*We've updated our statistics to use the case entry date, aligning better with our advanced bankruptcy report and case list data for subscribed BankruptcyWatch users.

Our Analysis of the Bankruptcy Statistics (Updated March 9th, 2026)

Week 10 showed continued year-over-year growth, with consumer bankruptcies rising about 11% to 11,125 filings and business filings increasing roughly 13% to 240 cases compared with the same week last year. Chapter 7 filings—a lifeline for many struggling households—were up 12.95% year-over-year (6,106 in 2025 to 6,897 in 2026). Chapter 13 filings, allowing individuals to restructure their debt, were up 9.00% year-over-year (3,879 in 2025 to 4,228 in 2026). Chapter 11 filings, often used by businesses dealing with insolvency, were up 10.63% year-over-year (207 in 2025 to 229 in 2026).

What We Are Reading

Want to know about the news articles that caught our eye this week? Start here.

• Radio station owner Cumulus Media files to cut $697M debt - Radio station owner Cumulus Media filed Chapter 11 for the second time in a decade, seeking to eliminate roughly $600M of its $697M debt as streaming and digital audio continue to crush traditional radio audiences and ad revenues.
• Retailers at risk in 2026: Bankruptcy Edition - Forbes predicts at least three major U.S. specialty retailers will file bankruptcy in 2026, driven by high interest rates, AI disruption, and aggressive competition. Warning that even financially stable chains like Dick's Sporting Goods and Best Buy must adapt or face pressure.
• First Brands creditors reckon with dwindling chance of repayment - Creditors of bankrupt auto parts maker First Brands are facing the reality that upcoming asset sales may yield less than $200M against more than $12B in debt, leaving fraud victims and lenders with steep losses.
• Three major banks sued after subprime auto lender went bankrupt - Investors are suing JPMorgan, Barclays, and Fifth Third for allegedly ignoring "giant red flags" at subprime auto lender Tricolor, whose collapse amid fraud charges has left banks facing hundreds of millions in losses.
• U.S. home foreclosures impact nearly 40K homeowners - U.S. foreclosure filings rose for the 12th consecutive month in February, hitting nearly 40K properties, a 20% jump from last year, as housing affordability continues to squeeze homeowners

AI Analysis of this Week's Bankruptcy Statistics

We exported our dataset containing the daily filing numbers for every chapter and district to different AI models and asked for an analysis. Below are the exact results for each model.

