SBA Loan Statistics for Consulting Firms
SBA 7(a) loan statistics for consulting and professional services — median loan sizes, rates, acquisition activity, and SMB valuation context.
Data as of 2025-09-30 · Based on 4,867 SBA 7(a) loans across 7 NAICS codes
Industry Debt Benchmark
Median SBA 7(a) gross approval for Consulting (FY 2025)
Avg Interest Rate (FY 2025)
9.94%
Acquisitions
9%
Loans (Selected FY)
2,482
+4% vs FY 2024
Loan Purpose Mix
How SBA 7(a) loans in your industry break down by business purpose · FY 2025
9% of SBA loans in your sector fund ownership changes — a signal of consolidation and reinvestment activity.
Typical Loan Size
Interest Rate Trend
All-years avg: 11.05% (FY 2024–2025)
Acquisition Activity in Your Sector
The share and size of Change of Ownership SBA loans signals how active acquisition financing is in your industry.
Acquisition Share
9%
Median Loan
$455,500
Median Rate
9.56%
Median Term
120 mo
12% of acquisition loans involved a franchise brand (e.g. Super 8, Urban Air, One Hour Air).
FY 2025 · 224 Change of Ownership loans · Loan approval ≠ purchase price
Two Markets for Consulting
Public markets reward scale and liquidity. SMB lending reflects the capital available to businesses your size.
Wall Street
EV / EBITDA
16.8×
EBITDA Margin
15.4%
152 public firms in dataset
Main Street
SMB Multiple
4.6×
Median SBA Loan
$297,279
2,482 SBA loans (latest FY)
Public comps in this sector trade at 3.7× the typical SMB multiple — a size and liquidity discount Main Street buyers rarely escape.
The spread between these markets is the illiquidity and size discount built into SMB economics.
Public industry cost of capital: 8.3%
Important context
SBA loan approvals reflect financing amounts, not business enterprise value. Not all exits or acquisitions use SBA debt — buyers typically combine equity, seller notes, and conventional bank financing.
Data is aggregated and anonymized from SBA FOIA disclosures and Damodaran industry datasets. Public company multiples reflect listed firms and are not direct comparables for most SMB transactions.
See our valuation methodology for how XIT blends FCFF, FCFE, and EV/EBITDA — and why SBA loan sizes are financing context, not a formal appraisal.
What owners should know
Consulting firms are asset-light, which makes lender behavior the binding constraint on many deals. SBA 7(a) data shows how professional services businesses finance growth and ownership changes: median approvals, rate trends, and acquisition share in the latest fiscal year. We aggregate FOIA disclosures for business and consumer services NAICS codes and compare them to public-company benchmarks. Use this when evaluating a bolt-on acquisition, succession plan, or partner buyout — understanding what debt markets actually fund before you name a price.