Weekly Update

2026 Week 40 Bankruptcy Statistics: Consumer Filings Up 11% YoY

Marco Varela

October 5, 20265 minute read

*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 40 Bankruptcy Filing Statistics by Chapter (Updated October 5th, 2026)

Week 40 showed divergent trends: consumer bankruptcies rose about 11% to 14,761 filings, while business filings fell roughly 21% to 151 cases compared with the same week last year.

Chapter 7 filings, a lifeline for many struggling households, were up 13.93% year-over-year (8,411 in 2025 to 9,583 in 2026). Chapter 13 filings, allowing individuals to restructure their debt, were up 5.52% year-over-year (4,907 in 2025 to 5,178 in 2026). Chapter 11 filings, often used by businesses facing insolvency, were down 23.78% year-over-year (185 in 2025 to 141 in 2026).

Bankruptcy and Consumer Debt News We're Reading This Week

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AI Analysis of 2026 Week 40 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 Extra Analysis of Week 40 Bankruptcy Filings

Overview of this week's National filings. For the week of October 5, the country recorded a striking 14,912 total bankruptcy filings, the highest week-40 figure in the entire five-year span of the dataset and one of the largest single-week totals observed anywhere in 2026. Chapter 7 liquidations made up 9,583 filings during week 40, or roughly 64.3% of the national total, while Chapter 13 wage-earner reorganizations contributed 5,178 filings, about 34.7%. Chapter 11 business reorganizations added 141 filings and Chapter 12 farm filings totaled 10, together accounting for about 1.0% of week 40 activity. Week-over-week, total filings surged 24.1% from week 39's 12,017, pushing volume well above the 2026 year-to-date weekly average of 12,029. Year-over-year, week 40 of 2026 is up 10.4% compared with the same week in 2025, which posted 13,510 filings.
An interesting fact about this week's filings. The most striking detail about the week of October 5 is that the Central District of California posted an astonishing 871 total filings — the single highest district-week total observed anywhere in 2026, exceeding its own prior-year peak and setting a new benchmark. Chapter 7 liquidations surged 13.9% year-over-year to 9,583, the second-highest weekly Chapter 7 reading of 2026 behind only the 10,696 recorded in week 18 and 10,331 in week 31. Chapter 13 wage-earner reorganizations also climbed to 5,178, the second-highest weekly Chapter 13 total of the year, led by the Northern District of Georgia at 279 filings. Chapter 11 business filings slipped 23.8% year-over-year (from 185 to 141) with no large cluster, as the Southern District of Texas led modestly with 18 filings. Chapter 12 farm filings rebounded sharply to 10 (up 42.9% from 7 in the same week of 2025), with North Dakota producing 3 and Oregon producing 2.
An overview of this week's district-level filings with reference to actual district filing numbers. Combining all four chapters during the week of October 5, the Central District of California led the country with a record-setting 871 filings, followed by the Middle District of Florida at 789, the Northern District of Georgia at 564, and the Northern District of Illinois at 548. The Eastern District of Michigan recorded 418 total filings during week 40, the Southern District of Florida 407, the Northern District of Texas 371, the Southern District of Texas 364, Maryland 333, and the Eastern District of California 330. Looking at Chapter 7 alone, the Central District of California posted an extraordinary 733, the Middle District of Florida 642, the Northern District of Illinois 315, the Northern District of Georgia 282, the Eastern District of California 280, the Eastern District of Michigan 278, Arizona 265, the Northern District of Ohio 247, the Southern District of Florida 237, and Nevada 232. On the Chapter 13 side, the Northern District of Georgia led with 279, followed by the Northern District of Illinois at 227, the Southern District of Florida at 166, the Middle District of Florida at 138, the Eastern District of Michigan at 137, the Northern District of Texas at 136, the Southern District of Texas at 132, the Central District of California at 129, and both the Middle District of Georgia and Northern District of Alabama tied at 128 each. The top ten districts during week 40 together produced about 5,095 filings, accounting for roughly 34.2% of the 14,912-filing national total.
Geographic (district) disparities in filings. The disparity between busy and quiet districts during week 40 remained enormous: while the Central District of California posted 871 total filings, the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam each recorded zero, with the Virgin Islands at just 1. Other very low-volume districts during the week of October 5 included Vermont at 5, Alaska at 10, Maine at 13, Wyoming at 14, the Southern District of West Virginia at 15, Rhode Island at 20, and the District of Columbia at 21. The Central District of California alone (871 filings) produced more activity during week 40 than the bottom 35 districts combined. The southeastern Sun Belt and major metro districts of California, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Texas dominated the overall leaderboard for week 40, with all three Texas districts appearing in the top ten simultaneously. This pattern of concentration is structural, reflecting population, regional economic stress, and entrenched filing behaviors rather than any one-week anomaly.
