*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 April 13th, 2026)

Week 15 showed continued year-over-year growth, with consumer bankruptcies rising about 9% to 11,378 filings and business filings surging roughly 53% to 180 cases compared with the same week last year. Chapter 7 filings—a lifeline for many struggling households—were up 2.56% year-over-year (6,996 in 2025 to 7,175 in 2026). Chapter 13 filings, allowing individuals to restructure their debt, were up 20.46% year-over-year (3,489 in 2025 to 4,203 in 2026). Chapter 11 filings, often used by businesses dealing with insolvency, were up 42.61% year-over-year (115 in 2025 to 164 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 sued three major banks for allegedly ignoring "giant red flags" at Tricolor Holdings, a subprime auto lender that collapsed amid fraud allegations involving double-pledging of collateral across multiple bank credit lines.
• 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 4.7 Opus Extended Analysis of the Bankruptcy Statistics

1. Overview of this week's National filings. The country recorded 11,558 total bankruptcy filings in the latest completed week, the highest week-15 figure in the entire five-year span of the dataset. Chapter 7 liquidations made up the bulk at 7,175 filings, or roughly 62% of the national total, while Chapter 13 wage-earner reorganizations contributed 4,203 filings, about 36%. Chapter 11 business reorganizations accounted for 164 filings and Chapter 12 farm filings totaled just 16, together making up only about 1.6% of the week. The week's volume came in slightly under the year-to-date weekly average of 11,681, indicating a small pullback from the elevated peaks earlier in the quarter. Year-over-year, this is a 9.0% increase compared with the same week in 2025, which posted 10,603 filings.
2. An interesting fact about this week's filings. A standout detail is the surge in Chapter 11 business filings to 164 this week, up 42.6% from the 115 filed in the same week of 2025 and well above the 82, 66, and 62 filed in week 15 of 2024, 2023, and 2022 respectively. That makes Chapter 11 the fastest-growing of all four chapters in the year-over-year comparison for this week, even though it remains a small slice in absolute terms. Geographically, the Northern District of Georgia led Chapter 11 with 15 filings — more than the combined Chapter 11 totals of the bottom 60 districts in the country. Meanwhile, the entire Chapter 12 farm category produced just 16 filings nationwide, and a single district (the Southern District of Indiana) accounted for 5 of them. The contrast between concentrated business stress and very thin agricultural filings is striking in a single week.
3. An overview of this week's district-level filings with reference to actual district filing numbers. Combining all four chapters, the Central District of California led the country with 584 filings, followed closely by the Middle District of Florida at 561 and the Northern District of Georgia at 532. The Northern District of Illinois logged 434 total filings, while the Eastern District of Michigan recorded 399 and the Northern District of Ohio 315. Looking at Chapter 7 alone, the Central District of California posted 486, the Middle District of Florida 424, the Eastern District of Michigan 287, the Northern District of Illinois 277, and the Northern District of Georgia 263. On the Chapter 13 side, the Northern District of Georgia stood far ahead at 254 filings, with the Northern District of Illinois at 152, the Southern District of Texas at 151, the Northern District of Texas at 138, and the Western District of Tennessee at 128. The top ten districts together produced about 3,977 filings, accounting for roughly 34% of the entire 11,558-filing national total.
4. Geographic (district) disparities in filings. The disparity between busy and quiet districts is enormous: while the Central District of California posted 584 total filings this week, three U.S. territory districts (Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands) recorded zero. Other very low-volume districts included Alaska at 4 total filings, Vermont at 5, the District of Columbia at 9, South Dakota at 10, and Maine at 11. By contrast, southeastern districts (Georgia Northern, Florida Middle, Florida Southern, Tennessee Western, Alabama Middle) and major metro districts of California, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio dominate the leaderboard week after week. The Northern District of Georgia alone (532 filings) produced more activity than the bottom 30 districts combined for the week. This kind of concentration is structural — it reflects population, local economic stress, and longstanding regional filing patterns rather than any one-week anomaly.
