Key takeaways
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts reported Oct 22 that "Bankruptcy filings increased 11.4 percent in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2026, compared with the previous year."
Total filings went to 621,111 from 557,376. Business filings were up 12.5 percent, to 27,054 from 24,039, and non-business filings were up 11.4 percent, to 594,057 from 533,337.
The post's table lists total filings of 383,810 for the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2022 and 621,111 for 2026.
The release says total filings have increased each quarter since a low of 380,634 in June 2022, but "remain far lower than historical highs."
The post says the release does not give a cause for the increase, and the post does not either.
Data as of Monday, Oct 26, 2026: The most recent figures are for the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2026, released Oct 22.
The short version. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts reported Oct 22 that "Bankruptcy filings increased 11.4 percent in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2026, compared with the previous year." Total filings went to 621,111 from 557,376. Business filings were up 12.5 percent, to 27,054 from 24,039, and non-business filings were up 11.4 percent, to 594,057 from 533,337.
Who this is for
Anyone who tracks consumer credit volume: operations, risk, and compliance people at banks, credit unions, lenders, and agencies. It reports published numbers and doesn't say what they mean for a portfolio.
Numbers first, then the five-year picture.
What U.S. Courts reported
| 12 months ending Sept. 30 | Business | Non-business | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 27,054 | 594,057 | 621,111 |
| 2025 | 24,039 | 533,337 | 557,376 |
| 2024 | 22,762 | 481,350 | 504,112 |
| 2023 | 17,051 | 416,607 | 433,658 |
| 2022 | 13,125 | 370,685 | 383,810 |
Source: Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Bankruptcy Filings Increase 11.4 Percent, Oct 22, 2026, and Table F-2 for each period. Business plus non-business equals the total in every row.
Chart: totals and the business/non-business split are from U.S. Courts Table F-2. The year-over-year percentages on the chart are our calculation from those totals.
The year-over-year changes
These are our arithmetic, from the totals above, rounded to one decimal.
| Period | Total | Non-business | Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 vs 2022 | +13.0% | +12.4% | +29.9% |
| 2024 vs 2023 | +16.2% | +15.5% | +33.5% |
| 2025 vs 2024 | +10.6% | +10.8% | +5.6% |
| 2026 vs 2025 | +11.4% | +11.4% | +12.5% |
| 2026 vs 2022 | +61.8% | +60.3% | +106.1% |
The 2026 figures match the percentages in the release (11.4, 11.4, and 12.5). Business filings are a small share of the total: 27,054 of 621,111, or 4.4 percent.
By chapter, the release's table shows Chapter 7 filings of 391,386 in the year ending September 2026, against 344,825 a year earlier, and Chapter 13 filings of 219,116, against 203,118. By our arithmetic that's +13.5 percent and +7.9 percent. The release's chapter table also lists Chapters 11 and 12; it doesn't list Chapters 9 or 15, so the four columns don't add up to the total.
Longer context, in the release's words
"For more than a decade, total filings fell steadily, from a high of nearly 1.6 million in September 2010 to a low of 380,634 in June 2022. Total filings have increased each quarter since then, but they remain far lower than historical highs."
The release also says "Bankruptcy totals for the previous 12 months are reported four times annually."
What the release doesn't say
It doesn't give a cause for the increase, and this post doesn't either. We haven't seen the U.S. Courts release offer a forecast. It also doesn't break the data out by lender type, debt type, or collection stage. County-level counts are in Table F-5A, linked from the release.
Open questions
None of the answers are in the data. Teams often take them to their own compliance team or counsel.
How does the team's own count compare?
Accounts flagged for bankruptcy over the same twelve months, set against the national totals. How would the team know?
How long does a filing take to reach the account?
The sources vary: a court notice, a credit bureau update, the consumer, an attorney. Which ones feed the flag, and how many days apart are they?
We covered the Bankruptcy Noticing Center outage separately: The Bankruptcy Notices Stopped. The Filings Didn't.
For definitions, see our entries on the Automatic Stay and the Bankruptcy Scrub.
Questions, answered
How many bankruptcy filings were there in the year ending Sept. 30, 2026?
621,111 total, per the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts: 594,057 non-business and 27,054 business.
How much did filings increase?
11.4 percent in total from the 557,376 in the year ending Sept. 30, 2025, per U.S. Courts.
Are filings back at historical highs?
The release says they "remain far lower than historical highs," citing a peak of nearly 1.6 million in September 2010.
Sources & further reading
- Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, "Bankruptcy Filings Increase 11.4 Percent," Oct 22, 2026
- U.S. Courts, Table F-2, 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2026
- U.S. Courts, Bankruptcy Filings Statistics (prior-year tables)
This post is for general information only and is not legal advice. It reports published statistics and doesn't describe how any law applies to a particular program. Sources are linked above.