Claude 4.6 Opus Extended Analysis of the Bankruptcy Statistics

1. Overview of This Week's National Filings During Week 10 of 2026, the nation recorded 11,365 total bankruptcy filings across all chapters and districts. Chapter 7 liquidation filings dominated with 6,897 cases, representing 60.7% of all filings for the week. Chapter 13 wage earner filings accounted for 4,228 cases or 37.2% of the weekly total, while Chapter 11 business reorganizations added 229 filings at 2.0%. Chapter 12 family farmer and fisherman filings remained minimal with just 11 cases nationwide. This weekly total represents a significant increase compared to the same week in 2022, when only 7,108 filings were recorded nationally.
2. An Interesting Fact About This Week's Filings Perhaps the most striking observation is the dramatic surge in Chapter 11 business reorganization filings, which have increased by 213.7% compared to Week 10 of 2022 when only 73 such cases were filed. This week's 229 Chapter 11 filings signal considerable distress in the business sector compared to four years ago. Additionally, the year-to-date national total of 110,862 filings through 10 weeks represents a 68.9% increase over the same period in 2022, which saw just 65,637 filings. The week showed an unusual 25.7% decline from the previous week's 15,290 filings, suggesting possible weekly volatility. Despite this week-over-week drop, the underlying trend shows filings consistently accelerating over the multi-year period.
3. Overview of This Week's District-Level Filings Northern Georgia led all federal judicial districts with 559 total filings during Week 10, followed closely by Central California with 555 filings. Florida Middle posted 460 filings, while Northern Illinois recorded 412 cases and Eastern Michigan saw 401 filings. Texas Southern contributed 293 filings, with Northern Ohio at 285 and Maryland at 283 rounding out the major metropolitan contributors. The top 10 districts collectively accounted for approximately 35% of all national filings, demonstrating significant concentration in urban judicial districts. These district-level numbers reflect where Americans are experiencing the most acute financial distress requiring court intervention.
4. Geographic Disparities in Filings The geographic disparity in bankruptcy filings is staggering, with Northern Georgia's 559 filings representing 186 times the volume of Alaska's mere 3 filings during Week 10. Several territories including Guam, the Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands recorded zero filings this week. Vermont reported only 6 filings while South Dakota had just 7, creating a stark contrast with high-volume southern and coastal districts. Wyoming recorded 11 filings, West Virginia Northern had 14, and Maine saw only 10 filings for the week. This disparity reflects not only population differences but also regional economic conditions, local legal practices, and varying state exemption laws that influence filing decisions.
5. Current Year Focus The 2026 calendar year has begun with exceptional filing activity, with the first 10 weeks generating 110,862 total bankruptcy cases. This year-to-date total already surpasses the pace of every preceding year, with 2025 recording 97,154 filings and 2024 posting 86,947 during the same 10-week period. The average weekly national filing count through Week 10 of 2026 stands at approximately 11,086, compared to 10,819 for all of 2025. Chapter 7 filings for 2026 have reached 67,437 through 10 weeks, while Chapter 13 filings total 41,104 year-to-date. The current trajectory suggests 2026 will establish new records for annual bankruptcy volume if present trends continue through the remaining 42 weeks.
