Feasibility Study Data for the Huntsville, AL Metro Area

Huntsville: what the area shows

Huntsville, AL logged 517 SBA approvals in FY2017 to FY2026, worth $309.5 million in gross dollars. Huntsville ranks as a mid-table area, 161 of 928 by loan count. In Huntsville, AL, every asset class is pooled for Huntsville. That view of Huntsville is missing from AL and national tables.

Huntsville: half of loans run $125,000 to $697,100, around a median of $300,000. Huntsville sits well above the national level, at 1.44x the national median, so a Huntsville study should size its request from Huntsville approvals. Huntsville counts 442 loans under 7(a) and 75 under 504, so 7(a) carries the Huntsville mix. 25.3% of Huntsville loans went to franchised businesses, so a Huntsville study names the brand, if any, for Huntsville.

Huntsville: classes, places and lenders

Huntsville: full-service restaurant (32 loans); fitness center (28 loans); limited-service restaurant (27 loans); hotel and motel (11 loans) head the tracked-class list. Another 345 Huntsville loans sit in no tracked class, so Huntsville totals describe operating businesses, not only property. Huntsville's top counties by loans: 459 loans in Madison County, AL and 58 loans in Limestone County, AL. Huntsville 7(a) leaders: The Huntington National Bank ($20.9 million, 49 loans); PNC Bank, National Association ($6.5 million, 35 loans); Newtek Bank, National Association ($10.4 million, 25 loans). Huntsville 504 leaders: Southern Development Council ($27.7 million, 23 loans); Birmingham Citywide Local Development Company ($24.5 million, 22 loans); Florida First Capital Finance Corporation, Inc. ($11.3 million, 15 loans), in that order. Huntsville lender figures, The Huntington National Bank's 49 loans included, are an SBA record of Huntsville loans held or once held; no Huntsville lender is judged by them.

Huntsville approvals peaked in FY2025 at 83 loans and $40.4 million, bottomed at 28 in FY2022, and ended FY2026 at 74, higher than the 63 of FY2017. A Huntsville borrower should know the cancellation record: 12.5% as a floor and 14.4% as a ceiling, for FY2017 to FY2024 Huntsville approvals. Of 189 Huntsville loans disbursed in FY2017 to FY2021, 7.9% are charged off, a floor. 5.3% of the Huntsville cohort was charged off in five years. Huntsville faces a geography limit: Huntsville, AL uses the July 2023 definition; 517 loans are matched by county, and unplaceable Huntsville loans are omitted, so Huntsville counts and rates are floors.

Huntsville: the study questions

A Huntsville feasibility study begins with Huntsville demand from the right counties: Madison County, AL leads the loan counts, though Huntsville is wider. If a Huntsville concept resembles full-service restaurant, Huntsville offers size and lender precedent; other Huntsville concepts must rest on their own Huntsville evidence. Huntsville costs belong on local bids; test Huntsville debt service coverage for a loan near $300,000, and again near $697,100. Huntsville is metropolitan; a Huntsville appraisal belongs in one submarket, not behind Huntsville averages. Nothing printed for Huntsville predicts approval; each Huntsville lender still reviews a study.