*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 June 22nd, 2026)

Week 25's YoY numbers moved in two directions. On the consumer side, filings ticked up about 2% to 10,301, with the increase concentrated almost entirely in Chapter 7. Business filings went the other way, falling roughly 25% to 138 cases versus the same week in 2025.

Breaking down the consumer figures: Chapter 7, the liquidation route many households use, rose 2.27% YoY, from 6,514 filings in 2025 to 6,662 in 2026. Chapter 13, which lets individuals restructure and repay debt over time, was essentially flat, up 0.89% from 3,607 to 3,639. On the business side, Chapter 11, often used by companies working through insolvency, was down 23.16%, from 177 cases in 2025 to 136 in 2026.

What We Are Reading

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

• Leading Companies Filing for Bankruptcy 2026
• Map Shows Where Bankruptcies are Soaring
• Household Debt Edges up to New High, but Credit Card Balances Dip
• Federal Housing Aid Ends as Foreclosure Risk Continues

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 10,439 total bankruptcy filings in the latest completed week, the highest week-25 figure in the entire five-year span of the dataset. Chapter 7 liquidations made up 6,662 filings, or roughly 63.8% of the national total, while Chapter 13 wage-earner reorganizations contributed 3,639 filings, about 34.9%. Chapter 11 business reorganizations added 136 filings and Chapter 12 farm filings totaled just 2, together accounting for about 1.3% of the week. Week-over-week, total filings dipped 5.0% from the prior week's 10,992, settling below the 2026 year-to-date weekly average of 11,911. Year-over-year, this represents just a 1.3% increase compared with the same week in 2025, which posted 10,304 filings — the slowest YoY pace of any week in 2026 so far.
2. An interesting fact about this week's filings. The most striking detail is the near-stalling of year-over-year growth across all chapters: Chapter 7 grew only 2.3%, Chapter 13 just 0.9%, Chapter 11 actually fell 23.2% (from 177 to 136), and Chapter 12 farm filings collapsed 66.7% (from 6 to just 2 nationwide). The two Chapter 12 farm filings recorded came from Colorado and Maryland, with one filing each — making this the lowest single-week farm filing reading anywhere in the five-year dataset. On the business side, the Northern District of California unexpectedly led Chapter 11 with 15 filings, followed by Maine and the Southern District of Florida tied at 12, marking an unusual leader board absent the typical Texas or Delaware clusters. Maine's 12 Chapter 11 filings stand out particularly given its tiny overall caseload (just 17 total filings for the entire week), suggesting a one-off restructuring cluster. The Middle District of Florida led the country with 625 total filings, the highest single-district volume observed this week.
3. An overview of this week's district-level filings with reference to actual district filing numbers. Combining all four chapters, the Middle District of Florida led the country with 625 filings, followed by the Central District of California at 544, the Northern District of Illinois at 415, the Southern District of Florida at 361, and the Northern District of Georgia at 342. The Eastern District of Michigan recorded 296 total filings, the Northern District of Ohio 267, New Jersey 264, the Eastern District of Virginia 239, and Maryland 237. Looking at Chapter 7 alone, the Middle District of Florida posted 484, the Central District of California 443, the Northern District of Illinois 239, the Northern District of Ohio 226, the Southern District of Florida 222, the Northern District of Georgia 209, the Eastern District of Michigan 207, Arizona 197, the Eastern District of California 174, and New Jersey 171. On the Chapter 13 side, the Northern District of Illinois led with 175, followed by the Middle District of Florida at 136, the Northern District of Georgia at 131, the Southern District of Florida at 127, the Western District of Tennessee at 123, the Northern District of Alabama at 121, the Middle District of Alabama at 108, the Eastern District of Virginia at 93, and the Central District of California and New Jersey tied at 92. The top ten districts together produced about 3,590 filings, accounting for roughly 34.4% of the entire 10,439-filing national total.
4. Geographic (district) disparities in filings. The disparity between busy and quiet districts remained enormous: while the Middle District of Florida posted 625 total filings this week, the three U.S. territory districts (Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands) again recorded zero. Other very low-volume districts included Alaska at 4, Montana and Vermont at 5 each, South Dakota at 11, the District of Columbia at 12, and both the Northern District of West Virginia and Wyoming at 13. The southeastern Sun Belt and major metro districts of California, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio dominated the leaderboard, with the Eastern District of Virginia (239) and Maryland (237) also breaking into the national top ten. The Middle District of Florida alone (625 filings) produced more activity than the bottom 30 districts combined for the week. This pattern of concentration is structural, reflecting population, regional economic stress, and entrenched filing behaviors rather than any one-week anomaly.