6. Comparative Analysis with Previous Years Week 10 filing totals have grown consistently each year, rising from 7,108 in 2022 to 8,747 in 2023, then 9,369 in 2024, 10,197 in 2025, and now 11,365 in 2026. This represents a cumulative increase of 59.9% over the four-year period, averaging approximately 15% annual growth. Year-over-year growth from 2022 to 2023 reached 17.7%, moderating to 13.2% from 2023 to 2024, then 11.7% from 2024 to 2025. Full-year totals paint an equally compelling picture: 2022 saw 378,326 filings, 2023 recorded 445,178, 2024 reached 503,758, and 2025 totaled 562,598 cases. If 2026 maintains its current pace, projected annual filings could exceed 640,000, representing a 14% increase over 2025's already elevated totals.
7. Analyzing Filings Per Capita The national bankruptcy filing rate for Week 10 of 2026 stands at 3.34 filings per 100,000 population, reflecting meaningful financial distress across the country. When annualized, this translates to approximately 176 filings per 100,000 Americans, up substantially from 110 per 100,000 in 2022. Alabama leads states with a rate of 8.61 per 100,000 for the week, followed by Mississippi at 8.24 and Tennessee at 7.29 per 100,000. At the opposite end, Alaska shows just 0.43 per 100,000, Maine reports 0.71, and South Dakota records 0.78 per 100,000 weekly. These disparities reveal that southern states experience bankruptcy rates roughly ten times higher than their northern and rural counterparts.
8. Analyzing the Changing Filings Per Capita The per capita bankruptcy filing rate has increased by 46.1% between 2022 and 2025, from 113.6 annual filings per 100,000 to 166.0 per 100,000. For Week 10 specifically, the per capita rate grew from 2.14 per 100,000 in 2022 to 3.34 per 100,000 in 2026, representing a 56.5% increase. Year-over-year per capita growth was strongest from 2022 to 2023 at 22.3%, then moderated to 6.5% and 8.2% in subsequent years before accelerating to 11.1% in 2026. This growth significantly outpaces population increases of approximately 0.5% annually, indicating genuine deterioration in household financial health. The accelerating per capita trend in 2026 suggests economic pressures may be intensifying rather than stabilizing.
9. Forecast for Expected Filing Numbers for the Rest of the Year Based on the first 10 weeks of 2026 and applying the growth rate relative to 2025's patterns, the projected full-year total reaches approximately 642,000 filings. Linear regression analysis of the 2022-2025 annual totals, which shows an exceptionally strong fit with R-squared of 0.999, projects approximately 625,000 filings for 2026. The more conservative model reflects the historical deceleration in growth rates, while the growth-adjusted projection accounts for 2026's elevated early-year momentum. Either scenario represents a 11-14% increase over 2025's 562,598 total filings, continuing the established upward trend. Weekly filing averages should remain between 10,500 and 12,500 for the remaining 42 weeks, with seasonal peaks expected during spring and early fall periods.
10. Forecast of Trends for Increasing Filings After 2025 The consistent linear growth pattern of approximately 61,000 additional filings annually projects totals of 686,000 for 2027, 748,000 for 2028, and potentially 870,000 by 2030. Average annual growth of 14.2% from 2022 through 2025 suggests the upward trajectory reflects structural economic factors rather than temporary disruptions. Chapter 11 business reorganizations, having grown 213.7% since 2022, indicate corporate distress that typically precedes broader employment impacts and consumer filing increases. If current economic conditions persist, annual per capita rates could exceed 200 filings per 100,000 by 2028, compared to 114 per 100,000 in 2022. While economic interventions or policy changes could moderate these projections, the established trend momentum suggests elevated bankruptcy activity will characterize the remainder of this decade.