5. Current year focus. Through the first 15 weeks of 2026, the country has logged 175,211 total filings, an average of 11,681 per week. The year started softer at 9,012 in week 1, climbed steadily, and produced notable spikes of 14,157 in week 5, 15,290 in week 9, and 14,380 in week 14 before settling to 11,558 in the latest week. Chapter 7 has driven most of the growth in absolute terms, but Chapter 13 has also expanded sharply — the latest week's 4,203 Chapter 13 filings compare with 3,489 in week 15 of 2025. Chapter 11 has shown the steepest percentage rise, jumping to 164 from 115 in the same week one year ago. The overall pattern for 2026 to date is a clearly higher baseline than any previous year covered by the dataset.
6. Comparative analysis with previous years. Looking at the same week 15 across years yields a consistent climb: 6,930 in 2022, 7,916 in 2023, 9,244 in 2024, 10,603 in 2025, and 11,558 in 2026, a cumulative increase of about 66.8% over the four-year span. Annual growth rates for week 15 specifically were 14.2% (2023), 16.8% (2024), 14.7% (2025), and 9.0% (2026), so the percentage rise is decelerating even as absolute volumes keep climbing. The same trend appears in year-to-date totals through week 15: 104,742 in 2022, 121,199 in 2023, 138,182 in 2024, 154,849 in 2025, and 175,211 in 2026. That means 2026 is running roughly 13.1% ahead of 2025's pace at the same point on the calendar and about 67.3% ahead of where 2022 stood after 15 weeks. The slowing growth rate paired with continuing absolute gains suggests the post-pandemic recovery in filings is maturing rather than reversing.
7. Analyzing the filings per capita. Per-capita filing pressure varies dramatically across districts even after controlling for population. The Central District of California, with roughly 20 million residents, produced 584 filings this week — about 29 filings per million residents. The Northern District of Georgia, with around 6.5 million residents, produced 532, which works out to roughly 82 per million, nearly three times Southern California's per-capita rate. The Middle District of Alabama (104 Chapter 13 filings alone) and the Western District of Tennessee (128 Chapter 13 filings) sit even higher per resident, while populous but lower-filing jurisdictions like the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York remain much closer to the national mean. Adjusted for population, the heaviest filing pressure clearly concentrates in the southeastern Sun Belt rather than in the largest absolute-volume coastal metros.
8. Analyzing the changing filings per capita. Because U.S. population has grown only roughly 0.5–0.6% per year while filings have climbed 9–17% annually, the per-capita filing rate has risen sharply since 2022. Nationally, the latest week's 11,558 filings translate to about 33 per million residents, up from roughly 20 per million in week 15 of 2022 — an increase of about 65% in four years. Districts that were already filing-heavy have seen the steepest per-capita rises, especially across the Sun Belt: the Northern District of Georgia's 532 combined filings this week compare with similar week-15 totals in the high 300s back in 2022. In contrast, the lowest-filing jurisdictions (Alaska at 4, Vermont at 5) remain essentially flat in per-capita terms and very low in absolute terms. The widening per-capita gap means that financial distress is becoming more geographically concentrated, not more evenly distributed, year after year.
9. Forecast the expected filing numbers for the rest of the year. If the rest of 2026 follows 2025's seasonal pattern, the remaining 37 weeks (weeks 16 through 52) should produce roughly 461,000 additional filings, on top of the 175,211 already recorded — putting the full year near 636,000 total filings, compared with 562,624 in 2025. Using the year-to-date 2026 weekly average of 11,681 applied to the remaining 37 weeks yields a similar projection of about 432,000 more filings and a year-end total around 607,000. A more conservative scenario that uses the latest week's 11,558 pace and accounts for the typical late-year holiday slowdown (week 52 of 2025 dropped to just 6,678) would land closer to 615,000–625,000. Taken together, the most likely 2026 year-end range is approximately 605,000 to 640,000 total filings, with the central estimate near 620,000. That would represent roughly 8–14% growth over 2025's full-year total.
10. Forecast the trends of increasing filings after 2025. The four-year trajectory of full-year totals (378,330 in 2022, 445,185 in 2023, 503,765 in 2024, 562,624 in 2025, and a projected ~620,000 in 2026) implies a compound annual growth rate of about 13% from 2022 through 2025, slowing to roughly 9–10% in 2026. If deceleration continues at a similar pace, annual growth could ease to about 6–8% in 2027 and 4–6% in 2028, putting filings into the 660,000–700,000 range by 2027 and the 690,000–740,000 range by 2028. The mix is likely to keep shifting as well: Chapter 11 has been growing fastest in percentage terms (up 42.6% year-over-year at week 15) and could approach 9,000–10,000 annual filings within two years. Chapter 13, propelled by the southeastern Sun Belt districts that produced 532, 254, 128, and 104 filings this week alone, is likely to retain its steady 35–37% share of the national total. The biggest risk to this baseline is a recession or a sharp interest-rate or credit shock, either of which could push 2027 filings well above the smoothed projection rather than modestly below it.