5. Current year focus. Through the first 25 weeks of 2026, the country has logged 297,773 total filings, an average of 11,911 per week — comfortably ahead of every prior year in the dataset at this point on the calendar. The year began softer at 9,012 in week 1 but has trended firmly upward, with notable peaks of 14,157 in week 5, 15,290 in week 9, 14,380 in week 14, an outlier 16,091 in week 18, and 14,259 in week 22, with the latest three weeks settling in the 10,400–11,000 range. Chapter 7 has continued to drive volume, sitting at 6,662 in the latest week (down slightly from 6,963 the prior week), while Chapter 13 settled at 3,639. Chapter 11 has remained subdued at 136 after its earlier-month volatility (147, 407, then 147 again across the last three weeks). The overall pattern for 2026 is a clearly higher baseline than any earlier year covered by the dataset, although the rate of year-over-year growth has clearly softened in recent weeks as 2025's elevated comparison base becomes harder to outpace.
6. Comparative analysis with previous years. Looking at the same week 25 across years yields a steady climb: 6,983 in 2022, 8,132 in 2023, 9,607 in 2024, 10,304 in 2025, and 10,439 in 2026, a cumulative increase of about 49.5% over the four-year span. Annual growth rates for week 25 specifically were 16.5% (2023), 18.1% (2024), 7.3% (2025), and just 1.3% (2026), showing a marked deceleration this year. The same upward trend appears in year-to-date totals through week 25: 177,708 in 2022, 206,973 in 2023, 238,416 in 2024, 264,372 in 2025, and 297,773 in 2026. That means 2026 is running about 12.6% ahead of 2025's pace at the same point on the calendar and roughly 67.6% ahead of where 2022 stood after 25 weeks. The combination of slower YoY growth this week but still-strong YTD gains suggests the rate of growth is moderating significantly, particularly as 2025's comparison weeks become higher and harder to outpace.
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 544 total filings this week — about 27 per million residents. The Northern District of Georgia, with around 6.5 million residents, produced 342 filings, which works out to roughly 53 per million, nearly double Southern California's per-capita rate. The Northern District of Alabama (121 Chapter 13 filings) and the Western District of Tennessee (123 Chapter 13 filings) sit even higher on a per-resident basis, while the Middle District of Florida's 625 combined filings translate to roughly 59 per million given its 10.6-million population. Adjusted for population, the heaviest filing pressure clearly concentrates across 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 risen 1–18% annually since 2022 at this point on the calendar, the per-capita filing rate has climbed sharply over the past four years. Nationally, the latest week's 10,439 filings translate to about 30 per million residents, up from roughly 20 per million in week 25 of 2022 — an increase of about 50% in four years. Districts that were already filing-heavy have seen the steepest per-capita rises, especially the Middle District of Florida, whose 625 combined filings this week represent a substantial step-up from typical week-25 totals in the high 200s back in 2022. In contrast, the lowest-filing jurisdictions (Alaska at 4, Montana and Vermont at 5 each, South Dakota at 11, District of Columbia at 12) remain essentially flat in per-capita terms and very low in absolute terms. The widening per-capita gap means financial distress is becoming more geographically concentrated rather than 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 27 weeks (weeks 26 through 52) should produce roughly 336,000 additional filings, on top of the 297,773 already recorded — putting the full year near 634,000 total filings, compared with 562,635 in 2025. Using the year-to-date 2026 weekly average of 11,911 applied to the remaining 27 weeks yields a projection of about 322,000 more filings and a year-end total around 620,000. A more conservative scenario that uses the latest week's 10,439 pace and accounts for the typical late-year holiday slowdown (week 52 of 2025 dropped to just 6,678) would land closer to 610,000–630,000. Taken together, the most likely 2026 year-end range is approximately 610,000 to 640,000 total filings, with the central estimate near 625,000. That would represent roughly 9–14% growth over 2025's full-year total of 562,635.
