Key insights from the 2024 Small Business Credit Survey

The Small Business Credit Survey (SBCS) is a collaboration of all 12 Federal Reserve Banks and provides timely information about small business conditions to policymakers and service providers. The 2024 survey was fielded from September to November 2024 and reached more than 7,600 small employer firms, collecting information about the performance, challenges, and credit-seeking experiences of businesses across the United States.
The 2024 survey finds that many metrics remained stable year over year. Expectations for future revenue and employment growth, recent applications for credit, and the outcomes of those applications mostly held steady. Rising costs of goods, services, and/or wages—the most commonly cited financial challenge in the past three surveys—was again the most prevalent issue.
The 2024 survey data suggest a decline in small business revenue growth in the past year. For the first time since the 2021 survey, firms were more likely to report that revenues decreased rather than increased in the prior 12 months. Relatedly, the 2024 SBCS finds an increase in the share of firms that cited difficulty reaching customers and growing sales, making this the most commonly reported operational challenge. The share that reported weak sales as a financial challenge increased year over year as well.
Regarding credit applicants, 2024 survey data show that, despite little movement in the application and approval rates, there was a shift in the types of lenders from which small businesses sought financing. The 2024 data indicate that the application rate at large banks declined by 5 percentage points year over year, while the application rates at small banks, online lenders, finance companies, and credit unions mostly held steady.
The survey opened for responses on September 4, 2024, and closed on November 4, 2024. It yielded 7,653 responses from a nationwide convenience sample of small employer firms with 1–499 full- or part-time employees (hereafter “firms” or “businesses”) across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. This publication summarizes data for firms that were currently operating or temporarily closed at the time of the survey.
Firm performance and expectations were little changed year over year, though the revenue performance index declined for the second consecutive survey cycle as challenges with sales persisted.
The share of firms with more than $100,000 in outstanding debt remained higher than prepandemic levels, and elevated levels of existing debt played an increasing role in the denial of financing applications.
The share of firms that applied for loans, lines of credit, or merchant cash advances remained stable year over year. Approvals were steady as well, but applicants’ satisfaction with their lenders fell.
The 2024 SBCS sought insight on some special topics, including the composition of firms’ customers, the physical space in which firms operate, and the insurance coverage they maintain.
The SBCS is an annual survey of firms with fewer than 500 employees. Respondents are asked to report information about their business performance, financing needs and choices, and borrowing experiences. Responses to the SBCS provide insights into the dynamics behind lending trends and shed light on various segments of the small business population. The SBCS is not a random sample; results should be analyzed with awareness of potential biases that are associated with convenience samples.
For detailed information about the survey design and weighting methodology, please visit the Methodology section.
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