Small businesses are booming in one American city and it’s not New York City, Los Angeles or Chicago.
Indianapolis is the fastest-growing metro area for small businesses, according to a report published last week from commercial lender Bluevine. The report’s rankings are based on a year-on-year comparison of the total number of Bluevine funding applications in a given metropolitan area.
The company surveyed 1,067 company stakeholders at small businesses with annual revenue between $50,000 and $5 million and more than 200,000 active Bluevine accounts. Bigger cities such as New York and Los Angeles brought in the most applications, but it was the smaller cities that showed the most growth, Bluevine Senior Public Relations Manager Rob Pursell wrote in an analysis of the results.
“As expected, the massive cities that have historically led business growth continued to drive small business activity. New York, Los Angeles, Houston, and Chicago finished in the top six of the most total Bluevine account applications for 2025,” Pursell wrote. “But as we looked deeper, a more interesting trend emerged – small metros saw meteoric growth in Bluevine account openings.”
The study also found that while funding applications are on the rise in some cities, there’s an overall feeling of uneasiness and stress among small business owners.
Indianapolis far ahead of other cities
The study found that Indianapolis’ Bluevine small business funding applications increased 361 percent, or 161 percentage points higher than the second-fastest growing small business city, Columbus, Ohio.
Washington, D.C.’s, 175 percent growth rate was third on Bluevine’s list. The lender noted it saw a significant uptick in applications from the D.C. metro area in the wake of the government shutdown.
“Washington, D.C., saw application levels explode at roughly the same time large-scale federal layoffs were announced, finishing 2025 as the metro with the third-most applications behind New York and Los Angeles,” the report said.
Small businesses are still struggling
Bluevine’s study found that many of the small businesses that applied for loans in 2025 are facing strong financial headwinds. More than four in 10 said they were dealing with high operating costs, Bluevine said.
Another 31 percent said they found the rising cost of goods sold a challenge.
Business owners seem to be managing the pressures as best as they can, with many respondents saying they question if running their company was worth it, don’t take a full day off every week, delay paying themselves and sacrifice important areas of their lives.
“Some surveyed participants noted a more personal toll from day-to-day ownership: Nearly half (49.2 percent) of respondents said they regularly questioned whether running their business was worth it, 21.6% said they don’t take a full day off per week, 60.3. percent reported delayed paying themselves, and 77.5 percent reported major sacrifices affecting their health, relationships, and financial stability,” Bluevine said.