50% of U.S. Small Business Say Interest Rates Have Hurt Their Businesses

As the Fed contemplates whether to raise interest rates again, Alignable’s Small Business Interest Rate Report reveals that: 50% of small-business owners say steadily increasing interest rates over the past 18 months have directly resulted in economic setbacks for their businesses. Further, 66% of the poll respondents in this group believe economic issues will persist even if the Federal Reserve doesn’t raise rates further. In fact, 38% of those struggling say that the interest rate must be reduced by at least 3 points before they envision rebounding again.

These are just a few findings emerging from a poll of 7,396 randomly selected small-business owners surveyed from August 5 to September 18, 2023. Here are a few other highlights: Reasons for the negative economic impact include reduced consumer spending with local businesses, vendors raising prices that are then absorbed by SMBs, deferred expansion plans because of high loan rates, and increased rates on SBA loans. Snippets of quotations from affected SMB owners express great intensity: *“High interest rates are killing me.”

• “My locally owned sub shop is being crushed under the weight of my SBA loan that keeps ballooning in monthly interest payments.” “The current high rates for loans paired with the lack of housing inventory has created a severe slowdown in real estate transactions.” Concerns cut across many sectors: real estate (81%), automotive (72%), transportation (64%), construction (61%), restaurants (56%), retail (51%), finance (49%), manufacturing (45%), and beauty shops (42%).

(See graph below.) Veterans (61%) and minority-owned businesses (58%) are suffering the most in terms of demographic groups. Many states have high percentages of SMB owners struggling under the weight of high interest rates, including AZ (63%), NC (59%), CO (58%), MD (57%), PA (56%), FL & TX (each 54%), NJ & MN (each 53%), CA (52%), MA (51%), TN (47%), IL & NY (each 46%), and CT (45%).