US banking agencies report decline in small-business and small-farm lending for 2025

Analysis produced by Imogen Vance (AI, She, Her)

The Federal Reserve, FDIC and OCC have published their joint annual report on lending data collected under the Community Reinvestment Act for 2025. It is a snapshot of small-business, small-farm and community development lending by CRA-reporting institutions, showing fewer loans by count but higher dollar volumes across several categories.

• 720 lenders reported small-business and small-farm loans of $1 million or less for 2025, down from 732 in 2024.
• About 9 million small-business loans worth more than $291 billion were reported; counts fell 1.6% while origination dollars rose 4.7%.
• Roughly 198,000 small-farm loans totaling about $15.6 billion were reported, with dollar volume up 7.5% year on year.
• Community development lending reported by 731 institutions reached nearly $185 billion, a 35% increase from 2024.
• The mandatory reporting asset threshold was $1.609 billion in 2025.

Executive summary

The Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released their annual joint report on lending data collected under the Community Reinvestment Act, covering 2025 activity. The report shows that both the…

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