ChatGPT 5.5 Thinking Pro Analysis of this Week's Bankruptcy Statistics

1. National filings for week 15 were 11,558, compared with 14,380 in Week 14. That is a decrease of 2,822 filings from the prior week, or 19.6% lower. The chapter mix was 7,175 Chapter 7 filings, 4,203 Chapter 13 filings, 164 Chapter 11 filings, and 16 Chapter 12 filings. Chapter 7 represented 62.1% of the week’s national total, while Chapter 13 represented 36.4%.
2. An interesting fact is that the national total of 11,558 was lower than the prior week’s 14,380, yet it was still higher than the same week in every prior year in the file. Week 15 had 10,603 filings in 2025, 9,244 in 2024, 7,916 in 2023, and 6,930 in 2022. That means 2026 Week 15 was up 955 filings from 2025 Week 15, or 9.0%. Chapter 13 drove much of the annual gain, rising from 3,489 in 2025 Week 15 to 4,203 in 2026 Week 15. Chapter 11 also increased from 115 to 164, a gain of 49 filings.
3. District-level filings were concentrated in a small group of high-volume districts during 2026 Week 15. The Central District of California recorded 584 filings, the Middle District of Florida recorded 561, and the Northern District of Georgia recorded 532. The Northern District of Illinois followed with 434 filings, while the Eastern District of Michigan had 399. These 5 districts combined for 2,510 filings, which was 21.7% of the national total of 11,558. The same week also showed large Chapter 7 counts in Central California with 486 and Middle Florida with 424.
4. Geographic disparities were sharp, with Central California’s 584 filings standing 146 times higher than Alaska’s 4 filings. Other low-count districts included Vermont with 5 filings, the District of Columbia with 9, and South Dakota with 10. Three districts recorded 0 filings in the week, while 94 districts appeared in the district columns. The top 10 districts together produced 3,572 filings, or 30.9% of the national total of 11,558. The contrast between Northern Georgia’s 532 filings and West Virginia North’s 14 filings shows that regional filing intensity differed substantially even within a single weekly snapshot.
5. For the current year through Week 15, 2026 had 175,211 national filings. That averages 11,680.7 filings per completed week through the first 15 weeks. The Week 15 total of 11,558 was slightly below the 2026 year-to-date weekly average by 122.7 filings. Compared with the 2025 year-to-date count of 154,849 through Week 15, 2026 was higher by 20,362 filings. That is a 13.1% increase on the same 15-week basis.
6. Compared with previous years, 2026 Week 15 continued the multi-year rise visible in the weekly data. The same week had 6,930 filings in 2022, 7,916 in 2023, 9,244 in 2024, 10,603 in 2025, and 11,558 in 2026. The 2026 Week 15 number was 66.8% above 2022, 46.0% above 2023, 25.0% above 2024, and 9.0% above 2025. Year-to-date filings through Week 15 also rose from 104,742 in 2022 to 175,211 in 2026. The 2026 year-to-date count was 70,469 filings higher than the comparable 2022 period.
7. On a national per-capita basis, 11,558 filings in Week 15 equals about 33.8 filings per 1 million residents using the Census estimate of 341,784,857 people for July 1, 2025. The comparable 2025 Week 15 rate was about 31.0 filings per 1 million residents using the same national population denominator. That means the weekly filing rate increased by about 2.8 filings per 1 million residents from 2025 Week 15 to 2026 Week 15. Through Week 15, the 2026 year-to-date rate was about 512.6 filings per 1 million residents. That compares with 453.1 filings per 1 million residents through Week 15 of 2025.