ChatGPT 5.2 Thinking Pro Analysis of this Week's Bankruptcy Statistics

1. For the latest fully completed week within your cutoff (week 10 of 2026), the national total was 11,365 filings, with 6,897 in the chapter most associated with liquidation and 4,228 in the consumer repayment chapter. The business reorganization chapter contributed 229, and the family-farm chapter added 11, which together still keep the week’s total at 11,365. Compared with the prior week (week 9 of 2026) at 15,290, this week fell by 3,925 filings. Compared with the same week last year (week 10 of 2025) at 10,197, this week was higher by 1,168. The dataset’s flagged “latest week” is week 11 of 2026 at 2,040, which is far below week 10’s 11,365, so week 10 is the most reliable “fully completed” week under your requested cutoff.
2. A standout detail is how concentrated the week was in just two chapters: 6,897 plus 4,228 equals 11,125 filings, meaning only 240 filings came from the other two chapters combined (229 + 11). That puts the smaller chapters at roughly 2.1% of the week’s 11,365 total, despite being operationally important in certain regions. Even after the week-over-week drop from 15,290 to 11,365, the liquidation-heavy chapter still posted 6,897, which is more than triple the repayment chapter’s 4,228 gap in the opposite direction. Another interesting angle is that week 10 of 2026 (11,365) exceeded week 10 of 2024 (9,369) by 1,996, showing a clear multi-year climb for the same week on the calendar. Put simply: the national week is “broadly high,” but the mix is unusually dominated by 6,897 and 4,228.
3. District activity was led by GAN with 559 filings and CAC with 555, which together totaled 1,114 filings out of the national 11,365. The next-largest districts included FLM at 460, ILN at 412, and MIE at 401, and those five districts together summed to 2,387 filings. That means the top five districts alone produced about 21.0% of all filings this week (2,387 out of 11,365). In the middle tier, large districts like TXS (293), OHN (285), MD (283), FLS (273), and NJ (263) still each contributed meaningfully to the 11,365 total. At the low end, some districts recorded 0 filings (for example GU, NMI, and VI), while small-volume states like AK (3) and VT (6) were also minimal.
4. The geographic spread was wide: the top district (559) exceeded a group of zero-filing districts (0) by a full 559 filings in the same week. Even comparing only non-zero areas, GAN (559) was about 186× larger than AK (3), highlighting how uneven weekly counts can be. The top two districts (559 and 555) were also noticeably above the next tier like FLM (460) and ILN (412), creating a visible “front pack.” Meanwhile, several districts clustered in the high-200s—TXS (293), OHN (285), MD (283), FLS (273), NJ (263)—suggesting a broad second tier supporting the national 11,365. This dispersion matters because a swing in just one or two big districts (for example a 50-filing change in a 559 district) can move the national needle more than a doubling in a 3-filing district.
5. Focusing on 2026 through week 10, the year-to-date national total is 110,862 filings, versus 97,154 through week 10 of 2025 (a difference of 13,708). The 2026 year-to-date chapter mix is 67,437 (liquidation chapter), 41,104 (repayment chapter), 2,259 (business reorganization), and 62 (family-farm), summing exactly to 110,862. This latest week (week 10) added 11,365 to that year-to-date, and it was still above the 2026 average so far of about 11,086 per week (110,862 divided by 10). Even with the week-over-week dip from 15,290 to 11,365, the year remains elevated because multiple earlier weeks keep the cumulative at 110,862. Put another way, if the rest of 2026 merely matched the current 10-week average (~11,086), that would still imply a high year relative to 2025’s full-year baseline of 562,598 across 52 weeks.
