LoanRound
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DATA & METHODOLOGY

How we build LoanRound from public SBA data.

LoanRound is built on loan-level SBA 7(a) and 504 approvals released under FOIA. We clean, geocode, and aggregate those records so they can be searched, mapped, and compared, without ever changing what the SBA published. Here is exactly how, and how to read the numbers responsibly.

Primary source

Borrower and loan records come directly from the SBA's public 7(a) and 504 FOIA releases, approval amounts, guaranty and third-party dollars, lender fields, dates, NAICS, jobs supported, and loan status. We do not add projections, estimates, or scraped reviews.

Geocoding

Borrower locations are geocoded to latitude/longitude so loans can be mapped and searched by radius. About a fifth of records don't resolve to precise coordinates; those still appear in tables and aggregates but not as map pins.

Refresh cadence

The SBA publishes updated FOIA files on a roughly quarterly basis. LoanRound re-ingests each release in full and rebuilds its lender, city, and industry aggregates so leaderboards stay in sync.

Interpretation limits

An approval is not a disbursement, and historical activity does not predict future decisions. Lender names reflect the SBA's records and may not roll up subsidiaries to a parent bank. Read individual records in context.

LoanRound uses public SBA loan data for research and lender discovery. Historical loan activity does not guarantee future loan approval.

Official sources

SBA 7(a) & 504 FOIA data

Loan-level approval records released by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

SBA lending statistics

Program-level totals and lender participation, used to sanity-check aggregates.

NAICS reference

Industry codes and descriptions used to group and label loans.