*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 Week 27 Bankruptcy Filing Statistics by Chapter (Updated July 6th, 2026)

Week 27 showed strong year-over-year growth, with consumer bankruptcies rising about 22% to 12,379 filings and business filings increasing roughly 10% to 190 cases compared with the same week last year.

Breaking down the consumer figures: Chapter 7 filings, a lifeline for many struggling households, were up 24.98% year-over-year (from 6,406 in 2025 to 8,006 in 2026). Chapter 13 filings, allowing individuals to restructure their debt, were up 15.78% year-over-year (from 3,777 in 2025 to 4,373 in 2026). Chapter 11 filings, often used by businesses facing insolvency, were up 11.24% year-over-year (from 169 in 2025 to 188 in 2026).

The 4th of July usually falls on a weekday, dragging the entire week's numbers down with it. This year, it fell on a weekend, avoiding that extreme dip we typically see.

Bankruptcy and Consumer Debt News We're Reading This Week

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

• Leading Companies Filing for Bankruptcy 2026
• New FSA Data Shows 1.3 Million Uptick in Defaulted Borrowers
• The Patriot Financier Who Bankrolled the Revolutionary War

AI Analysis of Week 27 Bankruptcy Filing Data

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 Opus 4.7 Analysis of Week 27 Bankruptcy Filings

1. Overview of this week's National filings. For the week of July 6, the country recorded 12,569 total bankruptcy filings, the highest week-27 figure in the entire five-year span of the dataset. Chapter 7 liquidations made up 8,006 filings during week 27, or roughly 63.7% of the national total, while Chapter 13 wage-earner reorganizations contributed 4,373 filings, about 34.8%. Chapter 11 business reorganizations added 188 filings and Chapter 12 farm filings totaled just 2, together accounting for about 1.5% of week 27 activity. Week-over-week, total filings rose modestly by 2.6% from week 26's 12,254, settling above the 2026 year-to-date weekly average of 11,954. Year-over-year, week 27 of 2026 is up a striking 21.4% compared with the same week in 2025, which posted 10,355 filings.
2. An interesting fact about this week's filings. The most striking detail about the week of July 6 is the return of a large Chapter 11 business filing cluster in the Southern District of Texas, which alone produced 81 of the 188 national Chapter 11 filings (43.1%) — a pattern that echoes the earlier 84-filing Texas cluster in week 16 and the 158-filing New Jersey cluster in week 23. Chapter 7 liquidations jumped 25.0% year-over-year to 8,006, the largest year-over-year percentage gain in Chapter 7 seen in any week of 2026 so far. The Northern District of Georgia led Chapter 13 with 204 filings during week 27, its second time topping 200 Chapter 13 filings in a single week this year. Chapter 12 farm filings collapsed to just 2 nationwide (one each in Nebraska and Eastern Wisconsin), down from 3 in week 27 of 2025. Together these patterns reflect a broad-based summer surge concentrated in Chapter 7 alongside another large Texas-based Chapter 11 restructuring cluster.
3. An overview of this week's district-level filings with reference to actual district filing numbers. Combining all four chapters during the week of July 6, the Middle District of Florida led the country with 654 filings, followed by the Central District of California at 630, the Northern District of Georgia at 448, and the Northern District of Illinois at 397. The Southern District of Texas recorded 374 total filings during week 27 (boosted by its Chapter 11 cluster), the Eastern District of Michigan 324, the Southern District of Florida 319, the Northern District of Texas 317, the Eastern District of California 312, and New Jersey 307. Looking at Chapter 7 alone, the Central District of California posted 532, the Middle District of Florida 506, the Eastern District of California 270, the Northern District of Illinois 246, the Northern District of Georgia 242, the Eastern District of Michigan 228, Nevada 202, the Southern District of California 201, the Northern District of Texas 195, and New Jersey 194. On the Chapter 13 side, the Northern District of Georgia led with 204, followed by the Northern District of Illinois at 149, the Middle District of Florida at 138, the Southern District of Texas at 122, the Southern District of Florida at 121, the Middle District of Georgia at 118, Puerto Rico at 117, and the Western District of Tennessee and Northern District of Texas tied at 116. The top ten districts during week 27 together produced about 4,082 filings, accounting for roughly 32.5% of the 12,569-filing national total.
