The small business loans New York owners can apply for run from bank and SBA loans that take weeks, to state-supported loans made through community lenders, to lines of credit, equipment financing and merchant cash advances that can fund within days. Today Capital Group is a broker, not a lender, and one application reaches funders offering revenue-based financing from $5,000 to $2,000,000, lines of credit up to $2,000,000, equipment financing up to $500,000, consolidation, SBA-equivalent and bank loans through partners, and commercial equity loans. We work with New York businesses, and every funder sets its own rules, including where it works. On many non-bank deals of up to $2,500,000, state law also gives you a standard table of the cost in dollars to sign before the deal closes.
Who needs small business loans in New York
The SBA Office of Advocacy's 2025 profile of New York counts 2.4 million small businesses, 99.8% of the businesses in the state, employing 3.9 million people, or 46.6% of the state's workers. About 1.9 million of those businesses have no employees and about 209,000 are classed as rural, so the owner of a Midtown shop and the owner of a Steuben County farm supply store are starting from very different places. A small business here means a firm with fewer than 500 employees, and these six industries employ the most people at such firms.
| Industry | People employed at small firms | Small firms' share of the industry's New York jobs |
|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 617,801 | 35.4% |
| Accommodation and food services | 537,380 | 73.0% |
| Retail trade | 354,625 | 40.7% |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 344,414 | 51.1% |
| Construction | 325,600 | 89.4% |
| Other services, such as repair shops and salons | 318,901 | 84.1% |
Small firms hold 89.4% of New York's construction jobs and 73.0% of its hotel and restaurant jobs, so a slow February in a dining room or a job site closed by snow lands on an owner with no corporate parent to absorb it. Our guides to restaurant financing and retail financing go deeper on two of these trades. Banks lend here too, and the same profile counts $5.0 billion in new 2023 loans from banks that report under the Community Reinvestment Act to New York businesses with revenue of $1 million or less.
What it costs to run a business in New York, from Manhattan to Buffalo
Your costs set how much you need to borrow, and they change a lot from one part of the state to another.
- The State Comptroller's 2026 report on New York City business costs puts average retail market rent in Manhattan at $52.45 a square foot in 2025, against a national average of $24.22.
- Tenants in Manhattan south of 96th Street paying at least $250,000 a year in rent owe the city's commercial rent tax, an effective 3.9% of base rent, according to the NYC Department of Finance, though a credit effectively exempts tenants with income of $5,000,000 or less and base rent under $500,000.
- The state Department of Labor sets the general minimum wage at $17.00 an hour in New York City, Long Island and Westchester and $16.00 in the rest of the state. On a crew of ten working 40 hours a week, that $1 difference comes to $20,800 a year before payroll taxes.
- A third of small businesses in New York City report waiting six months or longer to open because of licenses and permits from as many as 15 city agencies, according to the Comptroller's March 2026 paper on small business challenges, and rent can be running during that wait.
- The National Weather Service's monthly table for Buffalo averages about 89 inches of snow a season over the ten seasons through 2024-25, so a roofer or paver has to finish and bill much of the year's exterior work before winter.
A Brooklyn shop may need months of rent and payroll before its first sale, and a Buffalo contractor may need materials and crew pay until fall invoices are paid, so the table below starts from the need.
Business funding New York owners can get through us
| What the money is for | Product that usually fits | How fast | How it is repaid |
|---|---|---|---|
| A walk-in cooler for a Queens restaurant or a bucket truck for a Syracuse contractor | Equipment financing up to $500,000 | Offers typically in one to two business days | Set payments over the term |
| An off-season cushion for a Finger Lakes winery or a Hudson Valley inn | Line of credit up to $2,000,000 | Offers in one to two business days | Weekly or monthly, on what you have drawn |
| Materials before the first freeze in Buffalo, or holiday stock for a Brooklyn shop | Revenue-based financing, $5,000 to $2,000,000 | Typically one to two business days | A set daily or weekly payment |
| Several advances with daily debits, anywhere in the state | Consolidation | Set by the funder | One weekly or monthly payment on a longer term |
| A buildout on Long Island or a building purchase in Rochester | SBA-equivalent or bank loan through partners | Weeks | Monthly payments over years |
| Cash from a commercial building you own in Albany | Commercial equity loan or line | Commonly weeks | Monthly, or on what you draw from a line |
Revenue-based financing is a merchant cash advance. The funder buys part of your future sales in advance, sizes the amount on your usual revenue and collects a set daily or weekly payment until the agreed total is paid. The decision rests mainly on four months of business bank statements and it usually needs no collateral. A business line of credit works differently, because you draw what each week needs and repay on what you have drawn. Our guide to how to get a business loan covers the steps that apply in any state.