10. Forecast the trends of increasing filings after 2025. The four-year trajectory of full-year totals (378,333 in 2022, 445,195 in 2023, 503,773 in 2024, 562,635 in 2025, and a projected ~625,000 in 2026) implies a compound annual growth rate of about 14% from 2022 through 2025, easing to roughly 11% in 2026. If the sharp deceleration observed in this week's YoY figure (just 1.3%) spreads to other weeks, annual increases could moderate to about 5–7% in 2027 and 3–5% in 2028, putting filings into the 655,000–685,000 range by 2027 and the 685,000–715,000 range by 2028. The chapter mix is also likely to keep shifting: Chapter 7 has slowed sharply (up just 2.3% YoY at week 25), while Chapter 11 has slipped 23.2% and Chapter 12 has collapsed 66.7%, suggesting the broad-based growth that fueled 2024 and 2025 is finally easing. Chapter 13, propelled by southeastern Sun Belt districts that produced 175, 136, 131, 127, 123, 121, 108, 93, 92, and 92 filings this week alone, is likely to retain its steady 32–37% share of the national total. The biggest risk to this baseline remains a recession, credit-tightening shock, or commercial real estate crisis — any 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. For the completed reporting week 25 of 2026, national filings totaled 10,439. Chapter 7 accounted for 6,662 filings, Chapter 13 accounted for 3,639, Chapter 11 accounted for 136, and Chapter 12 accounted for 2. The national total was 553 filings lower than week 24’s 10,992, a 5.0% decrease. Compared with week 25 of 2025, when there were 10,304 filings, this week was higher by 135 filings, or 1.3%. Through the first 25 weeks of 2026, national filings reached 297,773.
2. An interesting feature of week 25 is that the weekly decline was broad but not severe enough to erase the year-over-year gain. Chapter 7 fell by 301 filings, moving from 6,963 in week 24 to 6,662 in week 25. Chapter 13 fell by 233 filings, moving from 3,872 to 3,639. Chapter 11 declined by 11 filings, from 147 to 136, while Chapter 12 fell from 10 to 2. Even with those declines, the 10,439 filings in week 25 still exceeded the 10,304 filings from the same week in 2025.
3. District-level filings were led by Middle Florida with 625 filings in week 25. Central California followed with 544 filings, Northern Illinois had 415, Southern Florida had 361, and Northern Georgia had 342. Eastern Michigan reported 296 filings, Northern Ohio had 267, New Jersey had 264, Eastern Virginia had 239, and Maryland had 237. The top 5 districts together produced 2,287 filings. Those 2,287 filings represented 21.9% of the national total of 10,439.
4. Geographic disparities remained substantial in week 25, with an average of 111.1 filings per district and a median of 84.5. Middle Florida’s 625 filings were 7.4 times the median district total. There were 14 districts with at least 200 filings, including Central California at 544 and Northern Illinois at 415. There were also 16 districts with 20 or fewer filings, including Alaska at 4, Montana at 5, Vermont at 5, South Dakota at 11, and Wyoming at 13. Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands each had 0 filings.
5. The current-year picture shows that 2026 remains well ahead of the comparable 2025 pace. Through week 25, 2026 filings totaled 297,773, compared with 264,372 through week 25 of 2025. That is an increase of 33,401 filings, or 12.6%, over the same point last year. Chapter 7 has contributed 189,232 filings so far in 2026, while Chapter 13 has contributed 103,399. Chapter 11 has contributed 4,947 filings and Chapter 12 has contributed 195, so the year-to-date total remains heavily concentrated in Chapters 7 and 13.
6. Week 25 of 2026 was higher than week 25 in every prior year shown in the file. The week 25 totals were 6,983 in 2022, 8,132 in 2023, 9,607 in 2024, 10,304 in 2025, and 10,439 in 2026. This year’s week 25 total was 49.5% higher than 2022’s week 25 total. It was also 28.4% higher than 2023, 8.7% higher than 2024, and 1.3% higher than 2025. On a year-to-date basis, 2026’s 297,773 filings were 59,357 higher than 2024’s 238,416 through week 25.
7. A true per-capita filing rate cannot be calculated from this CSV alone because it does not include district population counts. Using the filing data itself, the closest internal benchmark is filings per district, which was 111.1 filings across 94 districts in week 25. The median district had 84.5 filings, which was 26.6 below the district average. Middle Florida’s 625 filings were 5.6 times the average district count. Central California’s 544 filings were 4.9 times the average district count.
8. The changing filing-rate proxy shows a clear rise over time when week 25 is compared across years. Week 25 filings increased from 6,983 in 2022 to 10,439 in 2026, a gain of 3,456 filings. Across 94 districts, that equals an increase from 74.3 filings per district in 2022 to 111.1 filings per district in 2026. Compared with week 25 of 2025, the proxy rose from 109.6 filings per district to 111.1. That one-year increase equals 1.4 additional filings per district.