6. Looking across years at the same point in the calendar, week 10 totals rose from 9,369 (2024) to 10,197 (2025) to 11,365 (2026), an increase of 1,996 from 2024 to 2026. The year-to-date comparison shows the same pattern: 86,947 through week 10 of 2024, 97,154 through week 10 of 2025, and 110,862 through week 10 of 2026. That’s a step-up of 10,207 from 2024 to 2025, and then 13,708 from 2025 to 2026 at the same week count. On a full-year basis, totals increased from 378,326 (2022) to 445,178 (2023) to 503,758 (2024) to 562,598 (2025), reflecting sustained growth. This week’s 11,365 fits that upward trajectory even though it’s lower than the prior week’s 15,290.
7. Using a U.S. population benchmark of about 342,383,055 residents (mid-March 2026), this week’s 11,365 filings equate to roughly 3.32 filings per 100,000 people. By chapter, 6,897 corresponds to about 2.01 per 100,000, and 4,228 corresponds to about 1.23 per 100,000, while 229 and 11 add only about 0.07 combined per 100,000. This framing makes the gap between the two dominant chapters concrete: 6,897 vs 4,228 is a difference of 2,669, or about 0.78 per 100,000 people. Even if a reader ignores chapter detail, the national “per-person” view still cleanly reflects the week-over-week slide from 15,290 down to 11,365. (Population benchmark source: U.S. Census Bureau population clock data.)
8. The per-capita rate changed sharply from week 9 to week 10: 15,290 filings in week 9 is about 4.47 per 100,000, while week 10’s 11,365 is about 3.32 per 100,000, a drop of roughly 1.15 per 100,000. Year-over-year for the same week, week 10 of 2025 had 10,197 filings, or about 2.98 per 100,000, so week 10 of 2026 increased by about 0.34 per 100,000. That’s consistent with the raw-count increase of 1,168 filings (from 10,197 to 11,365) even though week 10 was down 3,925 from the immediately prior week (15,290). On a cumulative basis, 2026 through week 10 sits at 110,862 filings, which is about 32.38 per 100,000 for the year so far, compared with 97,154 (about 28.38 per 100,000) through week 10 of 2025 using the same population denominator. The key takeaway is that the week-to-week per-capita volatility (from 4.47 to 3.32) can be large even while the year-to-date per-capita trend (roughly 28.38 to 32.38) is clearly rising.
9. A simple “run-rate” forecast from 2026-to-date suggests the rest of the year could stay elevated: the first 10 weeks average about 11,086 filings per week (110,862 ÷ 10). If the remaining 42 weeks matched that average, that would add roughly 465,620 more filings, implying a full-year total near 576,482 (110,862 + 465,620). Using a more recent momentum lens, the last four weeks (weeks 7–10) averaged about 11,830 per week (10,239; 10,426; 15,290; 11,365), which would imply roughly 606,722 for the year if sustained. For context, 2025’s full-year total was 562,598, so these two basic weekly projections bracket a year that is likely above 2025 if current conditions persist. The most defensible short statement is a range forecast of roughly 576k to 607k filings for 2026, anchored on the observed weekly totals like 11,365 and the year-to-date 110,862.
10. After 2025, the longer-run direction implied by recent years is upward: annual totals rose from 378,326 (2022) to 445,178 (2023) to 503,758 (2024) to 562,598 (2025). On a weekly-average basis, that’s about 7,275 per week in 2022 versus about 10,819 per week in 2025, a gain of roughly 3,544 weekly filings across those years. If the system continues anything like the 2022–2025 compound pace (about 14% per year implied by those totals), then post-2025 years would tend to set new highs even if growth gradually slows. Early 2026 data through week 10—110,862 year-to-date and 11,365 in week 10—already sits above the comparable 2025 pacing (97,154 year-to-date and 10,197 in week 10), reinforcing the “higher plateau” idea. So the trend outlook after 2025 is for higher baselines with sizable week-to-week swings (like 15,290 down to 11,365) but an overall upward drift relative to 2025’s 562,598.