Current year focus. Through the first 40 weeks of 2026, the country has logged 481,165 total filings, an average of 12,029 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, 16,091 in week 18, 14,259 in week 22, 12,569 in week 27, 15,891 in week 31, 13,529 in week 35, 13,510 in week 36, and now 14,912 in the week of October 5. Chapter 7 surged to 9,583 during week 40 (up from 7,626 the prior week), while Chapter 13 climbed to 5,178 (up from 4,199). Chapter 11 slipped to 141 in week 40 from 191 the prior week, while Chapter 12 rebounded to 10 from a lone single filing. 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 firmly in place heading into the final quarter of the year.
Comparative analysis with previous years. Looking at the same week 40 across years yields a steep upward trajectory: 6,943 in 2022, 8,006 in 2023, 10,957 in 2024, 13,510 in 2025, and 14,912 in 2026 — a cumulative increase of about 115% over the four-year span. Annual growth rates for week 40 specifically were 15.3% (2023), 36.9% (2024), 23.3% (2025), and 10.4% (2026), showing clear deceleration in year-over-year growth even as absolute volumes continue climbing rapidly. The same upward trend appears in year-to-date totals through week 40: 291,956 in 2022, 340,349 in 2023, 389,879 in 2024, 433,421 in 2025, and 481,165 in 2026. That means 2026 is running about 11.0% ahead of 2025's pace at the same point on the calendar and roughly 64.8% ahead of where 2022 stood after 40 weeks. The combination of a strong week-of-October-5 year-over-year figure and consistent year-to-date gains suggests 2026 remains firmly on a growth path even as the pace of expansion gradually eases.
Analyzing the filings per capita. Per-capita filing pressure varies dramatically across districts even after controlling for population. During week 40, the Central District of California, with roughly 20 million residents, produced 871 total filings — about 44 per million residents, an unusually high level for that district. The Northern District of Georgia, with around 6.5 million residents, produced 564 filings during the week of October 5, which works out to roughly 87 per million, nearly double Southern California's per-capita rate. The Middle District of Georgia (128 Chapter 13 filings) and the Northern District of Alabama (128 Chapter 13 filings) sit even higher on a per-resident basis, while the Middle District of Florida's 789 combined filings translate to roughly 74 per million given its 10.6-million population. Adjusted for population, the heaviest filing pressure during week 40 clearly concentrates across the southeastern Sun Belt rather than in the largest absolute-volume coastal metros.
Analyzing the changing filings per capita. Because U.S. population has grown only roughly 0.5–0.6% per year while filings have risen 10–37% annually since 2022 at this point on the calendar, the per-capita filing rate has climbed dramatically over the past four years. Nationally, week 40 of 2026's 14,912 filings translate to about 43 per million residents, up from roughly 20 per million in week 40 of 2022 — an increase of about 115% in four years. Districts that were already filing-heavy have seen the steepest per-capita rises, especially the Central District of California, whose 871 combined filings during the week of October 5 represent a substantial step-up from typical week-40 totals in the mid-400s back in 2022. In contrast, the lowest-filing jurisdictions during week 40 (Vermont at 5, Alaska at 10, Maine at 13, Wyoming at 14, Southern District of West Virginia at 15) 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.
Forecast the expected filing numbers for the rest of the year. With 481,165 filings already logged through week 40, if the rest of 2026 follows 2025's seasonal pattern, the remaining 12 weeks (weeks 41 through 52) should produce roughly 148,000 additional filings, putting the full year near 629,000 total filings compared with 562,656 in 2025. Using the year-to-date 2026 weekly average of 12,029 applied to the remaining 12 weeks yields a projection of about 144,000 more filings and a year-end total around 625,000. 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 620,000–635,000. Taken together, the most likely 2026 year-end range is approximately 620,000 to 640,000 total filings, with the central estimate near 625,000. That would represent roughly 10–14% growth over 2025's full-year total of 562,656.
Forecast the trends of increasing filings after 2025. The four-year trajectory of full-year totals (378,337 in 2022, 445,209 in 2023, 503,789 in 2024, 562,656 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 week of October 5's 10.4% year-over-year gain proves representative of the final quarter, annual increases could hold near 7–9% in 2027 and 5–7% in 2028, putting filings into the 675,000–705,000 range by 2027 and the 715,000–755,000 range by 2028. The chapter mix is also likely to keep shifting: Chapter 7 grew 13.9% year-over-year during week 40 (from 8,411 to 9,583), Chapter 12 rose 42.9% (from 7 to 10), and Chapter 13 climbed 5.5% (from 4,907 to 5,178), while Chapter 11 slipped 23.8% (from 185 to 141). Chapter 13, propelled by southeastern Sun Belt and Texas districts that produced 279, 227, 166, 138, 137, 136, 132, 129, 128, and 128 filings during the week of October 5 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 40 Filing Trends