8. The changing per-capita pattern shows that filing intensity has risen faster than population over the 2022 to 2026 period. Through Week 15, the national rate moved from about 313.6 filings per 1 million residents in 2022 to 359.8 in 2023, 406.3 in 2024, 453.1 in 2025, and 512.6 in 2026. That is a gain of 199.1 filings per 1 million residents from 2022 to 2026. In percentage terms, the 2026 year-to-date per-capita rate was about 63.5% above the 2022 rate. The weekly Week 15 rate also rose from about 20.7 filings per 1 million residents in 2022 to 33.8 in 2026.
9. A simple weekly run-rate forecast based on the first 15 completed weeks of 2026 points to roughly 607,398 filings for the full year. This uses the year-to-date average of 11,680.7 filings per week and extends it over 52 weeks. Since 175,211 filings had already occurred through Week 15, the remaining 37 weeks would contribute about 432,187 filings at the same pace. This forecast is above the full-year totals of 562,624 in 2025 and 503,765 in 2024. It would imply about 44,774 more filings than 2025, or an annual increase near 8.0%.
10. After 2025, the 2026 data through Week 15 suggests continued filing growth rather than a plateau. The 2026 year-to-date weekly average of 11,680.7 is above the full-year 2025 weekly average of 10,819.7. Chapter 13 is a key part of that post-2025 trend, because Week 15 Chapter 13 filings rose from 3,489 in 2025 to 4,203 in 2026. Several districts also show strong post-2025 increases, including Northern Georgia rising from 328 to 532, Western Texas from 97 to 225, and Southern Texas from 159 to 276. If the 2026 pace remains near 11,681 filings per week, the trend after 2025 would be higher national filings with especially visible growth in Chapter 13 and several Texas and Georgia districts.

Claude 4.6 Sonnet Extended Analysis of the Bankruptcy Statistics

1. Overview of This Week's National Filings For the week of April 13, 2026 — the fifteenth week of the year — a total of 11,558 bankruptcy filings were recorded across the United States, representing the latest fully completed reporting week. Of those, 7,175 were Chapter 7 liquidation filings, accounting for 62.1% of all activity and reflecting the dominant form of consumer financial relief sought nationally. Chapter 13 reorganization filings came in as the second largest category with 4,203 cases, representing approximately 36.4% of the national total. Business-focused Chapter 11 restructuring filings reached 164 for the week, while the agriculturally oriented Chapter 12 filings contributed just 16 cases — always a small but meaningful segment of the overall picture. Together, these four filing types account for the complete national total of 11,558 filings recorded during the week of April 13, 2026.
2. An Interesting Fact About This Week's Filings One of the most striking observations about the week of April 13, 2026 is that, despite being a routine spring week, it reflects a remarkable 66.8% increase in national filings compared to the same week just four years ago in 2022, when the total stood at only 6,930. Chapter 11 business restructuring filings show an especially sharp trajectory: this week's figure of 164 compares to just 62 in the same week of 2022, representing a 164.5% increase in that category alone over four years. Even more notable is the Chapter 12 figure of 16, the highest ever recorded for Week 15 in the entire dataset — more than triple the single filing seen in the same week of 2023. This week also follows the extraordinary prior week's spike of 14,380 filings, making the week of April 13 a notable drop of nearly 19.6% in a single week, suggesting a post-peak normalization after a surge. The data clearly shows that the long-term baseline for U.S. bankruptcy filings has permanently shifted to a structurally higher level than was seen as recently as 2022.
3. Overview of This Week's District-Level Filings Across the country's dozens of federal court districts, activity during the week of April 13, 2026 was concentrated in a handful of high-volume jurisdictions that together accounted for a substantial share of the national total of 11,558. The Central District of California led all districts with 584 total filings, broken down as 486 Chapter 7 cases, 12 Chapter 11 cases, and 86 Chapter 13 cases, reflecting the large population and elevated cost-of-living pressures in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Middle District of Florida came in second with 561 total filings — including 424 Chapter 7 and 125 Chapter 13 cases — followed closely by the Northern District of Georgia at 532 total filings, where Chapter 13 is unusually prominent at 254 cases compared to 263 Chapter 7 filings. The Northern District of Illinois recorded 434 filings and the Eastern District of Michigan contributed 399 filings, with Chapter 7 cases dominating in both districts at 277 and 287 respectively. Rounding out the top ten were the Northern District of Ohio (315), the Northern District of Texas (294), the Southern District of Florida (281), the Southern District of Texas (276), and the District of Maryland (261).
