Small business growth is on a big upswing.

According to Lendio’s third-annual list of the top 10 states for small business lending, demand for loans and average loan size per borrower increased significantly in the top states year-over-year. The ranking is based on a calculation of several indicators, including approval rates and loan sizes, from among thousands of Lendio’s customers. (See the top 10 lists for 2017 and 2016 here.)

Small businesses account for 99.9 percent of all businesses in America. They employ almost 60 million people and created 1.9 million net new jobs in 2017. Since the 2008 recession, which caused more than 170,000 small businesses to close down, economic optimism, global expansion and loan approval rates have been steadily increasing. And for the first time in a decade, economic optimism is running at an all-time high. In fact, 50 percent of small business owners feel optimistic about the national economy, up from 29 percent in 2017, which explains why more of them are seeking growth capital, and larger amounts at that.

Take closer look at how small business owners are approaching financing in 2018: