STATE GUIDE
Independent third-party feasibility studies for SBA 7(a) and SBA 504 projects across Virginia, prepared to SOP 50 10 8 standards for lenders, CDCs, and SBA review.
#15
National rank, SBA dollar volume
$689M
Virginia 7(a) dollars, calendar 2025
1,377
7(a) loans, calendar 2025
$583K
Average Virginia Beach 7(a) loan, calendar 2025
2,800+
Business Finance Group lifetime businesses financed
$3.2B
Business Finance Group lifetime project financing
$8.37B
Virginia wine economic impact, 2025 study
$10M
Combined 7(a) and 504 cap from July 4, 2026
Virginia ranked fifteenth in the country by calendar 2025 SBA 7(a) volume at $689 million across 1,377 loans, with roughly $16.7 million in weekly proceeds per the SBA's own late 2025 analysis. The geography concentrates where the federal economy meets the water: Virginia Beach led the published city tables at $41.4 million across 71 loans averaging $583,000 through 34 lenders, with Fredericksburg at $27 million, Richmond at $16 million, and Leesburg filling the Northern Virginia approach.
The named program record runs through Fairfax-based Business Finance Group, the mid-Atlantic's leading CDC with more than 2,800 businesses financed for $3.2 billion supporting over 28,000 jobs across its history: Greater Unity Adult Services in Richmond on the residential care side, Belmont Peanuts of Southampton in processing, and Port City Brewing in the Alexandria area, while Chesapeake-based 504 Capital Corporation, with more than $250 million lent across Virginia, Maryland, DC, and North Carolina, carries anonymized marina and boat dealer projects in its published book.
Under SOP 50 10 8, special-purpose properties such as hotels, car washes, gas stations, self-storage, RV parks, and marinas normally require a third-party feasibility study, and projection-based deals carry the same expectation. The SBA serves 92 Virginia counties through the district office at 400 North 8th Street in Richmond; Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun counties and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, and Falls Church fall under the Washington Metropolitan Area District Office, a split any Northern Virginia deal team should know.
Between FY2010 and FY2026, SBA lenders approved and disbursed 13,991 7(a) and 504 loans across all industries in Virginia, totaling $6.84 billion at an average of $489,000 per loan. 88.5% were 7(a) loans, the remainder 504. 2,487 loans have been approved since FY2024.
Among the 9,808 seasoned loans in Virginia (approvals FY2010–FY2021), 8.1% reached adverse resolution — purchased, liquidated, or charged off — compared with 7.3% nationally. That performance runs above the national all-industry benchmark, which lenders weigh in underwriting. The state's most active SBA asset classes by loan count are restaurant, manufacturing, and medical or dental practice.
| Asset class | Loans FY2010–FY2026 | Approved volume | Average loan | Seasoned adverse rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurant | 1,367 | $558.0 million | $408,000 | 10.0% |
| Manufacturing | 706 | $409.2 million | $580,000 | 6.9% |
| Medical or dental practice | 485 | $288.5 million | $595,000 | 3.9% |
| Hotel | 349 | $757.8 million | $2.2 million | 1.1% |
| Trucking and logistics | 348 | $101.8 million | $292,000 | 9.5% |
| Fitness center | 302 | $131.6 million | $436,000 | 13.8% |
| Childcare center | 238 | $263.7 million | $1.1 million | 3.8% |
| Event venue | 132 | $41.8 million | $317,000 | – |
| Gas station and c-store | 131 | $81.1 million | $619,000 | 6.2% |
| Brewery, distillery, or winery | 115 | $71.2 million | $619,000 | 3.3% |
| Veterinary clinic | 111 | $100.1 million | $901,000 | 2.2% |
| Car wash | 87 | $119.8 million | $1.4 million | 11.6% |
| Assisted living | 26 | $40.0 million | $1.5 million | – |
| Liquor store | 25 | $5.4 million | $216,000 | – |
| Laundromat | 22 | $17.3 million | $786,000 | – |
| Self-storage | 19 | $22.5 million | $1.2 million | – |
| Marina or boat storage | 13 | $18.3 million | $1.4 million | – |
| RV park | 6 | $5.3 million | $888,000 | – |
– State-level rate not published where the seasoned cohort is under 30 loans; national benchmarks apply. Details in our data methodology.
Source: SBA 7(a) and 504 FOIA loan-level data, as of March 31, 2026. Disbursed loans only.
Across 13,991 disbursed SBA loans and $6.84 billion in approved financing, Virginia has enough local activity to give a feasibility study concrete comparables, not just national benchmarks. On the program side, most working-capital, acquisition, and partner-buyout financings will sit under SBA 7(a), while owner-occupied real estate and heavy equipment typically fit SBA 504. A rigorous third-party feasibility study is what turns those local numbers into a defensible credit narrative for the lender's underwriter and credit committee.
State loss experience
Mature-cohort SBA 7(a) loans in Virginia charged off at 7.70 percent by count and 4.01 percent by dollar, against national baselines of 6.44 and 2.92 percent. See the full 50-state analysis.
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT
Virginia is the only state in this build that routes through two SBA districts by design: Richmond serves 92 counties from the Blue Ridge to the Chesapeake, while the Northern Virginia counties of Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun, the wealthiest practice and contractor market in the state, report to the Washington Metropolitan Area District Office. The economic map follows the split: Northern Virginia carries the government-adjacent professional economy where medical and dental acquisitions clear the goodwill appraisal threshold as a matter of course, Hampton Roads carries the port, shipbuilding, and marina economy, and the I-81 corridor ties the Shenandoah's hospitality and beverage belt to the national freight network.