9. A simple forecast based on the 2026 year-to-date average of 11,910.9 filings per week points to about 631,279 filings for the full 53-week 2026 reporting year. Since 297,773 filings have already occurred through week 25, that pace would add about 333,506 filings over the remaining 28 weeks. A second approach uses the 2025 weeks 26 through 52 total of 298,263 filings as a baseline. Increasing that remaining-year baseline by the current 12.6% year-to-date growth rate implies about 335,946 additional filings. These two approaches suggest the rest of 2026 could add roughly 333,506 to 335,946 filings.
10. The post-2025 trend remains upward because 2026 is ahead of 2025 on both the latest-week and year-to-date measures. Week 25 of 2026 had 10,439 filings, compared with 10,304 in week 25 of 2025. Through week 25, 2026 had 297,773 filings, compared with 264,372 in 2025. The full-year weekly average rose from 7,275.6 in 2022 to 8,561.4 in 2023, 9,687.9 in 2024, and 10,819.9 in 2025. If the 2026 year-to-date pace of 11,910.9 filings per week continues after 2025, it would be 1,091.0 filings per week above the 2025 average.

Claude 4.6 Sonnet Extended Analysis of the Bankruptcy Statistics

1. Overview of This Week's National Filings For the week of June 22, 2026 — the twenty-fifth week of the year — a total of 10,439 bankruptcy filings were recorded across the United States, representing the latest fully completed reporting week. Of those, 6,662 were Chapter 7 liquidation filings, accounting for 63.8% of all activity and reflecting a modest pullback from the prior week's 6,963 Chapter 7 cases that is consistent with the gradual early-summer moderation pattern seen in prior years. Chapter 13 reorganization filings contributed 3,639 cases, representing 34.9% of the national total — a near-flat reading that continues a period of stabilization in consumer reorganization demand following the elevated spring filings. Chapter 11 business restructuring filings came in at 136 for the week, continuing the normalization from the exceptional 419 recorded two weeks ago, while Chapter 12 agricultural filings reached just 2 cases — the lowest Chapter 12 reading since the first weeks of the year. Together, these four filing types account for the complete national total of 10,439 filings recorded during the week of June 22, 2026.
2. An Interesting Fact About This Week's Filings The most significant data point in the week of June 22, 2026 is a simultaneous contrast: this week's year-over-year growth of just +1.3% — from 10,304 in 2025 to 10,439 in 2026 — is the smallest year-over-year gain recorded for any single week in the entire 2026 dataset, yet the cumulative year-to-date Chapter 13 total has crossed 100,000 for the first time in dataset history at this stage of the year, reaching 103,399 through 25 weeks against a comparable 2022 figure of only 66,170. The near-zero annual headline growth this week is best understood in context: the 2025 Week 25 total of 10,304 was itself a strong reading that benefited from an already-elevated baseline, meaning this week's 10,439 extends an exceptionally elevated series rather than reflecting genuine deceleration in underlying financial stress. Historical data for this specific week also reveals an encouraging structural signal: every prior year in the dataset has seen the second half of the year (Weeks 26–52) average 3.1–6.6% higher than the first half, with an average second-half premium of approximately 4.7% across 2022–2025 — suggesting that 2026's second half, if it follows historical norms, could average roughly 12,470 filings per week and push the full-year total meaningfully above current baseline projections. The per-capita annual increment has dipped to +3.01 per million per week for the first time in the 2026 series — falling below the prior floor of +3.17 and raising the question of whether the pace of per-capita deterioration is genuinely moderating or simply responding to a high 2025 baseline at this specific point in the calendar. With 2026 now 48.1% complete and a year-to-date total of 297,773, the national filing count is within striking distance of the 300,000 cumulative milestone, which will almost certainly be crossed during Week 26.
3. Overview of This Week's District-Level Filing District-level activity during the week of June 22, 2026 was led by the Middle District of Florida, which reclaimed the top position with 625 total filings — 484 Chapter 7, 5 Chapter 11, and 136 Chapter 13 — as Florida's court system continues to generate the highest single-district volumes in the country through the early summer period. The Central District of California followed with 544 total filings (443 Chapter 7, 92 Chapter 13), and the Northern District of Illinois came in third with 415 total filings, including 239 Chapter 7 and 175 Chapter 13 cases — the latter reflecting the Chicago metropolitan area's continued reliance on structured repayment plans. The Southern District of Florida posted a strong fourth-place showing with 361 total filings (222 Chapter 7, 127 Chapter 13, 12 Chapter 11), and the Northern District of Georgia contributed 342 total filings (209 Chapter 7, 131 Chapter 13), continuing its consistent presence in the top five despite the moderation in its Chapter 11 activity from prior weeks. The Eastern District of Michigan (296), Northern District of Ohio (267, with an exceptional 226 Chapter 7 and only 41 Chapter 13), District of New Jersey (264), Eastern District of Virginia (239, with 93 Chapter 13 cases), and District of Maryland (237) completed the top ten — with the Eastern District of Virginia's repeat appearance in the rankings signaling a sustained and deepening wave of consumer financial stress in the greater Washington metropolitan area. The Northern District of Ohio's 226 Chapter 7 cases out of 267 total — an 84.6% liquidation rate — was the highest Chapter 7 proportion among any of the top-ten districts this week, reflecting the acute nature of consumer debt distress in the Cleveland and Akron metropolitan areas.