4. Geographic (district) disparities in filings. The disparity between busy and quiet districts during week 27 remained enormous: while the Middle District of Florida posted 654 total filings, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands each recorded zero. Other very low-volume districts during the week of July 6 included Vermont at 3, the District of Columbia at 4, Alaska at 8, Wyoming at 9, South Dakota at 14, North Dakota at 16, and New Hampshire at 19. The Southern District of Texas climbed to 374 total filings during week 27, driven by its 81-filing Chapter 11 cluster, illustrating how a single restructuring wave can briefly reshape district rankings. The southeastern Sun Belt and major metro districts of California, Illinois, Michigan, and Texas dominated the leaderboard 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 27 weeks of 2026, the country has logged 322,749 total filings, an average of 11,954 per week and comfortably ahead of every prior year in the dataset at the same 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, 14,259 in week 22, and now a rising 12,569 in the week of July 6. Chapter 7 has continued to drive volume, climbing to 8,006 during week 27, its second-highest weekly reading of 2026 behind only the 10,696 from week 18. Chapter 13 settled at 4,373 in week 27, while Chapter 11 rose to 188 on the back of the Texas cluster. The overall pattern for 2026 is a clearly higher baseline than any earlier year covered by the dataset, and this week's sharp reacceleration suggests the underlying drivers of filings remain strongly in place heading into the second half of the year.
6. Comparative analysis with previous years. Looking at the same week 27 across years yields a striking upward trajectory: 5,297 in 2022, 5,718 in 2023, 6,803 in 2024, 10,355 in 2025, and 12,569 in 2026 — a cumulative increase of about 137% over the four-year span. Annual growth rates for week 27 specifically were 7.9% (2023), 19.0% (2024), 52.2% (2025), and 21.4% (2026), with the very large 2025 jump partly reflecting how the July 4 holiday shifts week 27's calendar position year to year. The same upward trend appears in year-to-date totals through week 27: 192,118 in 2022, 223,526 in 2023, 257,661 in 2024, 286,646 in 2025, and 322,749 in 2026. That means 2026 is running about 12.6% ahead of 2025's pace at the same point on the calendar and roughly 68.0% ahead of where 2022 stood after 27 weeks. The combination of the sharp week-of-July-6 rebound and a still-strong year-to-date gap suggests 2026 remains firmly on a growth path.
7. Analyzing the filings per capita. Per-capita filing pressure varies dramatically across districts even after controlling for population. During week 27, the Central District of California, with roughly 20 million residents, produced 630 total filings — about 32 per million residents. The Northern District of Georgia, with around 6.5 million residents, produced 448 filings during the week of July 6, which works out to roughly 69 per million, more than double Southern California's per-capita rate. The Middle District of Georgia (118 Chapter 13 filings) and the Western District of Tennessee (116 Chapter 13 filings) sit even higher on a per-resident basis, while Puerto Rico's 117 Chapter 13 filings translate to a notably elevated per-capita reading given the territory's roughly 3.2-million population. Adjusted for population, the heaviest filing pressure during week 27 clearly concentrates across the southeastern Sun Belt and Puerto Rico 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 8–52% annually since 2022 at this point on the calendar, the per-capita filing rate has climbed sharply over the past four years. Nationally, week 27 of 2026's 12,569 filings translate to about 37 per million residents, up from roughly 16 per million in week 27 of 2022 — an increase of about 137% in four years. Districts that were already filing-heavy have seen the steepest per-capita rises, especially the Middle District of Florida, whose 654 combined filings during the week of July 6 represent a substantial step-up from typical week-27 totals in the low 200s back in 2022. In contrast, the lowest-filing jurisdictions during week 27 (Vermont at 3, District of Columbia at 4, Alaska at 8, Wyoming at 9, South Dakota at 14) 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. With 322,749 filings already logged through week 27, if the rest of 2026 follows 2025's seasonal pattern, the remaining 25 weeks (weeks 28 through 52) should produce roughly 311,000 additional filings, putting the full year near 634,000 total filings compared with 562,639 in 2025. Using the year-to-date 2026 weekly average of 11,954 applied to the remaining 25 weeks yields a projection of about 299,000 more filings and a year-end total around 622,000. A more conservative scenario that accounts for the typical late-year holiday slowdown (week 52 of 2025 dropped to just 6,678) would land closer to 615,000–635,000. Taken together, the most likely 2026 year-end range is approximately 620,000 to 640,000 total filings, with the central estimate near 630,000. That would represent roughly 10–14% growth over 2025's full-year total of 562,639.