The funders we work with generally look for about a year in business and about $20,000 a month in deposits. If you're not there yet, apply anyway. Some funders work with newer or smaller businesses, and we'll tell you what's realistic.
How a merchant cash advance in New York is disclosed
New York's Commercial Finance Disclosure Law (Article 8 of the Financial Services Law) and the Department of Financial Services rule that carries it out, 23 NYCRR Part 600, require a standard disclosure when a provider makes a specific offer of commercial financing of up to $2,500,000 to a business principally directed or managed from New York. A provider may rely on the business address on your application. Part 600 calls a merchant cash advance sales-based financing, a term that covers a fixed payment with a reconciliation process.
Ask to see a separate document headed OFFER SUMMARY, followed by a short product name such as Merchant Cash Advance. For sales-based financing it is a table of ten rows in a set order, with one more row when payments are not monthly. If deductions or payments to others mean less reaches you directly than Funding Provided, a second sheet titled Itemization of Amount Financed shows the Amount Given Directly to You. If the contract has a reconciliation clause, the Payment Terms row has to explain it.
The provider has to get your signature on the disclosure before the deal closes, and an electronic signature counts. The wording above the signature line says you are confirming that you received the information.
Some deals do not come with this form. Section 802 of the Financial Services Law exempts banks, credit unions and other financial institutions, deals secured by real property, leases as the commercial code defines them, deals over $2,500,000, providers that make no more than five such deals in the state in 12 months, and certain financing for vehicle dealers and rental car companies. A bank loan or a commercial equity loan will usually fall outside it, so you would read those offers in the lender's own documents.
An example of a Buffalo contractor's advance in the state's table
The figures below are an example only, not a quote, a real disclosure or any funder's terms. Say a roofing and siding contractor in Buffalo averages $110,000 a month in deposits, with about $45,000 in each of January and February. In early October the owner takes a $60,000 advance at a factor rate of 1.30 to buy materials and carry payroll so two crews can finish before the snow. The total payback is $78,000, the cost is $18,000, and the contract sets a weekly payment of $1,950 for 40 weeks, with a reconciliation clause. Here is how those numbers would sit in the state's table.
| Row on the form | Example figure | How it ties to the offer |
|---|---|---|
| Funding Provided | $60,000 | The advance, with no deductions in this example |
| Finance Charge | $18,000 | Total payback minus funding, the dollar cost |
| Estimated Total Payment Amount | $78,000 | $60,000 at a factor rate of 1.30 |
| Estimated Monthly Cost | $8,450 | $1,950 x 52 weeks / 12 months, a row added because payments are weekly |
| Estimated Payment | $1,950 / week | 40 set weekly payments |
| Estimated Term | 280 days | 40 weeks, since Part 600 shows a term of a year or less in days |
The form has no factor rate row, so you can check the factor yourself by dividing Estimated Total Payment Amount by Funding Provided, and $78,000 divided by $60,000 is 1.30. A real form has more rows than this example, which the funder fills in from its contract and its own estimate of your income, such as Payment Terms and Collateral Requirements. The Prepayment row tells you whether paying early saves any of the $18,000 and the most you could still owe.
Run the winter number before you sign. The $8,450 is about 8% of an average month's deposits and about 19% of a $45,000 January, and a 40-week term that starts in October runs straight through the snow. If that January share looks too high, ask for a lower set payment over a longer term or take a smaller advance, and the new figures appear in the same rows.