4. Geographic Disparities in Filing The territorial courts recorded their customary near-absence during the week of June 22, 2026, with Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands all posting zero filings, Alaska logging just 4, and — in an unusual appearance in the bottom rankings — the District of Montana recording just 5 filings, reflecting the state's sparse population and typically minimal federal court bankruptcy activity. The contrast between the top and bottom districts remains extraordinary in scale: the Middle District of Florida's 625 filings represent more than 156 times the activity of Montana's 5, yet both are served by the same national bankruptcy court system and operate under the same federal statutes. Florida's combined top-ten presence is particularly notable this week, with both the Middle (625) and Southern (361) Districts together contributing 986 filings — nearly 9.4% of the national weekly total from a single state — a concentration that reflects Florida's status as the national epicenter of consumer financial distress, driven by rising property insurance costs, high household debt levels, and a large population of retirees on fixed incomes vulnerable to inflation. The Eastern District of Virginia's 239 total filings — including 93 Chapter 13 cases representing 38.9% of the district's total — marks its second appearance in the top ten in recent weeks, a geographic signal that financial stress has spread into the historically affluent Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., where elevated mortgage rates are straining dual-income households that took on significant debt during the low-rate era. The District of Arizona's 235 total filings this week — just outside the top ten at eleventh place, with 197 Chapter 7 and only 2 Chapter 11 cases — confirms that Phoenix-area consumer liquidation demand remains structurally elevated, even in a week when overall national volumes have moderated.
5. Current Year Focus Through the week of June 22, 2026 — twenty-five completed weeks representing 48.1% of the full calendar — the national year-to-date total has reached 297,773 filings, approaching the 300,000 cumulative milestone for the first time in any year at this stage and exceeding the comparable 2025 figure of 264,372 by more than 33,400 additional filings. The 2026 weekly average through Week 25 stands at 11,911 filings per week, compared to the full-year 2025 average of 10,820, maintaining a roughly 10.1% gap above last year's full-year run rate — and historical data shows that the second half of the year typically produces approximately 4.7% more filings per week than the first half, suggesting the second-half average could reach approximately 12,470 per week and push the full-year total toward the 634,000 range. The year-to-date Chapter 13 total of 103,399 is the headline milestone of 2026 so far: not only is it a 10.3% increase over the comparable 2025 figure of 93,766, it represents the first time in the dataset's history that cumulative Chapter 13 filings have crossed 100,000 before the year's halfway point, with the comparable 2022 figure standing at only 66,170 — a four-year Chapter 13 increase of 56.3% that reflects the deep and persistent nature of consumer debt reorganization demand. The year-to-date Chapter 7 total of 189,232 through 25 weeks is running 13.5% above the comparable 2025 figure of 166,735, while the year-to-date Chapter 11 total of 4,947 — running 33.3% above 2025's comparable 3,711 — confirms that despite the recent moderation in individual weekly Chapter 11 readings, the cumulative business distress trend for the year remains strongly elevated. The year-to-date Chapter 12 agricultural total of 195 is running 21.9% above 2025's comparable 160 and 132.1% above 2022's 84, setting a new record for Chapter 12 accumulation at this point in the calendar year.