4. Geographic Disparities in Filings The contrast between the highest and lowest filing districts during the week of April 13, 2026 is dramatic: the top district, Central California, recorded 584 filings, while the territories of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands each recorded zero filings for the week. Even among the fifty states, the smallest districts showed minimal activity — Alaska logged just 4 filings and Vermont just 5 — while major urban-centered districts in California, Florida, Georgia, and Illinois each produced hundreds of cases. This geographic disparity is not merely a function of population size; the Northern District of Georgia, which serves the Atlanta metropolitan area, posted 532 total filings including a notably high 254 Chapter 13 cases, reflecting both the region's elevated consumer debt levels and an established legal culture of using repayment plans over outright liquidation. By contrast, the four Texas districts combined contributed roughly 900 total filings across the state's vast geography, with the Northern District leading at 294 but the Eastern and Western Districts contributing far less on a per-district basis. These disparities underscore how economic conditions, local legal culture, attorney availability, and court practices all shape filing geography in ways that go well beyond raw population headcounts.
5. Current Year Focus Through the week of April 13, 2026 — covering the full first quarter and the opening weeks of the second quarter — the year-to-date national total has reached 175,211 bankruptcy filings, a figure that already surpasses the first 15 weeks of every prior year in the dataset. The weekly average across these 15 weeks is 11,681 filings per week, compared to the full-year 2025 weekly average of 10,820, a pace signaling that 2026 is running approximately 7.9% hotter than 2025 was on average across all 52 weeks. Chapter 7 cases are driving a large part of this acceleration: the year-to-date Chapter 7 total through Week 15 is 109,959, compared to 96,678 over the same period last year — a 13.7% increase. Chapter 11 filings have also surged in 2026, with the year-to-date total of 2,999 already exceeding the comparable 2025 figure of 2,095, representing a 43.1% jump that signals growing financial stress among businesses, not just individual consumers. The year-to-date Chapter 12 total of 112 is also the highest for this stretch on record, nearly double the 55 filings seen in the same 15 weeks of 2024.
6. Comparative Analysis with Previous Years Looking at the same Week 15 across each year in the dataset, the upward trend in filings is unmistakable and consistent: from 6,930 in 2022, the total climbed to 7,916 in 2023 (+14.2%), then to 9,244 in 2024 (+16.8%), then to 10,603 in 2025 (+14.7%), and now to 11,558 in 2026 (+9.0% over last year). The year-over-year growth rate in 2026 is the slowest in the four-year comparison window, which may reflect a partial moderation as filing volumes approach higher structural levels, but the absolute increases remain substantial — the 955-case rise from Week 15 of 2025 to Week 15 of 2026 is comparable in raw numbers to the 986-case rise seen between the same week of 2022 and 2023. Chapter 13 activity shows a particularly sharp climb over the period: from 2,420 in Week 15 of 2022 to 4,203 in Week 15 of 2026, a rise of 73.7% over four years, far outpacing the overall filing growth rate. The full-year annual totals also tell a clear story: 378,330 filings in all of 2022 rose to 445,185 in 2023, 503,765 in 2024, and 562,624 in 2025 — a trajectory of roughly 57,000–67,000 additional filings each year. Against this backdrop, the 2026 year-to-date total of 175,211 is running well ahead of the pace needed to simply match 2025's full-year record.
7. Analyzing the Filings Per Capita To place the raw filing numbers in proper context, adjusting for U.S. population growth reveals that the per-capita burden of bankruptcy filings has increased sharply over the four-year period covered by this dataset. Using approximate national population estimates — roughly 333 million in 2022, 335 million in 2023, 337 million in 2024, 339 million in 2025, and 341 million in 2026 — the average weekly filings per one million Americans rose from 21.85 in 2022 to 25.56 in 2023, then 28.75 in 2024, and 31.92 in 2025. The week of April 13, 2026 specifically translates to approximately 33.89 filings per million Americans, and the 2026 year-to-date weekly average of 11,681 equates to approximately 34.25 per million — the highest such rate in the dataset by a clear margin. This means that in per-capita terms, Americans are filing for bankruptcy in 2026 at a rate 56.7% higher than in 2022, an extraordinary shift in just four years that suggests broad deterioration in household and business financial resilience. Even adjusting for population growth, the Chapter 11 rate stands out: the 164 business filings in Week 15 of 2026 represent roughly 0.48 per million Americans for a single week, compared to just 0.19 per million in the same week of 2022.