10. Forecast the trends of increasing filings after 2025. The four-year trajectory of full-year totals (378,333 in 2022, 445,198 in 2023, 503,778 in 2024, 562,639 in 2025, and a projected ~630,000 in 2026) implies a compound annual growth rate of about 14% from 2022 through 2025, easing to roughly 12% in 2026. If the week of July 6's sharp reacceleration (up 21.4% year-over-year) proves durable rather than a one-week jump, annual increases could hold near 10–12% in 2027 and 8–10% in 2028, putting filings into the 690,000–720,000 range by 2027 and the 750,000–785,000 range by 2028. The chapter mix is also likely to keep shifting: Chapter 7 has grown fastest during week 27 (up 25.0% year-over-year, from 6,406 to 8,006), while Chapter 13 rose 15.8% (from 3,777 to 4,373) and Chapter 11 climbed 11.2% (from 169 to 188). Chapter 13, propelled by southeastern Sun Belt districts that produced 204, 149, 138, 122, 121, 118, 117, 116, 116, and 114 filings during the week of July 6 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 Week 27 Filing Trends

1. For week 27, beginning Monday, July 6, 2026, national filings totaled 2,164. Chapter 7 accounted for 1,060 filings, Chapter 13 accounted for 1,061, Chapter 11 accounted for 41, and Chapter 12 accounted for 2. The national total was 10,405 filings lower than week 26’s 12,569, an 82.8% decrease. Compared with the same week in 2025, when there were 10,009 filings, this week was lower by 7,845 filings, or 78.4%. Through this point in 2026, national filings reached 324,913.
2. One notable feature of week 27, beginning Monday, July 6, 2026, was that Chapter 13 narrowly exceeded Chapter 7. Chapter 13 had 1,061 filings, while Chapter 7 had 1,060, a difference of just 1 filing. That was a sharp change from week 26, when Chapter 7 had 8,006 filings and Chapter 13 had 4,373. Chapter 11 also fell sharply, moving from 188 filings in week 26 to 41 in week 27. Together, Chapters 7 and 13 accounted for 2,121 filings, or 98.0% of the national total of 2,164.
3. At the district level, week 27 was led by Northern Georgia with 198 filings. Southern Texas followed with 152 filings, Northern Texas had 138, Middle Florida had 95, and Central California had 93. Western Texas reported 78 filings, Eastern Texas had 57, Northern Illinois and Northern Ohio each had 52, and Eastern Michigan and Southern Ohio each had 50. The top 5 districts together produced 676 filings. Those 676 filings represented 31.2% of the national total of 2,164.
4. Geographic differences were especially noticeable in week 27 because the national total was much lower than usual. The average district had 23.0 filings, while the median district had 11.0. Northern Georgia’s 198 filings were 18.0 times the median district total. No district reached 200 filings, while 62 districts had 20 or fewer filings. Alaska, Guam, Montana, North Dakota, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Northern West Virginia each had 0 filings.
5. The 2026 year-to-date picture still shows filings ahead of the same point in 2025 despite the unusually low week 27 total. Through week 27, national filings totaled 324,913 in 2026. At the same point in 2025, national filings totaled 296,655. That means 2026 was ahead by 28,258 filings, or 9.5%, through week 27. Year-to-date Chapter 7 filings reached 206,407, Chapter 13 reached 112,985, Chapter 11 reached 5,316, and Chapter 12 reached 205.
6. Week 27 of 2026 was lower than the same week in every prior year shown in the data. The comparable weekly totals were 7,082 in 2022, 8,060 in 2023, 9,144 in 2024, 10,009 in 2025, and 2,164 in 2026. This year’s week 27 total was 69.4% lower than 2022 and 73.2% lower than 2023. It was also 76.3% lower than 2024 and 78.4% lower than 2025. On a year-to-date basis, however, 2026’s 324,913 filings were still 58,108 higher than 2024’s 266,805 through the same point.
7. A true per-capita filing rate cannot be calculated from this data alone because district population counts are not included. Using the filing data itself, the closest internal benchmark is filings per district. For week 27, the national total of 2,164 filings across 94 districts equals 23.0 filings per district. The median district had 11.0 filings, which was 12.0 below the district average. Northern Georgia’s 198 filings were 8.6 times the district average, while Southern Texas’s 152 filings were 6.6 times the district average.