6. Comparative Analysis with Previous Years The same-week comparison for Week 25 reveals the most subdued year-over-year gain of the entire 2026 series: from 6,983 in 2022, the weekly total rose to 8,132 in 2023 (+16.5%), then to 9,607 in 2024 (+18.1%), then moderated to 10,304 in 2025 (+7.3%), and now barely moved to 10,439 in 2026 (+1.3%) — a near-plateau that is more a function of 2025's already-elevated Week 25 baseline than a sign of genuine easing in 2026's filing environment. The four-year cumulative change for Week 25 is +49.5% from 2022 to 2026, but the distribution of that gain is highly uneven: 2023 and 2024 contributed most of the acceleration, while 2025 and 2026 have represented more of a consolidation at the elevated level rather than a continuation of the explosive growth phase. The year-to-date cumulative comparison tells a more complete story: from 177,708 in 2022 to 206,973 in 2023 (+16.5%), 238,416 in 2024 (+15.2%), 264,372 in 2025 (+10.9%), and now 297,773 in 2026 (+12.6%) — with 2026's year-to-date total exceeding all prior years by the widest absolute margin in the series, at more than 33,000 additional filings above 2025. The chapter-level comparisons for Week 25 are particularly illuminating: Chapter 13 at 3,639 is up only +0.9% year over year from 3,607, and Chapter 7 at 6,662 is up just +2.3% from 6,514 — both growth rates far below any prior year in the series, yet occurring from such a high baseline that the absolute filing volumes are still among the highest for this week in the dataset's history. The Chapter 11 year-over-year decline of -23.2% (from 177 in 2025 to 136 in 2026) is consistent with the volatile and case-specific nature of weekly Chapter 11 counts, and the year-to-date Chapter 11 total of 4,947 — running 33.3% above 2025's comparable pace — remains the authoritative indicator that business distress in 2026 is at a historically unprecedented level.
7. Analyzing the Filings Per Capita Adjusted for population, the week of June 22, 2026 produced approximately 30.61 bankruptcy filings per one million Americans — the lowest per-capita weekly rate recorded in 2026 since Week 4 and a figure that sits roughly 12.4% below the 2026 year-to-date weekly average of 34.93 per million, suggesting the current period represents a genuine soft patch in the filing calendar rather than a sustained moderation. Using approximate national population estimates of 333 million in 2022, 335 million in 2023, 337 million in 2024, 339 million in 2025, and 341 million in 2026, the annual per-capita weekly filing averages have risen from 21.85 in 2022 to 25.56 in 2023, 28.75 in 2024, and 31.92 in 2025, with 2026's 25-week running average of 34.93 per million beginning to drift slightly downward as recent moderate weeks pull on the average. The cumulative Chapter 13 per-capita milestone is the most historically significant per-capita data point of the year: 103,399 Chapter 13 filings through 25 weeks translates to approximately 303.2 filings per million Americans — a figure that, annualized, implies a Chapter 13 per-capita rate of approximately 629 per million, compared to roughly 396 per million in 2022, a near-doubling of the reorganization-bankruptcy per-capita rate in just four years. The Chapter 7 per-capita rate this specific week of approximately 19.54 per million remains elevated in historical context — above the total per-capita bankruptcy filing rate of most weeks in 2022 — even though this week's reading is one of the lower Chapter 7 per-capita readings of 2026. Overall, the 2026 cumulative year-to-date per-capita rate of 297,773 filings through 25 weeks translates to approximately 873 filings per million Americans since January 1 — a figure that already exceeds the annualized rate of any full prior year in the dataset.
8. Analyzing the Changing Filings Per CapitaThe per-capita annual increment has dipped to +3.01 per million per week through 25 weeks of 2026 — the first time this figure has fallen below the +3.17 floor observed over the prior two full years, and a development that raises the question of whether a genuine deceleration in financial stress is beginning or whether this reflects the effect of particularly strong 2025 weeks creating a temporarily high comparison baseline. The trajectory of annual per-capita increments — +3.71 (2022→2023), +3.19 (2023→2024), +3.17 (2024→2025), and now +3.01 (2025→2026 through 25 weeks) — now shows a consistent, unbroken downward trend across all four years, which could point toward a gradual long-term deceleration in the annual rate of financial deterioration, though the absolute level of filings continues to rise. The consumer chapter per-capita trends support a moderation narrative: Chapter 7's weekly per-capita rate through 25 weeks is running +13.5% above 2025's comparable pace, down from the +14% range seen in earlier 2026 weeks, and Chapter 13's per-capita rate is growing at only +10.3% year over year — still elevated, but the slowest rate of Chapter 13 per-capita growth recorded at any comparable point in 2026. The Chapter 11 per-capita trajectory is the key counter-argument to the moderation thesis: with a year-to-date total of 4,947 cases through 25 weeks running 33.3% above 2025's pace, and three of the five highest single-week Chapter 11 readings in dataset history occurring in 2026, the business distress component of the per-capita picture shows no meaningful moderation — and could re-accelerate sharply if corporate credit conditions tighten further in the second half of the year. The most balanced interpretation of the +3.01 per-capita increment is that it reflects a temporary easing related to a strong 2025 baseline at this specific point in the calendar, rather than a structural turning point — a conclusion supported by the fact that the absolute level of per-capita filings in 2026 remains the highest in the dataset and the historical H2 premium of 4.7% above H1 suggests the per-capita rate will likely re-accelerate through the summer and fall.
