Feasibility Study Data for the Lake Charles, LA Metro Area

What SBA's own loan files show about lending in the Lake Charles, LA Metro Area, every asset class together, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.

The scale of lending in Lake Charles

204 approvals inside Lake Charles, LA between FY2017 and FY2026 carry $174.4 million in gross dollars. Then, Lake Charles comes in at 308 of 928 within all core-based areas counted by loans. $345,000 marks the middle loan; the inner half runs from $150,000 to $1.1 million. Worth noting: the median in Lake Charles stands at 1.66x compared with the nation's median, pointing to tickets that sit above the figure for the nation. Here, Lake Charles counts only the counties in its area, not the blend a state page gives: 204 loans in total.

Lenders and programs in Lake Charles

188 loans in 7(a) stand against 16 loans in 504. Then, 29.4% of all approvals belong to franchised units in Lake Charles. In practice, within 7(a) loans, the leading lenders on loan count rank as The Huntington National Bank booking 21 loans totalling $12.3 million, BayFirst National Bank with 15 loans for $4.0 million; and JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association booking 13 loans totalling $5.4 million. In practice, within 504, the leading program intermediaries by approvals stand as Louisiana Capital Certified Development Company, Inc. at 10 loans and $3.2 million. Worth noting: these names follow SBA data covering 204 loans; they describe loans approved alone, never the terms that lenders apply around Lake Charles.

Counties, classes and yearly volume in Lake Charles

19 for hotel and motel, full-service restaurant with 10, gas station and truck stop at 9, then rehabilitation and therapy clinic at 7 top the class table in the file. 126 loans sit outside every named class, so the 204-loan file reaches beyond any class table. Also, 5 loans in fitness center inside Lake Charles are too few for a pattern. Here, among the counties, Calcasieu Parish (188) followed by Jefferson Davis Parish (16) take the largest shares. In practice, by year, FY2017 kicks off at 11 loans and $14.8 million; FY2018 is the high point at 30 loans and $24.3 million, then FY2026, the latest year, caps the count at 18 loans and $26.8 million.

What the floors allow in Lake Charles

8.1% among FY2017 to FY2024 approvals in Lake Charles were cancelled after approval before funding, a floor. Worth noting: the ceiling count for Lake Charles is not released, leaving the floor alone. In addition, 7.1% among FY2017 through FY2021 loans disbursed in Lake Charles were charged off, a floor, out of 84 loans. Also, the five-year rate stays withheld for Lake Charles, leaving the to-date floor to stand. Then, treat each percentage on this page like a minimum, as approvals made lately received limited runway to cancel or go bad, across 204 loans. An area on this page is defined as the area of a loan's site county, following July 2023 boundaries as issued; each county are paired name to name, so a project whose project county does not map is absent from all areas as a rule. In practice, named class or not, every loan under either program across Lake Charles counts within its $174.4 million total.

Testing a project in Lake Charles

In Lake Charles, any serious study covering a site should open with the subject property, instead of the 204-loan file. In turn, customer demand in Lake Charles heads the list: can Lake Charles's catchment carry the turnover planned, against competitors around Calcasieu Parish? Also, the local median runs 1.66x of the median nationwide, so prices here may be elevated; price the real scope against quotes from area builders. Separately, coverage of debt service joins demand to cost in Lake Charles: expected net income measured on the annual debt service, plus a downside case. An independent appraisal settles the question in this area: the as-built value must cover the loan asked for. Worth noting: an applicant carrying an outside written study of Lake Charles, ahead of approaching the lenders above, addresses the floors first; credit is decided by SBA and the lender in Lake Charles, so a study cannot guarantee it.

SBA loans in the Lake Charles, LA Metro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026204
Gross dollars approved$174.4 million
Median loan$345,000
Middle half of loans, from$150,000
Middle half of loans, to$1.1 million
SBA 7(a) loans188
SBA 504 loans16
Franchise share of loans29.4%
Rank among metro and micro areas by loans308 of 928
Median loan against the national median1.66x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor)8.1%
The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling)withheld
Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor)7.1%
Charged off within five years of approvalwithheld
Loans in that cohort84

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 Lake Charles, LA Metro Area, by fiscal year

0102030FY2017FY2018FY2019FY2020FY2021FY2022FY2023FY2024FY2025FY2026Loans, FY2017: 11Loans, FY2018: 30Loans, FY2019: 14Loans, FY2020: 12Loans, FY2021: 24Loans, FY2022: 18Loans, FY2023: 25Loans, FY2024: 27Loans, FY2025: 25Loans, FY2026: 18
Fiscal yearLoansDollars
FY201711$14.8 million
FY201830$24.3 million
FY201914$16.1 million
FY202012$2.8 million
FY202124$19.9 million
FY202218$26.2 million
FY202325$15.0 million
FY202427$11.9 million
FY202525$16.7 million
FY202618$26.8 million

Loans by asset class

Asset classLoans
Not in any of the 39 asset classes126
Hotel and motel19
Full-service restaurant10
Gas station and truck stop9
Rehabilitation and therapy clinic7
Limited-service restaurant7
Fitness 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
Louisiana Capital Certified Development Company, Inc.10$3.2 million
SBA 7(a): lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
LenderLoansDollars
The Huntington National Bank21$12.3 million
b1BANK15$7.3 million
BayFirst National Bank15$4.0 million
JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association13$5.4 million
Live Oak Banking Company7$5.8 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
Calcasieu Parish, LA188
Jefferson Davis Parish, LA16

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-29340.

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a commercial project in the Lake Charles, LA 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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