8. The filing-rate proxy moved sharply lower for week 27 when compared with prior years. Weekly filings declined from 7,082 in 2022 to 2,164 in 2026. That is a decrease of 4,918 filings over the period. Across 94 districts, the proxy fell from 75.3 filings per district in 2022 to 23.0 filings per district in 2026. Compared with the same week in 2025, the proxy fell from 106.5 to 23.0 filings per district, a decrease of 83.5 filings per district.
9. A simple forecast based on the 2026 year-to-date average of 11,604.0 filings per week points to about 615,014 filings for the full 53-week 2026 reporting year. Since 324,913 filings had already occurred through week 27, that pace would add about 290,101 filings over the remaining 25 weeks. A second approach uses the 2025 remaining-year total of 265,984 filings as a baseline. Increasing that remaining-year baseline by the current 9.5% year-to-date growth rate implies about 291,320 additional filings. Together, these approaches suggest the rest of 2026 could add roughly 290,101 to 291,320 filings.
10. The longer-term trend after 2025 remains upward on a year-to-date basis, even though week 27 itself was unusually low. Week 27 of 2026 had 2,164 filings, compared with 10,009 in the same week of 2025. Through week 27, 2026 had 324,913 filings, compared with 296,655 in 2025. The full-year weekly average rose from 7,275.6 in 2022 to 8,561.5 in 2023, 9,688.0 in 2024, and 10,820.0 in 2025. If the 2026 year-to-date pace of 11,604.0 filings per week continues, it would be 784.1 filings per week above the 2025 average.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 Analysis of Week 27 Bankruptcy Statistics

1. Overview of This Week's National Filings The week of July 6, 2026 — Week 27 of the year, opening the second half of the calendar — closed with a national bankruptcy total of 12,569 filings, the strongest Week 27 reading ever recorded in the dataset and one of the more robust non-spike weeks of 2026. Consumer liquidation led the way with 8,006 Chapter 7 filings, accounting for 63.7% of all activity and crossing the 8,000 single-week threshold for only the fourth time in a non-spike week this year. Chapter 13 reorganization filings contributed 4,373 cases, representing 34.8% of the national total and the highest Chapter 13 count since the Week 22 peak of 4,524 — a meaningful signal that consumer repayment-plan demand is strengthening as the second half of the year begins. Chapter 11 business restructuring filings came in at 188 for the week, the strongest Chapter 11 reading in four weeks, while Chapter 12 agricultural filings registered a minimal 2 cases. Together, all four chapters account for the 12,569 total filings recorded nationally during the week of July 6.
2. An Interesting Fact About This Week's Filings The single most important contextual fact about the week of July 6, 2026 is the role of the Independence Day holiday calendar: in 2022, 2023, and 2024, July 4th fell within Week 27, causing filing volumes to collapse by 41–47% from the prior week as courts closed for the holiday, producing Week 27 totals of just 5,297, 5,718, and 6,803 respectively. In 2026, however, July 4th landed on a Saturday — with the federal observance on Friday July 3, which fell in Week 26 — meaning Week 27 opened on Monday July 6 as a completely normal, full five-day filing week, entirely free of any holiday suppression. The result is that 2026's Week 27 total of 12,569 is more than double any of the equivalent readings from 2022 through 2024, and the apparent year-over-year gain of +21.4% over 2025's 10,355 is itself partially inflated by the fact that 2025's Week 27 still carried a partial holiday drag — July 4, 2025 fell on a Friday, causing a -13.1% dip from the prior week. Adjusted for the holiday calendar shift, the underlying year-over-year growth in the July filing environment is more accurately estimated at approximately +7–9%, broadly consistent with the year-to-date trend of +12.6%. The Southern District of Texas added a separate and independently significant data point: its 81 Chapter 11 filings this week — out of a district total of 374 — represent the highest district-level Chapter 11 count of any court outside New Jersey since the exceptional readings of earlier in the year, confirming that Houston-area corporate restructuring activity has resumed with force.