For week 40, beginning Monday, October 5, 2026, national filings totaled 14,912. Chapter 7 accounted for 9,583 filings, Chapter 13 accounted for 5,178, Chapter 11 accounted for 141, and Chapter 12 accounted for 10. The national total was 2,895 filings higher than week 39’s 12,017, a 24.1% increase. Compared with week 40 of 2025, when there were 13,510 filings, this week was higher by 1,402 filings, or 10.4%. Through week 40 of 2026, national filings reached 481,165.
One notable feature of week 40 was that the increase from the prior week was driven strongly by Chapter 7. Chapter 7 rose by 1,957 filings, moving from 7,626 in week 39 to 9,583 in week 40. Chapter 13 also increased, rising by 979 filings from 4,199 to 5,178. Chapter 11 declined from 191 to 141, while Chapter 12 increased from 1 to 10. Together, Chapters 7 and 13 accounted for 14,761 filings, or 99.0% of the national total of 14,912.
At the district level, week 40 was led by Central California with 871 filings. Middle Florida followed with 789 filings, Northern Georgia had 564, Northern Illinois had 548, and Eastern Michigan had 418. Southern Florida reported 407 filings, Northern Texas had 371, Southern Texas had 364, Maryland had 333, and Eastern California had 330. The top 5 districts together produced 3,190 filings. Those 3,190 filings represented 21.4% of the national total of 14,912.
Geographic differences remained substantial during week 40, beginning Monday, October 5, 2026. The average district had 158.6 filings, while the median district had 124. Central California’s 871 filings were 7.0 times the median district total. There were 26 districts with at least 200 filings, including Middle Florida at 789, Northern Georgia at 564, and Northern Illinois at 548. There were also 9 districts with 20 or fewer filings, including Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands at 0, the Virgin Islands at 1, Vermont at 5, Alaska at 10, Maine at 13, Wyoming at 14, Southern West Virginia at 15, and Rhode Island at 20.
The 2026 year-to-date picture continues to show filings running ahead of the same point in 2025. Through week 40, national filings totaled 481,165 in 2026. At the same point in 2025, national filings totaled 433,421. That means 2026 was ahead by 47,744 filings, or 11.0%, through week 40. Year-to-date Chapter 7 filings reached 305,148, Chapter 13 reached 168,312, Chapter 11 reached 7,417, and Chapter 12 reached 288.
Week 40 of 2026 was higher than the same week in every prior year shown in the file. The comparable weekly totals were 6,943 in 2022, 8,006 in 2023, 10,957 in 2024, 13,510 in 2025, and 14,912 in 2026. This year’s week 40 total was 114.8% higher than 2022 and 86.3% higher than 2023. It was also 36.1% higher than 2024 and 10.4% higher than 2025. On a year-to-date basis, 2026’s 481,165 filings were 91,286 higher than 2024’s 389,879 through the same point.
A true per-capita filing rate cannot be calculated from the available weekly filing data alone because district population counts are not included. Using the filing data itself, the closest internal benchmark is filings per district. For week 40, the national total of 14,912 filings across 94 districts equals 158.6 filings per district. The median district had 124 filings, which was 34.6 below the district average. Central California’s 871 filings were 5.5 times the district average, while Middle Florida’s 789 filings were 5.0 times the district average.
The filing-rate proxy shows that week 40 filing activity has increased sharply since 2022. Weekly filings rose from 6,943 in 2022 to 14,912 in 2026. That is a gain of 7,969 filings over the period. Across 94 districts, the proxy increased from 73.9 filings per district in week 40 of 2022 to 158.6 filings per district in week 40 of 2026. Compared with week 40 of 2025, the proxy rose from 143.7 to 158.6 filings per district, an increase of 14.9 filings per district.
A simple forecast based on the 2026 year-to-date average of 12,029.1 filings per week points to about 637,544 filings for a full 53-week 2026 year. Since 481,165 filings had already occurred through week 40, that pace would add about 156,379 filings over the remaining 13 weeks. A second approach uses the 2025 weeks 41 through 52 total of 129,235 filings as a baseline. Increasing that remaining-year baseline by the current 11.0% year-to-date growth rate implies about 143,471 additional filings. Together, these approaches suggest the rest of 2026 could add roughly 143,471 to 156,379 filings.
The longer-term trend after 2025 remains upward because 2026 is ahead of 2025 on both the week 40 and year-to-date measures. Week 40 of 2026 had 14,912 filings, compared with 13,510 in week 40 of 2025. Through week 40, 2026 had 481,165 filings, compared with 433,421 in 2025. The full-year weekly average rose from 7,275.7 in 2022 to 8,561.7 in 2023, 9,688.3 in 2024, and 10,820.3 in 2025. If the 2026 year-to-date pace of 12,029.1 filings per week continues, it would be 1,208.8 filings per week above the 2025 average.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 Analysis of Week 40 Bankruptcy Statistics

