Arizona Comes in Fifth of States Where Businesses Struggle with Debt the Most

A new study has revealed that businesses in Georgia have been granted the highest average in loans compared to small businesses in any other state. Arizona businesses have the fifth highest average loans at $705,000.

A study by business formation experts, CreditDonkey, analyzed government data from the U.S. Small Business Administration lender reports from 2020-2023 (inclusive) to identify which states have taken out the highest and lowest average business loans. The study analyzed 251,834 loans approved in the US over the period.

For each state, the total loan approvals and total loan value were calculated across loan types: 504, 7(a), CA and microloans. The states were then ranked by the average loan value businesses faced over the four years.

The study revealed that Georgia has the highest average business loans in the US – where businesses have been granted an average loan amount of $816,892 over the four years. The data identified that businesses in the state had been approved for over $6 billion across 7,429 loans in the period analyzed.

Texas ranks second with an average business loan amount of $807,003 per business – this is 56% higher than the US national average of the approved business loans analyzed in the study. In total, the state’s businesses were approved over $13.6 billion across 16,920 loans.

Ranking third, businesses in California were found to have been approved for average loan values of $803,703 – which the study found to be based on a total of more than $23.8 billion in funds loaned across a substantial 29,698 loans. This is both the highest total loan amount and the number of loans approved in any state over the four years analyzed.

Fourth on the list is North Carolina, which the study found has an average loan amount of $755,089 – based on more than $3.8 billion distributed between 5,054 approved loans to businesses in the state. This is 46% higher than the national average.

Arizona ranks fifth in the study. Between 2020 and 2023, businesses in the state were loaned an average of $704,958. This figure is calculated on the total loan amount issued in the state of more than $3.4 billion, which was provided across 4,916 loans over the last four years.

States with the highest average approved loans (2020-2023)

Rank	State	No. of Approved Loans	Total Loan Amount ($)	Average Loan Amount ($)
1	Georgia	7,429	6,068,691,136	816,892
2	Texas	16,920	13,654,486,487	807,003
3	California	29,698	23,868,365,682	803,703
4	North Carolina	5,054	3,816,222,114	755,089
5	Arizona	4,916	3,465,571,854	704,958
6	Louisiana	1,572	1,077,552,343	685,466
7	Alaska	481	326,199,500	678,169
8	Tennessee	2,516	1,677,941,083	666,908
9	Nevada	2,460	1,626,207,980	661,060
10	South Carolina	2,694	1,779,940,330	660,705

As well as finding the states with the highest average business loans over the last four years, the study by business formation experts CreditDonkey also identified the states where businesses have the lowest average loans.

The state with the lowest loan value is Vermont, with an average business loan amount of $254,815 – this is 51% lower than the national average when compared to every other state. Over the four years analyzed, businesses in the state were approved for $213 million across only 837 loans.

The state with the second-lowest loan amount is Maine, as found by the study. Businesses in the state were granted approval on loans amounting to an average of $268,988 – with a total amount of over $463 million in approved credit, distributed across 1,724 loans over the four-year period.

Ohio businesses were found to require the third-lowest average loan amount between 2020 and 2023. This study found that the state’s businesses received an average of $277,388 in business loans – based on $4.5 billion across 16,413 approved loans.

Fourth is Hawaii, as the study found the average loan which businesses in the state have been approved for over the last four years is $316,343. This average is calculated on the total loan amount that Hawaiian businesses received over the period, amounting to around $177 million, which was distributed by 560 loans.

Maryland rounds out the five states with the lowest average business loan. The study found that businesses in the state took an average loan amount of $325,292, with a total of $1.5 billion loaned across 4,737 loans. This is 37% lower than the US national average over the four years.