3. Overview of This Week's District-Level Filings The week of July 6 saw the Middle District of Florida and the Central District of California trade the top two positions once again, with Florida's court system posting 654 total filings — 506 Chapter 7, 10 Chapter 11, and 138 Chapter 13 — and Central California following with 630 total filings (532 Chapter 7, 8 Chapter 11, 90 Chapter 13), both courts delivering some of their stronger July readings on record. The Northern District of Georgia climbed to third with 448 total filings, noteworthy for its chapter mix: 242 Chapter 7 were nearly matched by 204 Chapter 13 cases — a 45.5% Chapter 13 rate reflecting Atlanta's well-established preference for structured repayment plans, and the highest Chapter 13 count of any district this week. The Northern District of Illinois followed at 397 total filings (246 Chapter 7, 149 Chapter 13), and the Southern District of Texas made one of its most prominent appearances of the year at 374 total filings — with 81 Chapter 11 cases representing 21.7% of its total, the clearest sign yet of a renewed surge in Houston-area energy-sector and commercial bankruptcy activity. The Eastern District of Michigan (324), Southern District of Florida (319, with 8 Chapter 11 cases), Northern District of Texas (317), Eastern District of California (312, with an exceptional 270 Chapter 7 cases at an 86.5% liquidation rate), and District of New Jersey (307) rounded out the top ten, continuing the pattern of broad national participation across Midwestern, Southeastern, and coastal jurisdictions.
4. Geographic Disparities in Filings Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands all posted zero filings during the week of July 6, Vermont logged just 3, and the District of Columbia recorded only 4 — together forming the quietest corner of the national filing map against a backdrop where the Middle District of Florida alone contributed 654 cases. Florida's combined footprint remains dominant: Middle Florida (654) and Southern Florida (319) together contributed 973 filings, or 7.7% of the national total from a single state, while the two California districts in the top ten — Central (630) and Eastern (312) — added another 942, meaning California and Florida together account for over 15.2% of all national filings this week from just four courts. The Southern District of Texas stands out as the week's most distinctive geographic story: its 81 Chapter 11 filings — representing roughly 43.1% of the national Chapter 11 total of 188 for the week — confirm that corporate bankruptcy demand in the Houston corridor is concentrated enough to materially shift national chapter totals when its docket is active. The Eastern District of California's 86.5% Chapter 7 rate (270 of 312 total) is the highest liquidation concentration of any top-ten district this week, reflecting the acute consumer debt distress in California's Central Valley and greater Sacramento region, where few filers have the income stability required to sustain a multi-year Chapter 13 repayment plan. The Northern District of Georgia's 45.5% Chapter 13 rate and the Eastern District of California's 86.5% Chapter 7 rate side by side illustrate just how wide the geographic divergence in filing culture remains across the United States — two active, high-volume districts operating in fundamentally different ways within the same federal court system.
5. Current Year Focus Through July 6, 2026 — twenty-seven weeks into the year, representing 51.9% of the full calendar — the national year-to-date total has reached 322,749 filings, a figure that exceeds the entire full-year total of 2022 (378,333) at a pace that would hit that level before mid-August and that currently sits 68.0% above the equivalent 2022 figure of 192,118 through the same number of weeks. The 2026 weekly average through Week 27 stands at 11,954 filings per week — holding firmly above the 11,900 level and 10.5% above the 2025 full-year average of 10,820 — while 13 of the 27 completed weeks of the year have exceeded 12,000 filings, meaning roughly half of all 2026 weeks to date have been at or above the level that was historically considered exceptional. The year-to-date Chapter 7 total of 205,347 through Week 27 is running 13.5% above 2025's comparable 180,889 and a striking 74.0% above 2022's 118,036, confirming that the liquidation surge has been both deep and persistent throughout the first half of the year and into the opening of the second half. The year-to-date Chapter 11 total of 5,275 continues to set records for any comparable point in the calendar, running 32.0% above 2025's 3,997 and 171.1% above 2022's 1,946 — a figure so far above prior baselines that it reflects a qualitatively different scale of business distress rather than a simple extension of prior trends. The year-to-date Chapter 13 total of 111,924 and Chapter 12 agricultural total of 203 are also records for this point in the year, running 10.2% and 20.1% above their respective 2025 comparables, together confirming that financial stress is simultaneously elevated across every borrower category as the second half of 2026 begins.
