7 Top Markets for Bank Financing

For U.S. businesses, the real U.S. banking capital might be Milwaukee.

The U.S. Census Bureau has revealed the markets in which a large number of businesses get big bank loans, or other forms of banking financing, in a batch of copyright-free Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs data for 2015.

Businesses in the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) that includes New York City ranked first, with a total of 20,737 bank financing arrangements over $250,000 in 2015.

But, after adjusting for population, the New York City MSA ranked 37th in significant business bank financing activity.

The business bank financing activity ratio ranged from 67 companies with high levels of bank financing per 100,000 residents, in the Riverside, California, MSA, to 157 high-bank-financing companies per 100,000 residents, in Milwaukee.

The median was about 114 high-bank-financing companies per 100,000 residents.

Because bank financing is so much more common than investor financing, bank financing activity dominates the overall Census Bureau business financing data.

Many markets commonly thought of as centers of commerce ranked far down the population-adjusted bank financing list.

Chicago ranked 13th, and Los Angeles ranked 31st.

The Census Bureau does not distinguish between businesses that needed financing because they were failing and those that sought financing to fund growth. But, if the population-adjusted bank financing list does, generally, reflect financing related to growth, the list may imply that markets such as the Oklahoma City area and the Buffalo, New York area might be primed for strong overall growth and strong growth in demand financial services aimed at business owners and executives.

The Census Bureau posts information about the Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs, including links to survey data tables, here.

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