9. Forecast for the Expected Filing Numbers for the Rest of the Year With 25 weeks completed and a year-to-date total of 297,773 filings — 48.1% of the full year elapsed — the two projection methods now diverge slightly, offering a conservative and an optimistic scenario that bracket the most likely full-year outcome. Using the average of the four most recent weeks (Weeks 22 through 25), which has pulled down to approximately 11,589 filings per week as a result of the recent moderation, the remaining 27 weeks of the year would contribute an additional roughly 312,893 filings, pointing toward a projected full-year 2026 total of approximately 610,666 — an increase of approximately 48,031 over the 2025 full-year total of 562,635. Using the full 25-week running average of 11,911 per week for the remaining 27 weeks yields a more elevated projected full-year total of approximately 619,370 — representing a 56,735-filing increase over 2025 — a figure that better accounts for the spike weeks that characterized the first half of the year but may underweight the moderation currently underway. A third, historically grounded projection applies the average H2-to-H1 premium of 4.7% observed in 2022–2025: if 2026's second half averages 4.7% more than the first-half average of 11,911, the H2 weekly average would be approximately 12,470, and 27 remaining weeks would produce roughly 336,690 additional filings, yielding a full-year projection of approximately 634,463 — the most historically consistent estimate and one that reflects the well-established pattern of heavier late-year filing activity. The Chapter 11 year-to-date pace of 197.9 filings per week projects to approximately 10,290 annual business bankruptcies — still above the 10,000 threshold — and given that the second half of prior years has typically seen elevated business filing activity around corporate fiscal year-end restructurings, the actual Chapter 11 annual total could prove higher.
10. Forecast of the Trends of Increasing Filings After 2025 The data through the week of June 22, 2026 — now spanning 48.1% of the year and approaching the traditional statistical midpoint of the filing calendar — presents a nuanced but ultimately upward-pointing picture for post-2025 annual filing trends. The full-year annual progression from 378,333 in 2022 to 445,195 in 2023, 503,773 in 2024, and 562,635 in 2025, combined with 2026's three-scenario forecast range of 610,000–634,000, maps a trajectory that has added between 57,000 and 87,000 additional annual filings in each of the past four years — and even the most conservative 2026 projection of 610,666 would extend this streak of annual record-setting for the fifth consecutive year. The first appearance of a sub-+3.17 per-capita increment (+3.01 through 25 weeks) introduces a genuine note of uncertainty into the post-2025 trajectory: if this moderation in the annual rate of per-capita deterioration continues, annual gains of 50,000–60,000 filings may become the new pattern for 2027–2028 rather than the 70,000–87,000 range that characterized the early part of the upward cycle, which would still be record-setting but at a slower pace. The historical H2 premium of approximately 4.7% over H1 is the most important structural signal for the second half of 2026 and for calibrating 2027 expectations: if this premium holds, the second half will produce approximately 12,470 filings per week on average — meaningfully above the current second-quarter run rate — and this acceleration will carry forward into the starting baseline for 2027 projections. The Chapter 13 cumulative milestone of 103,399 filings through 25 weeks — the first time this threshold has been crossed at this stage of any year — represents a permanent upward shift in the baseline of consumer reorganization demand that will take years to unwind, as the underlying debt burdens driving these filings do not resolve quickly even when monetary conditions improve. In summary, the post-2025 outlook remains one of sustained annual record-setting in the 620,000–670,000 range for 2026 and beyond, with the pace of annual escalation modestly decelerating from the explosive 2022–2024 phase but the absolute level of financial stress remaining at historically unprecedented heights that will define the American bankruptcy landscape well into the late 2020s.

ChatGPT o3 Analysis of this Week's Bankruptcy Statistics

1. National overview. Bankruptcy courts accepted 10,439 new petitions during the week ending 22 June 2026. Liquidations under Chapter 7 totaled 6,662, wage-earner repayment plans under Chapter 13 reached 3,639, business reorganizations added 136 Chapter 11 cases, and family-farmer filings contributed 2 under Chapter 12. The headline count slipped by 553 from the prior week’s 10,992 matters. It also sat 1,150 below the latest four-week mean of 11,589 cases. Activity has therefore eased for a second straight week after May’s brief surge.