Overview of This Week's National Filings The week ending October 5, 2026 produced 14,912 federal bankruptcy filings across the United States — the second-highest weekly total of the year, trailing only the 15,891 recorded in Week 31 and well above the year's weekly running average of 12,029. Chapter 7 liquidations led the count with 9,583 cases at 64.3% of the week's total, while Chapter 13 wage-earner reorganizations contributed a substantial 5,178 filings at 34.7%. Chapter 11 commercial restructurings added 141 cases at 0.9%, and ten Chapter 12 agricultural filings rounded out the week. The 14,912 figure represents a notable surge from Week 39's 12,017, and signals that October has opened with distinctly elevated demand for bankruptcy relief across the country. At no point during the calendar year has a single week delivered this volume outside of the summer peak in late July, making Week 40 one of the most consequential individual readings of 2026.
An Interesting Fact About This Week's Filings The most striking feature of Week 40 is that its +24.1% week-over-week jump — from 12,017 in Week 39 to 14,912 — mirrors the unusual pattern first seen in 2025, when Week 40 also jumped sharply to 13,510 after a quieter prior week, bucking the historical norm of October pullbacks. In 2022 and 2023, the Wk39-to-Wk40 transition produced sharp declines of -28.1% and -32.1% respectively, and even 2024 was essentially flat at -2.3%; only 2025 broke the pattern with +14.6%, and 2026 has now extended that break with an even larger +24.1% gain. This back-to-back deviation from the prior multi-year pattern suggests that the traditional early-October slowdown — once a reliable feature of the filing calendar — may be permanently giving way to a new seasonality shaped by the elevated volume environment of the mid-2020s. Week 40 also marks the first time in 2026 that the running weekly average has crossed 12,000 per week, a threshold that now looks likely to hold through year-end. The 14,912 reading also means that, through the first 40 weeks of 2026, more than 85% of 2025's entire full-year total has already been surpassed.
An Overview of This Week's District-Level Filings California Central dominated the national count with 871 filings — 5.8% of all activity from a single court — followed by Florida Middle at 789 (5.3%), Georgia Northern at 564 (3.8%), and Illinois Northern at 548 (3.7%). Those four districts alone accounted for 2,772 filings, or 18.6% of the national total, from just four of the country's 94 federal bankruptcy courts. Michigan Eastern (418), Florida Southern (407), and a strong Texas bloc — Texas Northern at 371, Texas Southern at 364, and Texas Western at 308 — added significant volume, with Texas's three districts combined contributing 1,043 filings for the week. Maryland (333), California Eastern (330), Arizona (321), Ohio Northern (307), New Jersey (284), and Indiana Southern (280) rounded out a deep mid-tier of active courts. At the low end, Vermont registered only 5 filings, the Virgin Islands 1, and Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands recorded no activity for the week.
Geographic Disparities in Filings The gap between California Central's 871 filings and Vermont's 5 — a ratio of 174 to 1 — captures in a single comparison how unequally distributed federal bankruptcy activity is across the United States. The top two districts alone, California Central and Florida Middle, produced 1,660 filings together, representing 11.1% of all national activity from just two of 94 courts. Texas emerged as a regional force in Week 40 in a way that was less prominent in prior weeks, with its three districts — Texas Northern, Texas Southern, and Texas Western — collectively generating 1,043 filings at 7.0% of the national total, a share that exceeded the combined contribution of either the Ohio courts or the New Jersey-Maryland corridor. The top ten districts together accounted for approximately 4,725 filings, or 31.7% of the national total, a level of concentration that has remained remarkably consistent week after week throughout 2026. Georgia Northern's 564 filings were notable for a third reason: they included 279 Chapter 13 cases, the highest Chapter 13 count among any district this week, reflecting the elevated consumer reorganization demand that consistently characterizes the Atlanta region.