Claude 4.6 Sonnet Extended Analysis of the Bankruptcy Statistics

1. Overview of This Week's National Filings Week 10 of 2026 recorded a national total of 11,365 bankruptcy filings, spanning all chapter types across every federal judicial district in the country. Chapter 7 liquidation filings dominated with 6,897 cases, accounting for approximately 60.7% of all activity for the week. Chapter 13 wage-earner repayment filings contributed 4,228 cases, representing roughly 37.2% of the weekly total. Chapter 11 business reorganization filings added 229 cases, while Chapter 12 family farmer and fisherman filings contributed a modest 11. Taken together, these four chapter types account for the entirety of the 11,365 filings recorded nationally in this latest completed week.
2. An Interesting Fact About This Week's Filings Week 10 of 2026 recorded 11,365 total filings, representing a sharp 25.7% single-week decline from the unusually elevated Week 9 total of 15,290 — the largest such week-over-week drop observed so far in 2026. Despite this pullback, the Week 10 figure still stands 11.4% above the 10,197 filings recorded in the same week of 2025. Chapter 11 business reorganization filings reached 229 this week, up from 207 in Week 10 of 2025 — a 10.6% year-over-year increase suggesting growing corporate financial stress. Chapter 12 filings, while small in absolute terms at just 11, are more than double the 5 recorded in Week 10 of 2025, pointing to mounting pressure in the agricultural sector. Most notably, the year-to-date total through 10 weeks of 2026 already stands at 110,862 filings — outpacing the same period in 2025 by 13,708 cases, a lead of 14.1%.
3. An Overview of This Week's District-Level Filings District-level data for Week 10, 2026 reveals wide variation across the country, with the Northern District of Georgia leading all districts at 559 total filings for the week. The Central District of California followed closely with 555 filings, while the Middle District of Florida recorded 460, the Northern District of Illinois reported 412, and the Eastern District of Michigan contributed 401. These five leading districts alone accounted for a combined 2,387 filings, representing roughly 21% of the 11,365 national total for the week. At the lower end, Alaska reported just 3 filings, Vermont only 6, and the territories of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands each recorded zero filings. This wide district-level range — from 0 to 559 — illustrates how heavily bankruptcy activity is concentrated in the nation's most populous and economically stressed regions.
4. Geographic Disparities in Filings The geographic concentration of filings in Week 10, 2026 is pronounced, with high-volume districts clustered in states known for large populations and elevated household debt burdens — particularly Georgia, California, Florida, Illinois, and Michigan. Chapter 13 filings show the sharpest geographic concentration, with the Northern District of Georgia recording 269 Chapter 13 cases alone — more than the entire weekly total of many smaller states. The Northern District of Illinois followed with 185 Chapter 13 filings, and the Western District of Tennessee contributed 150, reflecting the traditionally high utilization of wage-earner repayment plans in the Southeast and Midwest. At the other extreme, the five lowest-reporting jurisdictions — Guam (0), Northern Mariana Islands (0), Virgin Islands (0), Alaska (3), and Vermont (6) — contributed a combined total of just 9 filings, less than 0.1% of the national total of 11,365. These disparities underscore the role of regional economic conditions, local legal culture, and population density in shaping where and how Americans seek bankruptcy protection.
5. Current Year Focus In the first 10 completed weeks of 2026, national bankruptcy filings have totaled 110,862, yielding a weekly average of approximately 11,086 filings. Week 9 produced the highest single-week total of the year at 15,290 filings, while Week 1 was the softest at 9,011, reflecting the typical early-year slowdown in filing activity. Chapter 7 filings have led every week of 2026, ranging from 5,069 in Week 2 to 9,803 in Week 9, demonstrating persistent and broad-based demand for liquidation-based debt relief. Chapter 11 business filings have shown notable volatility, peaking at 419 in Week 6 before declining to 229 in Week 10, suggesting uneven but elevated levels of corporate distress across the year so far. Chapter 13 filings have ranged from 3,112 in Week 1 to 5,309 in Week 9, with the Week 10 figure of 4,228 sitting solidly in the mid-range of 2026's weekly observations.