The water and the vine anchor the special-purpose classes. The Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the country, supports the marina and boating economy that 504 Capital's anonymized project record documents from purchase and improvement financings to a boat dealer's second location, while Virginia's wine industry, roughly 271 to 312 producers depending on the count, generated $8.37 billion in total economic activity per the WineAmerica 2025 study, a hybrid-grape growth story that puts winery and tasting room projections squarely in the projection-heavy territory lenders send to independent study.
92
Virginia counties served from Richmond
271-312
Virginia wine producers
$8.37B
Wine economic impact, 2025 study
$250M+
504 Capital lifetime lending
NAICS NAICS 7211 family
NAICS 721211
NAICS NAICS 7225 family
NAICS No dedicated NAICS; 812990 proxy segment
NAICS 811192
NAICS NAICS 447 and 457 families
NAICS 531130
NAICS 624410
NAICS NAICS 6233 family
NAICS NAICS 6211, 6212
NAICS 541940
NAICS 713940
NAICS 812310
NAICS NAICS 445310, 445320
NAICS NAICS 484, 4885, 4931 families
NAICS 31-33
NAICS 3121
NAICS 713930
The SBA serves 92 Virginia counties through the district office at 400 North 8th Street, Suite 1150, in Richmond, while Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun counties and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, and Falls Church report to the Washington Metropolitan Area District Office. Fairfax-based Business Finance Group, the mid-Atlantic's leading CDC with more than 2,800 businesses financed for $3.2 billion across its history, and Chesapeake-based 504 Capital Corporation, lending more than $250 million across four jurisdictions since 1983, anchor the CDC field, with the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority adding state programs and the SBDC network operating statewide.
SBA lending has no geographic eligibility test, so Virginia feasibility work follows four economies: Northern Virginia's government contractor and professional services market, the densest practice economy in the state; Richmond's corporate and healthcare base; Hampton Roads, where Virginia Beach led the published calendar 2025 city tables at $41.4 million across 71 loans and the Port of Virginia and Newport News shipbuilding anchor the industrial waterfront; and the Shenandoah and Blue Ridge corridors, where wineries, inns, and outdoor hospitality run on seasonal curves. The I-95 and I-81 corridors carry the freight economy.
Virginia's recent-period lender table led with GBank by dollars at $36.1 million on just 12 loans, M&T by count at 81 loans, Newtek at 63 loans for $32.3 million, and Live Oak at 20 loans for $27.8 million, with the ten largest lenders collectively financing roughly 1,400 businesses for $1.5 billion over the measured period; the in-state bench runs through Atlantic Union Bank, the most active local name in the Virginia Beach table, TowneBank, John Marshall Bank, and United Bank. The oversight climate applies at lower intensity than in most states: ReadyCap ranked seventh in the Virginia Beach table and Celtic Bank appeared far down it, and both were among the ten lenders USDA revoked from its own guaranteed programs in May 2026, with a June 2026 Senate letter asking the SBA to review the revoked lenders' records; no SBA action has been announced, and the practical step is to confirm any lender's current preferred status and recent program activity before committing a deal to it.
Business Finance Group, headquartered in Fairfax since 1982 and serving Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and DC, is the mid-Atlantic's leading CDC with more than 2,800 businesses financed for $3.2 billion supporting over 28,000 jobs across its history, including 102 loans for $83 million in a single recent fiscal year. 504 Capital Corporation, headquartered in Chesapeake since 1983, has lent more than $250 million across Virginia, Maryland, DC, and North Carolina, with a published project record reaching marinas and boat dealers. The CDC underwrites the debenture, addresses special-purpose status in its credit memorandum, and carries the package through SBA processing.
For loans in fiscal 2026 under SOP 50 10 8, effective June 1, 2025 and amended March 1, 2026: 7(a) loans run to $5 million with an 85 percent guaranty up to $150,000 and 75 percent above, statutory fees restored, and a 0.55 percent annual service fee, with fees waived for small manufacturers on loans up to $950,000. 504 debentures run to $5 million, or $5.5 million for manufacturers and energy projects, on the 50/40/10 structure, with manufacturer fees waived and other 504 loans at a 0.50 percent upfront fee and 0.209 percent annual fee. Equity injection follows the 10/15/20 ladder, and from July 4, 2026 eligible borrowers can combine programs for up to $10 million under Policy Notice 5000-879058, with sequencing that matters: a 7(a) balance no longer reduces 504 capacity, but 504 balances still count against 7(a) room. Virginia stacking: the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority runs loan participation, cash collateral, loan guaranty, direct loan, and bond financing programs that stack with SBA structures, the state's SSBCI allocation routes through the same authority, and C-PACE is available on a locality-by-locality basis.
Lenders and Certified Development Companies in Virginia do not need a business plan writer, they need an independent SBA feasibility study consultant whose conclusions survive credit committee. Our feasibility study company prepares signed, sourced studies to SOP 50 10 8 standards, with the analyst and reviewer named on the report.
Every Virginia engagement is calibrated to the program the file routes through: 7(a), 504 or Express. See when SBA requires a feasibility study, cost and turnaround, projections and DSCR testing and the methodology behind each Virginia study. Lenders and CDCs can start at for lenders or the CDC compliance guide.
About the firm and the analyst signing Virginia work: David Jones, MAI, CCIM, over 4,300 feasibility studies completed.
Fifteen-minute scoping call, written proposal inside one business day, firm fixed fee before you sign.
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