More than 104,000 Colorado small businesses received $10.4 billion in federal Paycheck Protection Program loans to help tide them over during the coronavirus.
The U.S. Small Business Administration, which oversaw the $660 billion federal relief program, released the data on approved loans, and The Colorado Sun spent time crunching the numbers to find out more about where the loans landed. The loans are forgivable if terms are met.
Here’s what The Sun’s analysis found:
MORE: Check out a searchable list of which Colorado companies received Paycheck Protection Program loans
Where the loan recipients are
Counties with the largest number of loans were on the Front Range and dominated by Denver, with more than 18,000 loans. But some mountain communities had a good showing, including Eagle County, with approximately 2,365 loans approved. For the record, PPP loans were granted in all of Colorado’s 64 counties.
Data provided by the SBA included the names and addresses of more than 13,000 Colorado businesses that received loans between $150,000 and $10 million, though only approximate ranges were reported (see a searchable list below).
Loans for an another 91,000 small businesses in the state were shared with dollar amounts attached, but names were kept confidential (that list is also available below).
We’ve also mapped out the cities where PPP recipients are located:
Types of businesses getting loans
Back in March, when the idea of forgivable loans was discussed by Congress, restaurants and hotels became prime targets for the loans. Such businesses bore the brunt of safe-at-home orders and business closures, especially establishments such as Tivoli Brewing Company with a taproom in Denver and a brewery at the airport.
In Colorado, full-service restaurants topped the list of companies approved for loans more than $150,000. A handful of large chains based in Colorado received between $5 million and $10 million each, including Good Times Restaurants in Lakewood, Boston Market in Golden and Denver’s Punch Bowl Social, which is not reopening its new Stapleton location, according to Westword.
But the second largest category of small businesses were physician offices, then plumbing and HVAC businesses, then lawyers, engineering services, electrical contractors and religious organizations.
Nearly any business with fewer than 500 employees qualified, including nonprofits and religious organizations. In Colorado, several hospitals and health care centers and museums received loans, including Aspen Valley Hospital District and the Denver Art Museum.
Catholic Charities & Community Services in Denver, Cherry Hills Community Church in Littleton and Christian Living Neighborhoods in Englewood, were among religious organizations approved for the largest loans, $2 million to $5 million.
The banks and lenders
Colorado banks such as FirstBank and Alpine Bank provided a number of loans to small businesses. That was the intent of the SBA, which opened up lending to more local banks and community lenders in order to reach small businesses in all parts of the state. Here are the top lenders in Colorado, ranked by loans under $150,000 and over $150,000.
Search Colorado’s PPP loans
We’ve shared these searchable lists of loans before, but here they are again: A list of the more than 13,000 businesses approved for loans of $150,000 or more (business names were included but SBA provided only a range of loan amount), and a list of more than 91,000 businesses approved for loans below $150,000 (loan amount included, but SBA kept business names confidential):