SBADecoded
Home / Industries / General Freight Trucking, Long-Distance, Truckload

Industry · SBA lending record

SBA loans for general freight trucking, long-distance, truckload

30,971 SBA 7(a) loans since 2010. What they were for, how big, how long, and how often they went wrong.

Loans made
30,971
2010 onward
Typical loan
$50k
median approved
Typical term
7 yr
Default rate
3.2%
all industries 2.1%

Against other industries

defaulted within 7 years
General Freight Trucking, Long-Distance, Truckload
3.2%
Full-Service Restaurants
3.2%
Offices of Lawyers
2.2%
All Other Specialty Trade Contract
3.4%
Offices of Dentists
1.7%
All SBA 7(a) loans
2.1%

Default rate is not a judgement on the industry. It tells you how a lender will price your risk, and how much cushion you should build in.

When borrowers got into trouble

share of failures by year
Year 1
2%
Year 2
16%
Year 3
21%
Year 4
21%
Year 5
15%
Year 6+
26%

Trouble rarely arrives in year one. It arrives when the opening cash is gone — which is an argument for borrowing more working capital, not less.

What this means for your application

A typical loan here runs $50k over 7 years. If you are asking for far more than that, expect harder questions and a longer file. If far less, check which lenders will even take it — many won't go below $150,000.

Find lenders by minimum loan → Check the numbers work →

Source SBA 7(a) FOIA, NAICS 484 Released 2026-06-30 Loans 30,971

Related industries