Small Business Loans in Vermont

Vermont has 75,000 small businesses employing 153,000 workers — 52.3 percent of the state's private workforce — one of the highest small business employment shares in New England. In FY2024, Vermont small businesses received 187 SBA 7(a) loans totaling $69 million, with an average loan size of approximately $371,000. Vermont's SMB economy is built on outdoor recreation and tourism (ski resorts, fall foliage, hiking), specialty agriculture (maple syrup — Vermont produces more than any other state — dairy, artisan food production), and a growing remote-work professional services sector.

Vermont's ski economy — Stowe, Killington, Mad River Glen, and dozens of smaller resorts — creates a large seasonal hospitality SMB sector with very concentrated winter and summer revenue patterns. Revenue-based financing and working capital lines are essential tools for Vermont ski-area hospitality businesses managing the gap between high seasons. Vermont's artisan food economy — craft beer (more breweries per capita than any US state), cheese, maple products, and specialty foods — creates a manufacturing and direct-to-consumer SMB sector with equipment financing and SBA 7(a) needs.

Vermont has no statewide commercial financing disclosure law. The state's small size and high community banking density mean many Vermont SMBs have traditional bank relationships, but SBA 7(a) and seasonal working capital products serve growth-stage and seasonal businesses. Data sourced from the SBA Office of Advocacy (advocacy.sba.gov), SBA FOIA loan dataset (data.sba.gov), U.S. Census Bureau (census.gov), and the Federal Reserve Small Business Credit Survey (fedsmallbusiness.org).