6. Comparative Analysis With Previous Years Week 10 filings have increased each year without exception, rising from 7,108 in 2022 to 8,747 in 2023, 9,369 in 2024, 10,197 in 2025, and now 11,365 in 2026. The year-over-year increase for Week 10 alone from 2025 to 2026 is 1,168 filings, or 11.4%, continuing a multi-year pattern of consistent double-digit growth. Comparing first-10-week totals across years, 2026's 110,862 represents a 13.6% increase over 2025's 97,154, a 27.5% increase over 2024's 86,947, and a dramatic 68.9% increase over 2022's 65,637. Full-year totals have grown steadily, from 378,326 in 2022 to 445,178 in 2023 (+17.7%), 503,758 in 2024 (+13.2%), and 562,598 in 2025 (+11.7%), illustrating a decelerating but firmly unbroken growth trend. Chapter 7 filings for Week 10 have climbed from 4,498 in 2022 to 6,897 in 2026, a cumulative four-year increase of 53.3%, underscoring how deeply consumer liquidation demand has grown over this period.
7. Analyzing the Filings Per Capita Using the U.S. population of approximately 335 million, the 11,365 filings in Week 10 of 2026 translate to a per-capita rate of approximately 3.39 filings per 100,000 residents for the week. This is the highest per-capita rate recorded for Week 10 in any year in the dataset, exceeding the 3.04 per 100,000 seen in Week 10 of 2025. For context, Week 10 per-capita rates were 2.80 in 2024, 2.61 in 2023, and just 2.12 in 2022 — reflecting a 60% increase in the per-capita rate over just four years. The 4,228 Chapter 13 filings in Week 10, 2026 alone represent a per-capita rate of approximately 1.26 per 100,000, compared to 1.16 in 2025 and 0.76 in 2022 for the same reference week. Averaged across all 10 completed weeks of 2026, the national weekly filing rate stands at approximately 3.31 per 100,000 residents, compared to 2.90 per 100,000 during the first 10 weeks of 2025.
8. Analyzing the Changing Filings Per Capita The per-capita filing rate for Week 10 increased by 0.35 per 100,000 from 2025 (3.04) to 2026 (3.39), a re-acceleration compared to the smaller 0.24 gain observed between 2024 and 2025. This re-acceleration suggests that household financial stress intensified in early 2026, reversing a brief softening in the annual rate of per-capita increase seen in 2023–2025. The consistent upward movement in per-capita rates across all comparable weeks — from 2.12 in 2022 to 3.39 in 2026 — points to structural, long-term financial stress rather than a temporary or cyclical phenomenon. Chapter 13 per-capita rates have risen particularly sharply, from 0.76 per 100,000 in Week 10 of 2022 to 1.26 per 100,000 in Week 10 of 2026, a 66% increase that reflects a growing reliance on court-supervised wage-earner repayment plans among American households. If the current 2026 per-capita weekly average of 3.31 per 100,000 is sustained through year-end, the cumulative annual rate for 2026 would reach approximately 172 filings per 100,000 residents, compared to a 2025 full-year rate of roughly 168 per 100,000.
9. Forecast for the Rest of 2026 Based on the 10-week average of 11,086 filings per week in 2026 and with 42 weeks remaining in the calendar year, projected remaining filings total approximately 465,612. Adding this to the 110,862 already recorded through Week 10 produces a full-year 2026 forecast of approximately 576,474 total national filings. This projection would represent a year-over-year increase of roughly 13,876 filings compared to the full-year 2025 total of 562,598, translating to approximately 2.5% annual growth at the headline level. However, because Weeks 5 and 9 were anomalously elevated at 14,156 and 15,290 respectively, a more conservative weekly assumption of 10,500 for the remaining 42 weeks would lower the full-year estimate to approximately 551,862. Under either scenario, 2026 is on course to at least match the 2025 full-year total and very likely exceed it, extending the unbroken streak of annual filing increases that has held since 2022.
10. Forecasting Filing Trends Beyond 2025 The four-year record from 2022 through 2025 shows annual growth rates of 17.7%, 13.2%, and 11.7%, revealing a pattern of decelerating but firmly positive growth in total national filings. If this moderating trajectory continues, applying an approximately 10% growth rate to the 2025 base of 562,598 would project a 2026 full-year total in the range of 590,000 to 620,000 filings. For 2027 and 2028, assuming annual growth rates continue to drift toward 8–9%, national filings could approach 650,000 to 680,000 — volumes that would begin to rival the filing levels seen during the pre-Great Recession surge of the mid-2000s. The sustained rise in Chapter 11 business filings — from 3,937 in 2022 to 8,620 in 2025, with 2,259 already recorded in just 10 weeks of 2026 — signals that corporate financial distress will be an increasingly significant driver of total filing growth alongside the dominant consumer categories. Barring a meaningful shift in macroeconomic conditions such as sustained real wage growth, significant interest rate reductions, or broad government debt-relief programs, the structural forces pushing bankruptcy filings upward appear set to persist well past 2025 and into the latter half of this decade.

