It's definitely by locality, but keep in mind that basically as a matter of course there will always be a shitload more small localities than large. Thus, most politicians aren't paid much. Lots of localities have city councils that yeah, are basically meetups. They'll literally meet in kitchens and shit. I had an embarrassing moment at a state rep dinner at my aunt's house where I didn't silence my phone and my ringtone was hilariously inappropriate. Politics can be extremely local, and I think that's a good thing, even if I personally think it does fuck up a lot of small towns

The numbers can be a touch misleading, since there are a large number of larger towns and cities that do have paid representatives, because the country is absolutely enormous and there are "major" cities everywhere. There are a lot more politicians than you'd think if you really get granular.

Also the key aspects of a business loan are

1: some form of collateral

2: a solid business plan

You bring those things and you can probably start a business.