--- url: 'https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/founder-setting-priorities-by-firm-age/' title: 'Setting Priorities by Firm Age: 42% of the Youngest Firms Named Credit Availability. At 21 Years or More, 17% Did' author: name: Samantha Lankford url: 'https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/author/sam/' date: '2026-11-04T15:30:00-05:00' modified: '2026-11-04T15:30:00-05:00' type: post summary: 'Fed survey: 42% of firms 0 to 2 years old named credit availability as a challenge, against 17% at 21+ years. Rising costs stood clear from year six on.' categories: - Blog Post image: 'https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/founder-setting-priorities-by-firm-age-hero.webp' published: true --- # Setting Priorities by Firm Age: 42% of the Youngest Firms Named Credit Availability. At 21 Years or More, 17% Did ![The Lonely Entrepreneur](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/TLE_Logo_mobile-490W-26-26.png)Founder Data Report ![Setting Priorities by Firm Age: 42% of the Youngest Firms Named Credit Availability. At 21 Years or More, 17% Did](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/founder-setting-priorities-by-firm-age-hero.webp) Founder Data Report # Setting Priorities by Firm Age: 42% of the Youngest Firms Named Credit Availability. At 21 Years or More, 17% Did By Michael Dermer • Updated November 4, 2026 Get clarity — download the free Entrepreneur Survival Guide Summary. [Download the Survival Guide →](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/esg-overview/?utm_source=blog-cta) Which money problem deserves your attention first? The Federal Reserve asks employers to name theirs, and the list from a two-year-old firm does not read like the list from a twenty-five-year-old one. Quick Answer In the Federal Reserve Banks’ 2025 Small Business Credit Survey, **42%** of employer firms 0 to 2 years old named credit availability as a financial challenge in the prior 12 months. At firms 21 years or older it was **17%**. Rising costs of goods, services or wages had the highest share at both ends, 66% and 75%, but only from six years on did they stand clear of every other challenge. You have a limited number of hours and a longer list of things that could sink the month. The priority problem is deciding which of them gets the hours. Any general list of small business money problems will tell you costs, cash, sales and credit, and it will be right, and it will not help you choose. Sorting by the age of the firm helps a little. The Fed’s survey lets owners name as many challenges as apply, and it publishes the answers by how long the business has been around. Some answers differ a great deal from one end of that range to the other. Some hardly differ at all. The 30-second version - Credit availability: 42% at firms 0 to 2 years old, 17% at 21 years or more. Every age band under 11 years sits clear of every band 11 or older. - Rising costs: the highest share at every age, 66% to 79%, and clear of every other challenge from year six on. Higher at firms 11 to 15 years old and at 21 or more than at the youngest firms. - Paying operating expenses: 59% to 60% through year ten, 44% at 21 or more. - Weak sales: 44% to 53% at every age, and no two age bands separate. - This is a snapshot of different firms at one time, not the same firms followed as they age. ## Credit is the widest gap on the list Across all employer firms in the survey, 29% named credit availability. By age it runs 42%, 38% and 32% for firms under 11 years, then 22%, 23% and 17% for the older three bands. Every one of the three younger bands sits clear of every one of the three older bands once the survey’s 95% confidence intervals are counted. At the youngest firms, credit is level with weak sales and tariff costs in the middle of the list. At firms 21 or older, it is the least named of the seven challenges and clear of all six others, including debt payments at 25%. If you are in your first few years and access to credit feels like a bigger issue than it does to the owner down the street who has been open for 30, the survey lines up with that. The Data Financial challenges named, firms 0 to 2 years old against firms 21 years or older Rising costs of goods, services or wages Firms 0 to 2 years old66% Firms 21 years or more75% Paying operating expenses Firms 0 to 2 years old59% Firms 21 years or more44% Uneven cash flow Firms 0 to 2 years old53% Firms 21 years or more42% Weak sales Firms 0 to 2 years old44% Firms 21 years or more46% Tariff-related costs Firms 0 to 2 years old38% Firms 21 years or more41% Credit availability Firms 0 to 2 years old42% Firms 21 years or more17% Debt payments or interest rates Firms 0 to 2 years old32% Firms 21 years or more25% Share of employer firms naming each challenge in the prior 12 months. Both bars on one scale, 0 to 100%. More than one answer allowed, so shares do not sum to 100. Federal Reserve Banks, 2025 Small Business Credit Survey, 2026 Report on Employer Firms data appendix, sheet ‘Age of firm’: ‘Financial challenges, prior 12 months’. Employer firms with fewer than 500 employees; weighted convenience sample; more than one answer allowed. The Data Named credit availability as a challenge, by age of firm Firms 0 to 2 years old42%Firms 3 to 5 years old38%Firms 6 to 10 years old32%Firms 11 to 15 years old22%Firms 16 to 20 years old23%Firms 21 years or older17% Share of employer firms in each age band. Bars on a 0 to 60% axis. Firms under 11 years clear firms 11 or older; neighboring bands within those two groups do not separate. Federal Reserve Banks, 2025 Small Business Credit Survey, 2026 Report on Employer Firms data appendix, sheet ‘Age of firm’: ‘Financial challenges, prior 12 months’. Employer firms with fewer than 500 