY2021: 39Loans, FY2022: 34Loans, FY2023: 45Loans, FY2024: 56Loans, FY2025: 80Loans, FY2026: 62
Fiscal yearLoansDollars
FY201740$27.6 million
FY201848$35.4 million
FY201933$25.4 million
FY202026$29.5 million
FY202139$39.5 million
FY202234$32.1 million
FY202345$30.8 million
FY202456$31.8 million
FY202580$51.9 million
FY202662$42.6 million

Loans by asset class

Asset classLoans
Not in any of the 39 asset classes309
Full-service restaurant35
Hotel and motel30
Coffee shop and snack bar12
Limited-service restaurant11
Fitness center10
Medical office (physicians)8
Dental office7
Beauty salon7
Car wash5
Rehabilitation and therapy clinic5
Child care center5

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)
LenderLoansDollars
Provident Business Financial Services, Inc.12$18.9 million
Appalachian Development Corporation8$19.1 million
SBA 7(a): lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
LenderLoansDollars
TD Bank, National Association77$15.9 million
Wells Fargo Bank National Association31$7.1 million
Live Oak Banking Company21$20.2 million
The Huntington National Bank19$8.0 million
Northeast Bank (ME)19$3.1 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.

Where the loans are, by county

CountyLoans
Beaufort County, SC394
Jasper County, SC69

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-25940.

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a commercial project in the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC 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.

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