SBA 7(a) Gas Station Feasibility Study in Iowa

Small checks in a rural state

Gas stations in Iowa borrow lightly through SBA 7(a), well under their peers across the country. The median of $322,000 is only 0.29x of the national figure, the cell's defining metric, and the central half stretches from $70,000 to $1.5 million. The file holds 30 approvals from FY2017 to FY2026 worth $25.8 million. Iowa is 36 among states by count, while gas stations hold 10 of 39 at home. Franchise brands appear in 23.3% of the loans, usually a fuel brand.

Small counties, one bank

The lender named is First National Bank: 9 loans valued at $1.5 million make a small-loan portfolio. Clinton and Washington counties each show 5 loans, Boone shows 3, and Pottawattamie and Warren show 2 each, then a tail of single loans in other counties. Years vary: none in FY2023 and none in FY2024, against 4 and 4 loans in FY2019 and FY2025, and $6.1 million in FY2019.

What stays unmeasured

Both outcome measures are missing for Iowa fuel stores, because the early groups are too small to count, and a missing measure is not a zero. The code records the borrower's trade, so a travel center is not split from a store-less station, and charging has no place in the 2022 index at all. That leaves the cell as a record of lending volume and size, which suggests how rural fuel retail is financed in small bank-sized loans and how little can be said about its defaults from this file alone. The code identifies the borrower's industry, so a travel center is not split from a store-less station, and electric charging was never given a line in the index.

Testing an Iowa fuel site

Small-town fuel stores combine fuel with grocery items, food service and sometimes agricultural customers, so the study should establish the nearest competitors, the highway traffic and the loyal local base. It should estimate gallons and margin per gallon, and the inside sales with food service often drive profit. Fuel brand agreements can bind a store to supply terms, and the study should show them. Tank age, leak history and the cost of upgrades belong to the environmental section, along with the state's rules. A small median means many loans buy a store or equipment, and a purchase should be tested by rebuilding earnings from tax returns. Where a loan far exceeds the $322,000 median, the study should explain what is being built or bought. Coverage must hold when fuel margins compress, and the appraisal will separate land and building from business value.