employees; weighted convenience sample; more than one answer allowed. ## Costs lead at every age, but not alone at first Rising costs of goods, services or wages had the highest share in every age band, from 66% at the youngest firms to 79% at firms 11 to 15 years old. For firms under six years, though, that lead does not clear paying operating expenses: 66% against 59% at 0 to 2 years, 70% against 59% at 3 to 5. From six years on, costs stand clear of every other challenge on the list. Paying operating expenses holds at 59% to 60% through year ten, and firms 21 or older named it at 44%. Uneven cash flow is 53% at the youngest firms and 42% at the oldest. Debt payments and interest rates take a different shape: firms 6 to 10 years old named them at 43%, above all three older bands, and level with the two younger ones. > Weak sales: 44% at the youngest firms, 46% at the oldest, and no two age bands separate. The Data Rising costs against paying operating expenses, by age of firm Firms 0 to 2 years old Rising costs66% Paying operating expenses59% Firms 3 to 5 years old Rising costs70% Paying operating expenses59% Firms 6 to 10 years old Rising costs77% Paying operating expenses60% Firms 11 to 15 years old Rising costs79% Paying operating expenses53% Firms 16 to 20 years old Rising costs74% Paying operating expenses50% Firms 21 years or older Rising costs75% Paying operating expenses44% Share of employer firms naming each challenge. Both bars on one scale, 0 to 100%. The gap clears the 95% confidence intervals from 6 to 10 years on; it does not at 0 to 2 or 3 to 5 years. Federal Reserve Banks, 2025 Small Business Credit Survey, 2026 Report on Employer Firms data appendix, sheet ‘Age of firm’: ‘Financial challenges, prior 12 months’. Employer firms with fewer than 500 employees; weighted convenience sample; more than one answer allowed. ## What to take from this if you run one Use the list as a check, not a verdict. If you are under six years in, the survey says your peers have operating expenses beside costs at the top of the page, and credit higher than an established firm would have it. If you have been open more than 20 years, your peers have costs clear of everything else, and if credit is on your own short list, that is less common at your age and worth a closer look. Then pick. You will not fix seven things this quarter. Write down the one that would do the most damage if it stayed where it is, and say out loud what you will leave alone. That call goes better with someone in the room who has run a business and has no stake in your answer. Three limits worth holding. This is a **snapshot of different firms**, not the same firms followed over time, and firms that closed are not in it, so it does not show anyone growing out of a problem. Firm age is **not separated from firm size**: the survey’s size table also shows credit falling, from 31% at firms with 1 to 4 employees to 15% at 50 to 499. And the survey is a **weighted convenience sample**, and it does not say why these answers differ. The Data Where the numbers land 42% of firms 0 to 2 years old named credit availability 17% of firms 21 years or older did 75% of firms 21 years or older named rising costs, clear of every other challenge 44%–53% weak sales across all six age bands, with no two bands separating Federal Reserve Banks, 2025 Small Business Credit Survey. ## Frequently Asked Questions What financial challenge do small businesses name most often? Rising costs of goods, services or wages, in every firm-age band of the Fed's 2025 survey, from 66% at firms 0 to 2 years old to 79% at firms 11 to 15 years old. Under six years, it does not clear paying operating expenses once the margins of error are counted. Do younger businesses have more trouble getting credit? More of them name it as a challenge: 42% at 0 to 2 years against 17% at 21 years or more. The question asks whether credit availability was a challenge, not whether a firm applied or was turned down. Does weak sales depend on the age of the firm? Not in this survey. It runs from 44% to 53% across the six age bands, and no two bands separate on their 95% confidence intervals. Does this show businesses grow out of these problems? No. It is one survey of different firms at different ages, and firms that have closed are not in it. It also does not separate a firm's age from its size. Where does the data come from? The Federal Reserve Banks' 2025 Small Business Credit Survey, 2026 Report on Employer Firms data appendix, covering employer firms with fewer than 500 employees. It is a weighted convenience sample, and every share is published with a 95% confidence interval. Keep reading - [Under 10 Employees, the Top Problem Is Customers. From 20 Up, It Is Finding and Keeping Staff.](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/founder-the-problem-that-changes/) - [Owners 65 or Older: 55% Operating at a Profit, 25% Planning to Hire. Owners 35 to 44: 44% and 52%](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/founder-the-owners-age/) - [When Money Got Tight, 58% of Owners With 1 to 4 Employees Used Their Own Funds. At 20 to 49, the Business’s Reserves Came First.](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/founder-the-owners-own-money/) Part of the entrepreneurial struggle: [Priority Problem](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/entrepreneur-struggle/priorities/) ![The Lonely Entrepreneur](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/TLE_Logo_mobile-490W-26-26.png) Published by **The Lonely Entrepreneur** — the community and coaching platform for entrepreneurs who are building alone. [lonelyentrepreneur.com](https://lonelyentrepreneur.com/) This article is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for professional financial or legal advice.