How many Americans
filed for bankruptcy?

PlainBankruptcy aggregates filings under the four most common chapters of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Chapter 7 covers liquidation for individuals and businesses with limited income. Chapter 13 is the wage-earner reorganization plan for individuals with regular income. Chapter 11 is corporate reorganization (and now also small-business reorganization under Subchapter V). Chapter 12 is the family-farmer and family-fisherman reorganization. The figures come from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC), which publishes official bankruptcy filing counts for all 90 federal judicial districts.

Chapter 7 is a liquidation: a court-appointed trustee sells the debtor's non-exempt assets and distributes proceeds to creditors, then most remaining unsecured debts are discharged. The case typically closes in 4 to 6 months. Chapter 13 is a reorganization: the debtor proposes a 3- or 5-year repayment plan funded from future income, and discharge happens at plan completion. Chapter 7 is faster and cheaper; Chapter 13 lets a debtor keep secured assets like a home or car by curing arrearages over time. Eligibility for Chapter 7 depends on the means test.

The means test, codified at 11 U.S.C. § 707(b), screens individual debtors for Chapter 7 eligibility. It compares the debtor's current monthly income (averaged over the prior 6 months) against the median income for a household of the same size in the debtor's state. If income is below the median, the debtor passes automatically. If above, a second calculation deducts allowed expenses to compute disposable income, debtors with significant disposable income are presumed abusive of Chapter 7 and are usually steered into Chapter 13. The IRS publishes the income standards used.

PlainBankruptcy uses the official bankruptcy filing statistics published by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC). The AOUSC releases bankruptcy filings tables by chapter and judicial district for each 12-month statistical period, generally with a 60- to 90-day lag after the period closes. Our data currently covers fiscal years 2015 through 2024 and is refreshed on a regular ETL schedule as new AOUSC tables are released. These are aggregate counts, not individual case dockets.

The discharge rate is the percentage of cases that result in the debtor receiving a bankruptcy discharge, the court order eliminating personal liability on dischargeable debts. In Chapter 7, roughly 95 to 99 percent of completed cases receive a discharge. In Chapter 13, the rate is materially lower (commonly 35 to 50 percent of filed cases) because many filers fail to complete the multi-year repayment plan; converted, dismissed, or abandoned cases do not produce a discharge. Trends vary by district.

Certain debts survive bankruptcy under 11 U.S.C. § 523. Common categories include most student loans (absent a finding of undue hardship), recent income tax debt, child support and alimony, debts incurred by fraud, criminal restitution, judgments arising from drunk-driving injuries, and most fines and penalties owed to government units. A discharge wipes out unsecured credit-card debt, medical bills, personal loans, and most contract claims, but the non-dischargeable categories remain enforceable after the case closes.