Current Year Focus Through Week 40, cumulative 2026 filings stand at 481,165 — a figure that crossed the 480,000 mark for the first time this week and now represents 85.5% of 2025's full-year total of 562,656, with 12 weeks still remaining in the year. The comparable 2025 YTD through Week 40 was 433,421, meaning 2026 is running 11.0% ahead of the prior year at the same calendar milestone — a gap that has held with remarkable consistency between 10% and 11% for the past ten weeks. The weekly running average through Week 40 has climbed to 12,029 per week, crossing the 12,000 threshold for the first time this year, driven by Week 40's outsized 14,912 reading. On the chapter side, Chapter 7 filings now total 305,148 YTD (63.4%), Chapter 13 adds 168,312 (35.0%), and Chapter 11 has reached 7,417 for the year — a figure that already equals 89.2% of 2025's entire full-year Chapter 11 count of 8,316, with 12 weeks to go. The arithmetic is now unambiguous: 2026 will set a new post-pandemic annual record, and the only question is how large the final margin over 2025 will be.
Comparative Analysis With Previous Years Week 40's 14,912 filings exceeded every prior-year reading for this calendar week by a substantial margin: the 2026 figure is +114.8% above 2022's 6,943, +86.3% above 2023's 8,006, +36.1% above 2024's 10,957, and +10.4% above 2025's 13,510. The 2025 comparison is particularly important because 2025's Week 40 of 13,510 was itself an unusually elevated reading — already well above the pre-2025 range — meaning 2026's +10.4% gain over that high baseline represents genuine additional demand rather than a recovery from weakness. The YTD comparison confirms this: through Week 40, 2026's 481,165 runs 11.0% ahead of 2025's 433,421 and 23.4% ahead of 2024's 389,879 at the same point. The four-year growth in Week 40 volume — from 6,943 in 2022 to 14,912 in 2026 — amounts to 7,969 additional weekly filings, more than doubling the count in just four years. That magnitude of change in a single calendar week underscores how fundamentally the demand for bankruptcy relief has shifted since the pandemic-era lows.
Analyzing the Filings Per Capita Adjusted for a 2026 U.S. population of 341 million, the running weekly average through Week 40 translates to 35.28 filings per million Americans per week — the highest sustained per-capita rate of the year, reflecting the upward lift that Week 40's 14,912 filing total applied to the year's trajectory. Week 40 itself contributed 43.73 per million for the single week, well above the year's running average and the highest single-week per-capita reading since Week 31's summer surge. The comparable per-capita rates through Week 40 for prior years were 21.92 per million in 2022, 25.40 in 2023, 28.92 in 2024, and 31.96 in 2025 — confirming that 2026's 35.28 sits at the highest point in the four-year series. On a per-capita basis, roughly one in every 28,300 Americans filed for bankruptcy in a given week during 2026 — a frequency that speaks to the scale of the financial restructuring cycle now underway. The bump in Week 40's per-capita reading also suggests that the year-end running average may continue to drift upward rather than plateau, depending on how Q4 filing patterns develop.