6. Comparative Analysis with Previous Years The Week 27 same-week comparison requires careful interpretation because of the dramatic shift in where the July 4th holiday falls across the five years in the dataset: in 2022, 2023, and 2024, the holiday fell squarely in Week 27 and suppressed totals to just 5,297, 5,718, and 6,803 respectively — declines of 42–47% from the prior week — making this one of the lowest-volume weeks of those years. In 2025, the holiday fell on a Friday and still weighed on Week 27, holding it to 10,355 despite the year's broader upward trend, while in 2026 the Saturday holiday was absorbed entirely in Week 26, leaving Week 27 as a clean, full five-day filing week that produced 12,569 — the highest Week 27 total on record by a wide margin. The four-year Chapter 7 comparison for this week — from 2,996 in 2022 to 8,006 in 2026, a +167.2% increase — is one of the most extreme four-year chapter comparisons in the entire dataset, though approximately half of that gain reflects the holiday calendar effect rather than underlying filing growth. The year-to-date cumulative picture, which is unaffected by any single week's holiday distortion, continues its steady upward march: from 192,118 in 2022 to 223,526 in 2023 (+16.3%), 257,661 in 2024 (+15.3%), 286,646 in 2025 (+11.2%), and now 322,749 in 2026 (+12.6%) — the largest absolute year-to-date lead in the series at over 36,100 additional filings above 2025 through the same number of weeks. The holiday-adjusted year-over-year growth for the July filing environment in 2026 — estimated at roughly +7–9% when normalizing for calendar placement — falls within the range seen across other mid-year weeks, confirming that the underlying trend for summer 2026 is elevated but not anomalously accelerating.
7. Analyzing the Filings Per Capita The week of July 6, 2026 produced approximately 36.86 bankruptcy filings per one million Americans — the highest per-capita weekly rate recorded in 2026 since the spike weeks of February and May and meaningfully above the 2026 year-to-date average of 35.05 per million, reflecting the benefit of a full, holiday-free filing week that generated one of the year's stronger non-spike readings. The annual per-capita benchmarks tell the longer story: from a full-year weekly average of 21.85 per million in 2022, the rate has climbed to 25.56 in 2023, 28.75 in 2024, and 31.92 in 2025, with 2026's 27-week running average of 35.05 per million now the established second-half baseline. The cumulative 27-week total of 322,749 filings translates to approximately 946.5 bankruptcy cases per million Americans through July 6, 2026 — a pace that would produce approximately 1,828 filings per million Americans over a full year, compared to approximately 1,659 in 2025, 1,492 in 2024, and just 1,135 in 2022. The Southern District of Texas's 81 Chapter 11 filings this week, against a district population of approximately 8 million people, translate to roughly 10.1 business restructuring cases per million district residents for a single week — an annualized Chapter 11 rate of over 500 per million that stands as one of the highest corporate distress indicators for any major U.S. district in the dataset. In overall per-capita terms, the cumulative 2026 filing rate through Week 27 is running approximately 61.3% above the equivalent 2022 per-capita figure, a four-year per-capita transformation that continues to set new benchmarks for the modern history of American bankruptcy activity.
8. Analyzing the Changing Filings Per Capita The per-capita annual increment for 2026 has recovered slightly to +3.13 per million per week through Week 27 — rebounding from the prior week's +3.07 low point and stabilizing in a range that suggests a genuine moderation from earlier in the year rather than a further acceleration or a continuing decline. The four-year trajectory — +3.71 (2022→2023), +3.19 (2023→2024), +3.17 (2024→2025), and +3.13 (2025→2026 through July 6) — continues to describe a gradual but consistent downward gradient, and the stabilization of the 2026 increment between +3.01 and +3.13 across the past several weeks points to a range of approximately +3.0–3.2 as the most likely full-year 2026 increment. The chapter-level breakdown of this increment shows clearly where the pressure is concentrated: Chapter 7's year-to-date per-capita rate is running +13.5% above 2025's comparable pace, while Chapter 11's per-capita rate is running +32.0% above — meaning business distress is growing at more than twice the rate of consumer distress on a per-capita basis, a divergence that has widened consistently throughout the year. The Chapter 13 per-capita rate's +10.2% year-over-year growth through Week 27 — somewhat stronger than the readings seen in Weeks 24 and 25 — may reflect the July filing environment boosting consumer reorganization activity, as attorneys who deferred filings around the holiday window completed submissions in the first full week of July. Week 27 of 2026 is likely the clearest illustration yet of how calendar effects can distort individual weekly per-capita readings without changing the underlying trajectory: this week's 36.86 per million is elevated compared to recent weeks not because financial stress accelerated, but because a full five-day court week following a Saturday holiday produced an uninterrupted flow of filings that would otherwise have been spread across the holiday gap.