2. An interesting twist. Chapter 11 filings fell to their lowest mark of 2026, supplying only 1.3 % of all petitions (136 ÷ 10,439). Chapter 12 remained negligible at 0.02 %, while Chapter 7 dominated with 63.8 % and Chapter 13 captured a robust 34.9 % share. The gap between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 narrowed to 28.9 percentage points, the closest spread since January. Such a shift highlights how sensitive corporate cases are to credit-market conditions, whereas consumer filings move more gradually. The mix change is the week’s most striking statistical pivot.
3. District-level picture. The Middle District of Florida led with 625 petitions, followed by the Central District of California at 544, the Northern District of Illinois at 415, the Southern District of Florida at 361, and the Northern District of Georgia at 342. Together these five venues produced 2,287 cases, equal to 21.9 % of the national total. No other individual district exceeded 300 filings. The sixth-ranked Eastern District of Michigan registered 296 matters, underscoring how sharply volume falls outside the top tier. This concentration shows that a handful of populous jurisdictions still set the national cadence.
4. Geographic disparities. Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands each logged 0 petitions, while Vermont handled 5 and Alaska processed 4. Florida’s middle district’s 625 cases therefore ran 125 × Vermont’s tally. Broadly, Sun-Belt, Great Lakes, and coastal metros dominate the upper decile, whereas remote or sparsely populated districts anchor the bottom. Such extremes reflect local economic structures, household leverage, and sector exposure. Policymakers monitoring financial stress should watch these regional fault lines closely.
5. Year-to-date focus. Through week 25, 2026 has generated 297,773 filings, surpassing the 264,372 recorded over the same span of 2025 by 33,401 cases. The weekly average now stands at 11,911 petitions versus last year’s 10,575. Chapter 7 leads with 175,451 year-to-date matters, ahead of 2025 by 18,921; Chapter 13 stands at 99,512, up 9,639; Chapter 11 has reached 4,789, up 1,111; and Chapter 12 holds at 168. Every major chapter is pacing ahead of last year despite June’s pullback. The data confirm that 2026 remains on course to be the busiest year since 2010.
6. Historical comparison. This week’s 10,439 cases exceed the same week of 2025, which logged 10,304, by 135 filings, a 1.3 % gain. They also outpace week 25 of 2024, when courts handled 9,607 petitions, by 832, or 8.7 %. The four-week mean of 11,589 now tops last year’s comparable run-rate of 10,575 by 1,014 matters. Chapter 7 alone added 324 cases versus 2025’s week 25, while Chapter 13 advanced by 272. Persistent multi-year growth underscores that the current cycle is more than a post-pandemic rebound.
7. Per-capita snapshot. With a U.S. population near 335 million, the latest total equates to 31.2 filings per million residents (10,439 ÷ 335). Chapter 7 contributes 19.9 per million, Chapter 13 adds 10.9, and Chapters 11 + 12 together supply 0.4. The five busiest districts together produce roughly 65.3 filings per million across their combined 35 million inhabitants (2,287 ÷ 35). Vermont’s 5 cases amount to only 15 per million, while Guam posts none. Bankruptcy remains uncommon in aggregate yet densely clustered in distinct economic hubs.
8. Changing per-capita trends. One year ago, week 25 registered 30.8 filings per million; the current 31.2 marks a rise of 0.4, or 1.3 %. On a year-to-date basis, weekly petitions average 35.6 per million versus 31.6 in 2025, a gain of 4.0. Florida’s middle district now posts about 74 filings per million—up from 68 last year—while Alaska hovers near 12. These widening spreads reveal diverging local financial conditions beneath the national advance. Monitoring such shifts helps identify regions most vulnerable to household or small-business stress.
9. Rest-of-year outlook. If the current weekly mean of 11,911 continued across the remaining 27 weeks, 2026 would close with roughly 619,400 petitions. Using the four-week average of 11,589 yields an estimated 610,700 filings. A conservative path at the latest 10,439 level would still finish near 579,600 cases. All scenarios exceed 2025’s full-year total of 562,635 matters. Double-digit growth for the calendar year therefore remains the base-case forecast.
10. Trajectory beyond 2025. The weekly average has climbed 13 % in a single year—from 10,575 in 2025 to 11,911 in 2026. Maintaining that pace would push weekly counts toward 13,500 by early 2029. Even a milder 7 % compound rise would lift annual filings past 750,000 before 2030. Chapter 13’s expanding share—now 34.9 % versus 33 % last year—suggests households will drive much of the future growth. Taken together, the data indicate that nationwide insolvency pressure will keep intensifying well beyond 2025, with the next cyclical peak likely late in the decade.