Since every sales-based offer uses the same row names, two tables can sit side by side, and the gap shows up in Finance Charge and Estimated Total Payment Amount. Our guide to comparing business loan offers and our glossary of merchant cash advance terms go further.
Ask whether the contract has a confession of judgment
A confession of judgment is a signed affidavit that lets a creditor have a county clerk enter a judgment without a lawsuit. New York allows them within the limits of CPLR 3218. The affidavit has to state the sum and the county where the signer lives, and it can be filed within three years of signing, only with the clerk of that county or of the county where the signer lives at filing. A business counts as living in any county where it has a place of business. Ask whether one is part of the deal and read it alongside the rest of the merchant cash advance contract. This page is general information about what to ask to see, not legal advice.
New York programs and free help
These programs are run by government agencies and their lending partners, and we do not place them. Empire State Development's Small Business Hub lists these among others.
- The Regional Revolving Loan Trust Fund offers working capital loans of up to $100,000 or 90% of the project cost, through regional nonprofits, to businesses that cannot get adequate credit from commercial lenders.
- The Small Business Revolving Loan Fund Round 2 supports short-term loans of up to $250,000 through community-based lending organizations.
- The Linked Deposit Program lowers the interest rate on bank loans for existing New York firms.
- The Contractor Financing Program supports loans, typically up to $500,000, for contractors working on government-funded projects in the state.
- The SSBCI Technical Assistance Program gives eligible small businesses free legal, accounting and financial help, including help preparing loan applications.
Across the state, the New York Small Business Development Centers offer no-cost, confidential one-on-one advice from 20 regional centers and more than 70 satellite locations. In the five boroughs, NYC Small Business Services runs free Business Solutions Centers that help with access to financing, along with Commercial Lease Assistance, which gives eligible businesses free legal help negotiating a lease.
The SBA serves New York through three district offices. Metro New York covers 14 counties in New York City, Long Island and parts of the Hudson Valley, Buffalo covers the 14 westernmost counties with a second office in Rochester, and Syracuse covers the other 34. They can point you to lenders for the real SBA programs, where 7(a) loans go up to $5 million. Today Capital Group does not place SBA loans. Through our partners we offer SBA-equivalent loans, long-term financing with monthly payments outside the SBA program, and the partner sets the terms.
How to apply through Today Capital Group
Start with the short application and four months of business bank statements, uploaded as PDFs or emailed to us. Getting matched does not need a hard credit pull, since most funders prequalify from bank statements and a soft pull, and if a funder runs a hard pull in final underwriting, you know first. One application goes to the funders in our network, the offers come back side by side, and we go through them with you before anything is signed. Where an offer comes with an OFFER SUMMARY, check it against the contract row by row. There is nothing to pay to apply or to see offers. To talk it through first, call (818) 351-0225.
Frequently asked questions
What small business loans can I get in New York?
New York owners can apply for bank and SBA loans, state-supported loans through community lenders listed by Empire State Development, and, through a broker such as Today Capital Group, revenue-based financing from $5,000 to $2,000,000, lines of credit up to $2,000,000, equipment financing up to $500,000, consolidation, SBA-equivalent and bank loans through partners, and commercial equity loans.
Where can I get business funding in New York?
Business funding in New York comes from banks and credit unions, community lenders in state programs and non-bank funders, and one Today Capital Group application reaches the funders in our network with nothing to pay to apply or to see offers. Free advice comes from the New York Small Business Development Centers, NYC Small Business Services for city owners and the SBA's three district offices.
Does a merchant cash advance in New York come with a disclosure?
A merchant cash advance of up to $2,500,000 to a business run from New York generally comes with the state's OFFER SUMMARY table under 23 NYCRR Part 600, showing rows such as Funding Provided, Finance Charge, Estimated Total Payment Amount and Estimated Payment, and you sign it before the deal closes, unless the provider or the deal is exempt under section 802 of the Financial Services Law.
Does New York State offer small business loans?
Empire State Development lists loan programs including the Regional Revolving Loan Trust Fund for working capital up to $100,000 and the Small Business Revolving Loan Fund Round 2 for short-term loans up to $250,000, and you apply through the regional nonprofits and community lenders that run them rather than through the state or Today Capital Group.