9. Forecast for the Expected Filing Numbers for the Rest of the Year With 27 weeks completed and a year-to-date total of 322,749 filings, three projection approaches continue to bracket the most likely full-year outcome and all point firmly to a new annual record. Using the average of the four most recent completed weeks (Weeks 24 through 27) — which averaged approximately 11,598 filings per week — the remaining 25 weeks of the year would contribute roughly 289,950 additional filings, producing a conservative full-year projection of approximately 612,699, an increase of roughly 50,060 over 2025's 562,639. The full 27-week running average of 11,954 per week applied to the remaining 25 weeks yields a central projection of approximately 621,591, representing a 58,952-filing increase over 2025 and the most likely single-point estimate given the year-to-date trajectory. Applying the historical second-half-to-first-half premium of approximately 3.5% — the mid-range of the 2.5–4.4% range observed across 2022–2025 — to the first-half average of 11,930 suggests the remaining weeks will average approximately 12,347, producing a full-year total of approximately 631,438, the most historically grounded and likely the most accurate of the three estimates given the persistent pattern of second-half filing acceleration. The Chapter 11 year-to-date pace of 195.4 filings per week projects to approximately 10,159 annual business bankruptcies — just above the 10,000 threshold — and the reappearance of Houston-area corporate restructuring activity in Week 27's Southern District of Texas data suggests the second-half Chapter 11 pipeline remains active and could push the annual business filing count meaningfully higher.
10. Forecast of the Trends of Increasing Filings After 2025 The opening of the second half of 2026 — with 322,749 filings confirmed through Week 27 and the full-year pace annualizing at approximately 621,591 based on the current weekly average — offers the most data-rich foundation yet for projecting where the multi-year bankruptcy filing trend is headed beyond 2025. The annual progression from 378,333 in 2022 to 445,198 in 2023, 503,778 in 2024, and 562,639 in 2025, now extended by 2026's central forecast of approximately 621,000–631,000, maps a trajectory that has added between 57,000 and 84,000 additional annual filings per year across four consecutive years — a pace that, even at its slowing lower bound, would carry annual totals toward 675,000 by 2027 and past 720,000 by 2028. The stabilization of the per-capita annual increment at approximately +3.13 per million per week — slightly above last week's +3.07 and holding in the +3.0–3.2 range — is the most important signal for post-2025 calibration: it suggests that the annual rate of financial deterioration is settling into a new, lower-but-persistent pace of escalation that adds roughly 55,000–65,000 absolute filings per year rather than the 70,000–85,000 that characterized the 2022–2024 acceleration phase. The Southern District of Texas's 81 Chapter 11 filings in a single July week illustrate why the business bankruptcy cycle is the least predictable and potentially most consequential element of the post-2025 outlook: when specific large corporate cases concentrate in a particular venue and week, they can shift national totals significantly, and the pipeline of maturing pandemic-era corporate debt — particularly in the energy, commercial real estate, and retail sectors — continues to feed a business restructuring cycle that historically takes three to five years to fully work through the court system. The year-to-date Chapter 13 total of 111,924 through Week 27 — the highest for this point in any year on record, running 55.3% above 2022's 72,049 — reflects the cumulative weight of household debt burdens that have compounded across four years of elevated interest rates, and the trajectory of that figure will be a key indicator of whether consumer financial stress is beginning to stabilize or continuing to intensify in the second half. In summary, the second half of 2026 is expected to produce approximately 300,000–310,000 additional filings, the full year is most likely to land in the 620,000–635,000 range, and the years beyond will likely see continued annual records in the 640,000–700,000 range as the structural forces driving American bankruptcy activity — elevated debt, high borrowing costs, and a sustained corporate restructuring cycle — remain firmly in place with no clear near-term resolution in sight.

ChatGPT o3 Analysis of Week 27 District-Level Filing Data

1. Nationwide snapshot. In week 27, which began on Monday 6 July 2026, U.S. bankruptcy courts received 12 569 new petitions. Of these, 8 006 were liquidations under Chapter 7, 4 373 were wage-earner plans under Chapter 13, 188 involved corporate reorganizations under Chapter 11, and 2 were family-farmer cases under Chapter 12. The weekly total climbed 1 ,315 filings above week 26’s 11 ,254 cases, a 11.7 % increase. It also topped the four-week moving average of 11 ,598 by 971 petitions, signalling renewed midsummer momentum.
2. Debtor-mix highlight. Chapter 13 captured 34.8 % of all filings (4 ,373 ÷ 12 ,569), its second-strongest share this year, while Chapter 7 still led with 63.7 %. Corporate activity remained modest: the 188 Chapter 11 cases equalled just 1.5 % of the docket, and Chapter 12’s 2 matters amounted to a mere 0.02 %. The gap between Chapters 7 and 13 narrowed to 28.9 percentage points—down from 30.1 the prior week—showing more households opting for repayment plans instead of liquidation. Such a shift, despite flat corporate demand, confirms that consumer stress is the main force behind the current upswing.