ChatGPT 5.4 Analysis of this Week's Bankruptcy Statistics

1. National filings totaled 11,365. Chapter 7 accounted for 6,897 filings, Chapter 13 contributed 4,228, Chapter 11 added 229, and Chapter 12 added 11. Compared with the prior week’s 15,290, this week was lower by 3,925, or about 25.7%. Compared with the same week in 2025 at 10,197, this week was higher by 1,168, or about 11.5%. Compared with the same week in 2024 at 9,369, this week was higher by 1,996, or about 21.3%.
2. The most striking fact this week is how dominant Chapters 7 and 13 were within the 11,365 total. Chapter 7 alone supplied 6,897 filings, or about 60.7% of the national count, while Chapter 13 supplied 4,228, or about 37.2%. That means those two chapters together made up 11,125 of 11,365 filings, leaving only 240 filings for Chapters 11 and 12 combined. Chapter 11 was 229 and Chapter 12 was just 11, so Chapter 12 represented less than 0.1% of the week’s volume. Even after the week-over-week drop from 15,290 to 11,365, the chapter mix still shows a consumer-driven filing pattern rather than a business-reorganization-heavy week.
3. At the district level, the highest filing counts this week were 559 in GAN, 555 in CAC, 460 in FLM, 412 in ILN, and 401 in MIE. The next tier included 293 in TXS, 285 in OHN, 283 in MD, 273 in FLS, and 263 in NJ. Those top 10 districts together produced 3,784 filings, which was about 33.3% of the 11,365 national total. By contrast, smaller districts included AK at 3, VT at 6, SD at 7, ME at 10, and WY at 11, while GU, NMI, and VI each recorded 0. The district picture therefore shows a very concentrated national count, with a handful of large districts contributing several hundred filings each and many districts staying below 50.
4. Geographic disparities were wide this week, because the highest district, GAN, posted 559 filings while several districts posted 0. CAC was nearly as large at 555, meaning each of those two districts alone exceeded the entire weekly count of many smaller districts by more than 500 filings. The gap between GAN at 559 and AK at 3 was 556 filings, and the gap between CAC at 555 and VT at 6 was 549. The top 5 districts delivered 2,387 filings, or about 21.0% of the 11,365 national total, while the bottom 5 nonzero districts delivered only 37 combined. That spread suggests the weekly filing burden remained heavily concentrated in a limited set of high-volume districts rather than evenly distributed across all 94 districts.
5. The current year is running ahead of prior years even after this week’s pullback to 11,365. Through the first 10 weeks of 2026, the dataset shows 110,862 filings, compared with 97,154 through the first 10 weeks of 2025 and 86,947 through the first 10 weeks of 2024. That puts 2026 ahead of 2025 by 13,708 filings, or about 14.1%, and ahead of 2024 by 23,915 filings, or about 27.5%. The 2026 average so far is 11,086 filings per week, versus 9,715 in the comparable 2025 period and 8,695 in the comparable 2024 period. Even with week 10 below week 9’s 15,290, the year-to-date path still points to a meaningfully stronger filing environment in 2026.
6. Weekly comparisons with previous years show a steady upward staircase rather than a one-off spike. The same week registered 9,369 in 2024, 10,197 in 2025, and 11,365 in 2026, so the gain was 828 from 2024 to 2025 and 1,168 from 2025 to 2026. On a full-year basis, total filings climbed from 378,326 in 2022 to 445,178 in 2023, then to 503,758 in 2024, and 562,598 in 2025. Those annual increases were about 17.7% from 2022 to 2023, 13.2% from 2023 to 2024, and 11.7% from 2024 to 2025. The weekly data for week 10 therefore fits the broader pattern of rising filings across both the recent annual totals and the same-week comparisons.
7. On a per-capita basis, this week’s 11,365 filings equal about 3.3 filings per 100,000 U.S. residents, using the July 1, 2025 national population estimate of 341,784,857. That is also about 33.3 filings per 1 million residents for the week. The first 10 weeks of 2026 sum to 110,862 filings, which equals about 32.4 filings per 100,000 residents on a cumulative basis and about 3.24 per 100,000 as an average week. Because the population denominator changes slowly while weekly filings moved from 9,369 in week 10 of 2024 to 10,197 in week 10 of 2025 and 11,365 in week 10 of 2026, the rise in filings per person is being driven mainly by the numerator, not the population base.
8. The per-capita trend is also clearly increasing over time, even though week 10 was softer than week 9. Using the same population base, week 10 of 2025 was about 3.0 filings per 100,000 residents, while week 10 of 2026 was about 3.3 per 100,000. That implies an increase of roughly 0.34 filings per 100,000 year over year, matching the rise from 10,197 to 11,365 in raw weekly volume. Week 9 of 2026, at 15,290 filings, would translate to about 4.5 per 100,000, so the latest week eased from that peak but still sat above prior-year week 10 levels. In practical terms, the per-capita series appears to be trending upward over multi-year comparisons even while week-to-week movement remains volatile.
9. A straightforward forecast for the rest of 2026 suggests filings should remain elevated if the first 10 weeks are representative. In 2024 and 2025, the first 10 weeks accounted for about 17.3% of the full-year total in both years, and applying that pattern to 2026’s 110,862 points to a full-year total near 642,148. That implies roughly 531,286 filings for the remaining weeks after week 10. Another simple method is annualizing the current 2026 average of 11,086 per week across 52 weeks, which gives about 576,482, so a reasonable forecast band is roughly 576,000 to 642,000. Since week 10 at 11,365 is close to the 2026 average and above the comparable 2025 week at 10,197, the balance of the year still looks likely to finish above 2025’s full-year total of 562,598.
10. Looking beyond 2025, the trend still favors increasing filings unless the weekly run rate breaks meaningfully lower. Full-year totals rose from 503,758 in 2024 to 562,598 in 2025, and the first 10 weeks rose again to 110,862 in 2026 from 97,154 in 2025. The same week also moved up from 10,197 in 2025 to 11,365 in 2026, which supports the idea that the post-2025 rise is continuing rather than reversing. If 2026 finishes near the forecast range of 576,000 to 642,000, that would extend the annual growth pattern already visible from 2022 through 2025. The most plausible trend after 2025 is therefore continued upward pressure in filings, led by large consumer chapters, unless future weekly totals begin falling below the 2025 weekly baseline of roughly 10,819 per week.