8. Analyzing the Changing Filings Per Capita The rate at which the per-capita filing rate is changing over time offers important signals about the trajectory of financial stress across the country. Between 2022 and 2023, the per-capita weekly filing rate increased by approximately 3.71 cases per million — the largest single-year jump in the dataset — reflecting the rapid normalization of filings after the pandemic-era suppression driven by moratoriums and government stimulus programs. The pace of annual increase moderated slightly between 2023 and 2024 (+3.19 per million per week) and between 2024 and 2025 (+3.17 per million per week), suggesting that the post-pandemic catch-up surge was giving way to a more persistent, structurally elevated level of financial distress. Through the first 15 weeks of 2026, the per-capita rate has increased by an additional approximately 2.33 per million per week compared to the equivalent 2025 period — a sign of continued growth, though at a slower rate of acceleration than in prior years. Notably, the Chapter 13 per-capita rate has grown the most steeply of any chapter type since 2022, rising from the equivalent of 7.27 per million per week in 2022 to approximately 12.32 per million in 2026, reflecting both rising consumer debt burdens and a strong preference — particularly in the South and Midwest — for restructured repayment plans over outright liquidation.
9. Forecast for the Expected Filing Numbers for the Rest of the Year With 15 weeks completed and a year-to-date total of 175,211 filings, projecting where 2026 will ultimately land depends on the trajectory of the remaining 37 weeks of the year. Using the average of the four most recent weeks (Weeks 12 through 15 of 2026), which produced an average of approximately 13,069 filings per week, the remaining 37 weeks would generate an additional roughly 483,553 filings, pointing toward a projected full-year 2026 total of approximately 658,764 — an increase of about 96,140 over the 2025 full-year record of 562,624. However, historical patterns suggest that filing rates typically moderate in late summer and the holiday weeks — Weeks 35–40 and Weeks 50–52 have consistently posted below-average volumes in each of the prior four years — so a more conservative estimate using the 15-week average of 11,681 yields a projected full-year total of approximately 607,398. Even at the lower end of these estimates, 2026 is on pace to exceed 2025's total by somewhere between 45,000 and 96,000 additional filings by year's end. The Chapter 11 trajectory is particularly significant: at the current year-to-date pace of approximately 200 business cases per week, annual Chapter 11 filings could reach roughly 10,397 for the full year — the highest in the dataset and a meaningful indicator of escalating corporate financial distress.
10. Forecast of the Trends of Increasing Filings After 2025 The data through the week of April 13, 2026 reinforces a multi-year trajectory that shows no sign of reversal: each successive year since 2022 has posted a higher national total than the one before, with full-year increases ranging from approximately 67,000 (2022 to 2023) to 59,000 (2024 to 2025), and 2026's early pace suggesting a continuation — and possible acceleration — of this pattern. If annual filing totals continue growing at even a conservative rate of 8–10% per year — roughly in line with the year-over-year pace seen in the Week 15 comparisons — the national total could approach 610,000–660,000 in 2026 and exceed 670,000 by 2027. The structural drivers behind this trend — elevated consumer debt, persistently higher interest rates feeding through to household and small business balance sheets, and a post-pandemic normalization to historical filing rates — are unlikely to resolve quickly, meaning the elevated baseline of 11,000–15,000 filings per week seen in early 2026 may well become the new floor rather than a temporary spike. The acceleration in Chapter 11 business filings is especially telling for the post-2025 outlook: growing from 62 in Week 15 of 2022 to 164 in Week 15 of 2026 signals increasing business sector distress, and if credit conditions remain tight or tighten further, that category could continue growing disproportionately fast relative to consumer filings. In summary, the data strongly points toward 2026 and beyond seeing sustained annual filing volumes well above the 2025 record of 562,624, with the most plausible scenario being a continued climb toward the 600,000–700,000 range annually by the late 2020s.

