2026 Firms in Focus: Chartbook on Firms by Industry (Federal Reserve Banks (Small Business Credit Survey))

Summary

• The chartbook presents findings from the 2025 Small Business Credit Survey, an annual survey of firms with fewer than 500 employees.p.2
• The survey was fielded from September to November 2025 and shows data for employer firms only.p.2
• Estimates are shown only when the corresponding sample includes 50 or more observations.p.2
• Firms are compared across industries on performance, challenges, trade, debt, financing, use of AI and demographics.p.3
• Large banks are defined as those with at least $10 billion in total assets; small banks have less than $10 billion.p.60

Key insights

1. Employer firms are those with at least one employee in addition to the owner(s).p.2
2. Low credit risk firms have either a business credit score of 80-100 or a personal credit score of 720 or greater.p.59
3. Medium credit risk firms have a business credit score of 50-79 or a personal credit score of 620-719.p.59
4. When firms use both a business and a personal credit score, the weaker score is used to categorize the firm.p.59
5. Employer-firm responses are weighted using US Census Bureau data to represent the national small-employer-firm population.p.64