3. District leaders. Five courts together filed 2 ,599 petitions, or 20.7 % of the national total. The Middle District of Florida led with 654 cases, followed closely by the Central District of California at 630. The Northern District of Georgia logged 448, the Northern District of Illinois 397, and the Southern District of Texas 374. No other single district reached 350 filings, with the next closest—the Eastern District of Michigan—at 324. This concentration shows how a handful of large venues continue to set the pace nationwide.
4. Regional contrasts. At the quiet end of the spectrum, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands recorded 0 filings, while the District of Vermont processed 3 and the District of Alaska handled 8. Florida’s middle district therefore saw more than 200 × the volume of Vermont (654 vs 3). Sun-Belt, Great Lakes, and coastal metros dominate the upper decile, whereas island territories and sparsely populated northern states anchor the bottom. Such gaps mirror differences in local economies, population density, and household leverage. Tracking these extremes helps officials pinpoint areas most vulnerable to financial strain.
5. Year-to-date picture. After 27 weeks, courts have docketed 322 ,749 cases in 2026, compared with 286 ,646 during the same span of 2025. The running weekly average now sits at 11 ,954 filings, up from last year’s 10 ,617. Chapter 7 leads the charge with 205 ,347 matters—up 24 ,657 year over year—while Chapter 13 has climbed to 111 ,924, a gain of 10 ,345. Chapter 11 totals 5 ,275, running 1 ,368 ahead of 2025, and Chapter 12 stands at 203, up 27. Every statutory chapter is pacing ahead of its 2025 level, confirming the breadth of the expansion.
6. Multi-year lens. This week’s 12 ,569 petitions surpassed the 10 ,355 logged in week 27 of 2025 by 2 ,214, a 21.4 % jump, and exceeded 2024’s 6 ,803 by 5 ,766, an 84.8 % surge. Chapter 7 alone added 1 ,697 cases versus last year, while Chapter 13 grew by 1 ,256. The four-week average of 11 ,598 is now 982 higher than the same stretch in 2025. Such persistent gains across consecutive years point to a structural uptrend rather than a short-term rebound. Rising household debt loads and tighter consumer budgets appear to be long-run drivers.
7. Per-capita view. With the U.S. population near 335 million, week 27 produced 37.5 filings per million residents. Chapter 7 alone accounted for 23.9 per million, while Chapter 13 delivered 13.1; Chapters 11 and 12 together added just 0.6. The five busiest districts generated roughly 74 filings per million across their combined 35 million inhabitants. Vermont’s 3 cases equal about 9 per million, and Guam posts none. Bankruptcy remains uncommon in aggregate yet densely clustered in specific economic hubs.
8. Per-capita momentum. One year earlier, the nation recorded 30.9 filings per million for the same week, making the current figure 6.6 higher—an increase of 21.4 %. Two years ago the rate was 20.3 per million, so the rise since 2024 totals 17.2 per million, or 84.8 %. Year-to-date, weekly filings average 36.0 per million versus 32.2 in 2025, a gain of 3.8. Central California now posts about 39 filings per million, up from 34 last year, while Alaska stays near 12. Diverging regional paths reveal that some local economies are absorbing far more financial stress than others.
9. Second-half outlook. If the current weekly mean of 11 ,954 holds for the remaining 25 weeks, 2026 would finish with roughly 621 ,600 filings. Using the recent four-week average of 11 ,598 yields a year-end estimate near 612 ,700. Should the latest 12 ,569 level persist, total petitions would approach 636 ,900. Even the most cautious path comfortably exceeds 2025’s full-year total of 562 ,635. A double-digit annual gain therefore remains the most plausible scenario.
10. Long-term trajectory. The weekly average has climbed 12.6 % in just one year—from 10 ,617 in 2025 to 11 ,954 in 2026. Keeping that pace would push weekly counts toward 13 ,500 by early 2029. Even a milder 7 % compound rise would lift annual petitions beyond 750 ,000 before the decade ends. Chapter 13’s expanding share—now 34.8 %, up from 32.9 % last year—suggests households will propel much of that growth. All signs point to mounting insolvency pressure well beyond 2025, with the next cyclical peak likely in the latter 2020s.