ST. LOUIS — When it comes to Paycheck Protection Program loan approvals, St. Louis ranks near the very top among U.S. metros with the highest approval rates, according to a new study from SmartAsset.
To compile its rankings, SmartAsset looked at how PPP loan acceptance rates have changed over time in the 50 largest U.S. metros using data from the Census Bureau's new Small Business Pulse Survey, which first surveyed small businesses for the week of April 26 to May 2. Business responses in the first week of the survey then were compared to those from the last week of May.
The PPP loans are intended for businesses with less than 500 employees and can be completely forgiven if at least 75% of the loan is spent on payroll costs. The program was quite popular when it first launched on April 3, quickly burning through the $349 billion initially allotted for the loans in a little over a week.
During that first round of the program, more than 80% of St. Louis-area small businesses had requested a loan and 67.5% of those businesses received approval, which was one of the highest rates in the nation. Oklahoma City and Kansas City had higher approval rates, at 88% and 77.5%, respectively, as of May 2.
St. Louis ranked at No. 6 as of May 2, but slipped to No. 15 even though its loan acceptance rate jumped to 97.3% as of the week ending May 30. According to SmartAsset, 77.7% of metro small businesses have requested a PPP loan as of May 30.
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