Top SBA Lenders in Florida

September 16, 2023

Adam Hoeksema

With hundreds of Small Business Administration (SBA) lenders how can you find the exact right lender for your business? In this article I am going to highlight the top SBA lenders in Florida. Specifically I plan to cover the following:

SBA Loan State Rankings
Top SBA Lenders in Florida
Best SBA Lenders in Florida for Startups
Florida SBA Lenders for Buying a Business
How to Find the Right Business Lender

With that as our plan, let’s get into it!

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SBA Loan State Rankings

The following list ranks the top states based on the number of SBA loans approved over the last 6 years (2018 - 2023). California tops the list in terms of number of SBA loans approved with 25,090 loans approved during this time period, but Florida ranks 3rd with just over 14,000 SBA loans approved with an average SBA loan amount of $620,885.

Resource: Top SBA Lenders Nationwide

Rank	State	# of Loans Approved	Average Loan Amount
1	California	25,090	$726,892
2	Texas	16,146	$796,513
3	Florida	14,001	$620,885
4	Ohio	13,785	$311,699
5	New York	12,547	$382,580
6	Michigan	9,271	$372,034
7	Illinois	7,479	$557,354
8	Pennsylvania	7,080	$473,172
9	Minnesota	7,054	$420,733
10	New Jersey	6,742	$531,682

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The top SBA lender in Florida over the last 6 years (2018 - 2023) was TD Bank with 2,209 SBA loans approved. This was nearly 3 times the number of loans made by Wells Fargo Bank which ranked second in Florida SBA lending during this time period.

Rank	Lender	# of Loans Approved	Average Loan Amount
1	TD Bank, National Association	2,209	$147,815
2	Wells Fargo Bank, National Association	760	$227,593
3	BayFirst National Bank	751	$380,008
4	Newtek Small Business Finance, Inc.	475	$717,060
5	JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association	468	$155,310
6	The Huntington National Bank	436	$450,078
7	Live Oak Banking Company	398	$1,586,095
8	Truist Bank	396	$778,687
9	United Midwest Savings Bank, National Association	353	$203,203
10	SouthState Bank, National Association	346	$865,309

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Best SBA Lenders in Florida for Startups

United Midwest Savings Bank has been the top SBA lender for startups in Florida over the past 6 years (2018 - 2023). This is a great example to demonstrate that the top SBA lender might not always be the best fit for you, because TD Bank, which was top of the overall list, is 7th on the list for startup lenders. Clearly TD Bank is not as aggressive with startup lending as they are with other SBA loans.

Rank	Lender	# of Loans Approved	Average Loan Amount
1	United Midwest Savings Bank, National Association	306	$140,124
2	The Huntington National Bank	224	$283,399
3	Stearns Bank National Association	101	$312,024
4	SouthState Bank, National Association	76	$901,307
5	United Community Bank	74	$532,146
6	Seacoast National Bank	63	$571,146
7	TD Bank, National Association	61	$234,385
8	Citizens Bank	59	$450,464
9	Wells Fargo Bank, National Association	58	$997,688
10	Truist Bank	51	$699,663

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Florida SBA Lenders for Buying a Business

Live Oak Bank is the top SBA lender in Florida for business acquisition loans. Live Oak Bank approved 212 SBA loans for business acquisitions between 2018 and 2023 which is nearly twice the number of the 2nd ranked lender Huntington Bank.

Rank	Lender	# of Loans Approved	Average Loan Amount
1	Live Oak Banking Company	212	$1,531,818
2	The Huntington National Bank	108	$804,194
3	SouthState Bank, National Association	74	$1,035,945
4	BayFirst National Bank	62	$883,390
5	Stearns Bank National Association	59	$399,693
6	Seacoast National Bank	57	$803,879
7	CRF Small Business Loan Company, LLC	54	$662,644
8	Lake Michigan CU	43	$1,270,537
9	Byline Bank	37	$1,535,473
10	Celtic Bank Corporation	36	$1,543,825

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How to Find the Right Business Lender

In order to find the perfect SBA lender for your unique location, business type, stage of business and loan amount request, you may need to do a deeper dive. We have developed an SBA Lender Analysis Tool as pictured below that can help you sort SBA loan data by State, Industry, Business Stage, Franchise Name, and Lender Name which can allow you to truly customize a report and find the perfect lender for your business.

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We hope this information has been helpful, and if you need any help finding the perfect SBA lender in your area please don’t hesitate to contact us.

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About the Author

Adam is the Co-founder of ProjectionHub which helps entrepreneurs create financial projections for potential investors, lenders and internal business planning. Since 2012, over 50,000 entrepreneurs from around the world have used ProjectionHub to help create financial projections.

Top SBA Lenders in Florida - Find your Lender

SBA Loan State Rankings