Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland publishes Small Business Credit Survey report showing revenue declines outnumber increases for first time since 2021

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, as part of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks, released the 2025 Report on Employer Firms from the 2024 Small Business Credit Survey, finding that small business pandemic recovery has plateaued. For the first time since 2021, more small businesses reported declining revenue than increasing revenue, while employment growth and most other metrics were broadly steady but still below pre-pandemic levels. The survey points to a shift in pressures, with reaching customers and growing sales replacing staffing as the top operational challenge and supply chain issues cited by 29% of firms, down from 60% in 2022, while rising costs remained the dominant financial challenge. Debt burdens increased, with 39% reporting more than USD 100,000 in debt (up from 31% in 2019) and 41% reporting financing denials due to elevated debt (up from 22% in 2021). Demand for credit at large banks fell by 5 percentage points year over year, and full-approval rates continued to sit below pre-pandemic levels, with full approval reported most often at small banks (54%) and least often at online lenders (30%), compared with 45% at large banks; satisfaction declined across lender types, including net satisfaction at online lenders falling to 2% from 15% year over year. The SBCS results reflect 7,653 responses from US employer firms with fewer than 500 employees collected between September 4 and November 4, 2024, and are not based on a random sample.