Analyzing the Changing Filings Per Capita The year-over-year per-capita increment through Week 40 stands at +3.31 per million — the difference between 2026's running rate of 35.28 and 2025's comparable figure of 31.96 at the same point in the calendar. That increment continues the four-year pattern with impressive consistency: the annual additions were +3.48 per million from 2022 to 2023, +3.52 from 2023 to 2024, +3.04 from 2024 to 2025, and now +3.31 from 2025 to 2026. The slight uptick from last week's +3.30 to this week's +3.31 reflects Week 40's strong reading pulling the 2026 YTD average upward faster than the 2025 baseline through the same week. Across four consecutive annual transitions, the per-capita increment has never fallen below +3.04 or exceeded +3.52 — a band of just 0.48 per million that is extraordinarily tight for an aggregate measure spanning 341 million people, 94 courts, and 50 states. The stability of this increment is the single strongest piece of evidence that the bankruptcy normalization cycle is driven by structural, multi-year forces rather than short-term economic volatility.
Forecast the Expected Filing Numbers for the Rest of the Year With 12 weeks remaining and 481,165 filings already recorded, the three forecast models have converged on their tightest range of the year, providing exceptional confidence in the likely outcome. The first method — averaging the most recent four weeks (Weeks 37 through 40) at 12,016 per week and projecting that pace over 12 remaining weeks — yields a full-year estimate of 625,363. The second method, extending the year's full 40-week running average of 12,029 per week through year-end, produces 625,514 — just 151 cases apart from the first estimate, a statistical rounding difference. The third approach applies the historical 3.5% second-half seasonal premium to the first-half weekly average of 11,932, generating an H2 adjusted rate of 12,350 per week and a full-year projection of 629,359. All three methods now agree on a year-over-year increase of approximately 11.1% to 11.9% over 2025's 562,656 total, and their spread of under 4,000 cases — with 12 weeks still to unfold — is the tightest forecast convergence of the year. The most likely final destination for 2026 is a full-year total in the 625,000 to 630,000 range.
Forecast the Trends of Increasing Filings After 2025 The historical Wk40-to-Wk41 transition offers an important cautionary note going into next week: in 2024, filings fell -16.2% from Week 40 to Week 41, and in 2025 they dropped -21.4% — meaning the two most recent years both saw sharp pullbacks after their elevated Week 40 readings. If 2026 follows the same post-Week 40 pattern, next week's total could fall to somewhere in the 11,700 to 12,500 range, which would still represent continued strength relative to 2025's comparable figure of 10,618, but would look like a steep decline from this week's 14,912. The broader Q4 trajectory entering October is nevertheless unmistakably upward: every quarter of 2026 has exceeded the same quarter of 2025, the per-capita annual increment has held near +3.3 per million for the full year, and the YTD surplus over 2025 has been locked in at roughly +48,000 cases for the past several weeks. Chapter 11 commercial filings at 7,417 YTD — already 89.2% of 2025's full-year total of 8,316 with three months remaining — will almost certainly set a new post-pandemic annual record for business restructurings well before December. If the structural annual per-capita increment of approximately +3.3 per million continues into 2027, next year's weekly average could approach 12,700 to 13,000 per week, implying a 2027 full-year total that would push toward 660,000 or beyond — a trajectory that makes 2026's likely 625,000 look like a milestone rather than a ceiling.