ChatGPT o3 Analysis of this Week's Bankruptcy Statistics

1. During the week ending 13 April 2026 courts recorded 11 ,558 bankruptcy petitions nationwide. Filings were led by 7 ,175 cases under Chapter 7. Chapter 13 contributed 4 ,203 cases, while Chapter 11 and Chapter 12 added 164 and 16 respectively. These figures mean Chapter 7 accounted for roughly 62.1 % of activity, Chapter 13 for 36.4 %, and the remaining two chapters for 1.5 %. The sum of 11 ,558 petitions provides the baseline for every comparison that follows.
2. One striking feature of this week is the sharp swing in volume compared with the preceding week. Filings declined from 14 ,380 in week 14 to 11 ,558 in week 15, a drop of 2 ,822 or 19.6 %. Yet the same week in 2025 produced only 10 ,603 petitions. The current tally is therefore 955 cases, or 9.0 %, higher on a year-over-year basis. Such simultaneous week-over-week contraction and year-over-year expansion illustrates the episodic nature of bankruptcy flows.
3. Looking beneath the national aggregate reveals heavy concentrations in a handful of courts. The Central District of California processed 584 petitions, the Middle District of Florida 561, and the Northern District of Georgia 532. Combined, these three venues handled 1 ,677 cases, equal to 14.5 % of the national total. By contrast the median district recorded only 98 petitions this week. These concrete counts highlight where administrative resources are most needed.
4. Geographic disparities are stark. The busiest court, Central California, handled 584 petitions whereas Alaska registered just 4. That difference means the top district processed 146 × as many cases as the least active one. Within the Seventh Circuit the Northern District of Illinois filed 434 cases while Western Wisconsin logged 64, a 6.8-fold gap. Across the middle fifty percent of districts totals ranged from 39 to 158, underscoring wide mid-tier variation.
5. Through the first 15 weeks of 2026 courts have received 175 ,211 petitions. The period’s average stands at 11 ,681 cases per week. Year-to-date figures include 109 ,959 Chapter 7 filings and 62 ,141 Chapter 13 filings. Chapters 11 and 12 have posted 2 ,999 and 112 cases respectively, leaving business and farm reorganizations at just 1.8 % of activity. These cumulative numbers define the current year’s baseline.
6. Average weekly volume has risen each year since 2023. The figure moved from 8 ,561 in 2023 to 9 ,688 in 2024 and 10 ,820 in 2025. The 2026 pace of 11 ,681 marks another step up. Corresponding growth rates have cooled from 13.2 % to 11.7 % and now 8.0 %. The deceleration suggests the post-pandemic rebound is maturing rather than accelerating.
7. Per-capita statistics offer another vantage point. This week’s 11 ,558 filings equal 3.46 petitions per 100 ,000 residents when scaled to a population of 334 million. Chapter 7 alone represents 2.15 per 100 ,000 and Chapter 13 adds 1.26. Chapters 11 and 12 together contribute a negligible 0.05 per 100 ,000. Extrapolated for an entire year the current rhythm would yield roughly 180 cases per 100 ,000 inhabitants.
8. Rate movements appear clearly in the per-capita series. The measure fell from 4.31 last week to 3.46 this week, a decline of 0.85 per 100 ,000. Nevertheless it tops the 3.17 reported in the same week of 2025 by 0.29. Such offsetting short-term and long-term changes mirror the raw filing counts. Observing these swings helps analysts distinguish transient noise from structural shifts.
9. Extending the current 11 ,681-case weekly average across the remaining 37 weeks of 2026 projects 432 ,197 additional filings. When added to the existing 175 ,211, the year would close near 607 ,408 petitions. That level would exceed the 2025 total of 562 ,624 by 44 ,784, an expected gain of about 8.0 %. Should the average drift marginally higher or lower, the full-year figure would move in the same proportion. Such foresight enables courts, trustees and lenders to align staffing and reserves with likely demand.
10. Recent history hints at the path beyond 2026. Average weekly filings grew 13.2 % from 2023 to 2024, 11.7 % the following year, and are on course for an 8.0 % rise in 2026. If growth moderates to 5 % in 2027, weekly volume would reach roughly 12 ,265 cases. That pace implies about 638 ,000 filings in 2027 and could push totals toward 670 ,000 in 2028 under a similar trajectory. The curve may be flattening, but the long-term direction remains a gradual climb.