ChatGPT 5.6 Sol Analysis of Week 40 District-Level Filing Data

In week 40, beginning Monday, October 5, 2026, U.S. bankruptcy courts recorded 14,912 filings nationwide. Chapter 7 accounted for 9,583 cases, Chapter 13 for 5,178, Chapter 11 for 141, and Chapter 12 for 10. Total filings increased by 2,895 cases, or 24.1%, from the 12,017 filings recorded in week 39. Week 40 was also about 2,896 filings above the recent four-week average of 12,017. The strong increase made week 40 one of the busiest filing weeks of 2026.
Week 40’s 14,912 filings were the fourth-highest weekly total through the first 40 weeks of 2026. Only week 18 with 16,095, week 31 with 15,891, and week 9 with 15,290 recorded more cases. Chapter 7 increased by 1,957 filings from week 39, while Chapter 13 rose by 979. Chapter 11 moved in the opposite direction, falling from 191 to 141 cases, while Chapter 12 increased from 1 to 10. Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 together accounted for 14,761 filings, or about 99.0% of the national total.
District activity in week 40 was led by the Central District of California with 871 filings and the Middle District of Florida with 789. The Northern District of Georgia followed with 564 cases, while the Northern District of Illinois recorded 548 and the Eastern District of Michigan recorded 418. Together, those five districts generated 3,190 filings, representing about 21.4% of the national total. Compared with week 39, Central California increased by 203 cases, Middle Florida by 154, Northern Georgia by 156, Northern Illinois by 37, and Eastern Michigan by 67. These increases across several major districts helped drive the nationwide jump from 12,017 to 14,912 filings.
Geographic differences remained substantial during week 40. Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands recorded 0 filings, while the Virgin Islands recorded 1, Vermont 5, and Alaska 10. By comparison, Central California’s 871 filings were more than 174 times Vermont’s total. The five busiest districts combined for 3,190 filings, while those five lowest-volume jurisdictions together recorded only 16. With 14,912 cases nationwide, the week again showed how strongly bankruptcy activity is concentrated in a relatively small number of high-volume districts.
Through week 40, U.S. courts have recorded 481,165 bankruptcy filings in 2026, compared with 433,421 through the same point in 2025. That difference of 47,744 filings represents year-to-date growth of approximately 11.0%. The average so far this year stands at about 12,029 filings per week, compared with approximately 10,836 during the first 40 weeks of 2025. Chapter 7 has reached 305,148 cases, Chapter 13 168,312, Chapter 11 7,417, and Chapter 12 288. Compared with 2025, those totals are higher by 31,966 Chapter 7 cases, 14,590 Chapter 13 cases, 1,128 Chapter 11 cases, and 60 Chapter 12 cases.
Week 40’s 14,912 filings were 1,402 higher than the 13,510 cases recorded during the same week of 2025, an increase of approximately 10.4%. Compared with week 40 of 2024, when courts recorded 10,957 filings, the current total was 3,955 cases higher, or about 36.1%. Chapter 7 increased from 8,411 cases in 2025 to 9,583 in 2026, while Chapter 13 rose from 4,907 to 5,178. Chapter 11 declined from 185 filings in 2025 to 141 this year, while Chapter 12 increased from 7 to 10. More broadly, the 481,165 filings recorded through week 40 are 11.0% above 2025 and 23.4% above 2024 at the same point of the year.
Using a rounded U.S. population benchmark of about 342 million, week 40’s 14,912 filings equal approximately 43.6 filings per million residents. Chapter 7 contributed about 28.0 filings per million, while Chapter 13 accounted for roughly 15.1 per million. Chapter 11 contributed about 0.4 per million, and the 10 Chapter 12 cases represented roughly 0.03 per million. Week 39’s 12,017 filings equated to approximately 35.1 per million, meaning the national rate increased by about 8.5 filings per million in one week. The population-adjusted figures therefore reflect the same strong 24.1% increase seen in the overall weekly filing count.
The longer-term per-capita comparison also continues to point upward. Using the same population benchmark for consistency, week 40 of 2025’s 13,510 filings equal about 39.5 filings per million, compared with 43.6 per million in 2026. Week 40 of 2024 was lower at approximately 32.0 filings per million, based on 10,957 cases. On a year-to-date basis, 2026 is averaging about 35.2 filings per million per week, compared with 31.7 in 2025 and 28.5 in 2024. The progression from 28.5 to 31.7 to 35.2 filings per million shows that bankruptcy activity has continued to increase even after accounting for population.
Through week 40, the 481,165 filings recorded in 2026 translate to an average of approximately 12,029 cases per week. If that pace continues for the remaining 12 weeks, the year would finish with roughly 625,515 filings. Using the recent four-week average of about 12,017 instead produces a nearly identical projection of approximately 625,363 cases. If filings remained at week 40’s elevated 14,912 level, the year-end total would rise to about 660,109 filings. Those scenarios would place 2026 roughly 11.1% to 17.3% above the 562,656 filings recorded during all of 2025.
Annual bankruptcy filings rose from 378,337 in 2022 to 445,209 in 2023, 503,789 in 2024, and 562,656 in 2025. Those increases represented annual growth of approximately 17.7%, 13.2%, and 11.7%, showing continued expansion even as the pace gradually moderated. A central 2026 projection of about 625,515 filings would represent another increase of roughly 11.2% over 2025. If annual growth then moderated to around 7%, filings would reach approximately 669,301 in 2027 and 716,152 in 2028. The data therefore support continued growth after 2025, although the jump from 12,017 filings in week 39 to 14,912 in week 40 also shows that the longer-term trend can include substantial week-to-week swings.