States ›California › Northern District of California

Federal judicial district · FY2024 · AOUSC

Northern District of California

Federal bankruptcy filing counts for the Northern District of California, covering Chapters 7, 11, 12, and 13, from AOUSC Judicial Caseload Statistics.

11,384
Total filings FY2024
7,874
Chapter 7
3,156
Chapter 13
868
Business

Data updated July 2026

The bottom line

The Northern District of California recorded 11,384 bankruptcy filings in FY2024, 69% of them Chapter 7 liquidations - up 11.9% from FY2023.

69%
Chapter 7 (liquidation)
28%
Chapter 13 (repayment)
7.6%
business filings
+11.9%
vs FY2023

Counted by federal fiscal year (Oct–Sep); every case here is filed in federal, not state, court. Not legal advice.

Filing History

5,00010,00015,00020,00025,000 FY15FY16FY17FY18FY19FY20FY21FY22FY23FY24 11,384
Total bankruptcy filings in the Northern District of California by fiscal year. Source: AOUSC Judicial Caseload Statistics.
Year Total Ch. 7 Ch. 11 Ch. 12 Ch. 13
FY2024 11,384 7,874 347 7 3,156
FY2023 10,172 7,246 281 8 2,637
FY2022 9,094 6,933 196 9 1,956
FY2021 9,701 7,673 199 10 1,819
FY2020 12,770 10,016 296 7 2,451
FY2019 18,177 12,934 300 6 4,937
FY2018 18,291 13,074 293 6 4,918
FY2017 18,007 13,251 306 6 4,444
FY2016 18,635 14,129 307 8 4,191
FY2015 19,809 15,056 319 7 4,427

Year-over-Year Trend & Chapter Mix

69%

Chapter 7 share

10,516

Consumer filings

  • Chapter 7 7,874 (69%)
  • Chapter 13 3,156 (28%)
  • Chapter 11 347 (3%)
  • Chapter 12 7 (0%)

Chapter breakdown of the 11,384 FY2024 filings in the Northern District of California.

Year-over-year, the Northern District of California saw filings climb 11.9% between FY2023 and FY2024.

Northern District of California vs. the National Trend

The Northern District of California's decade trend, FY2015-FY2024: filings fell 42.5%, roughly tracking the national decline of 42.5%.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the FY2024 bankruptcy filing count for the Northern District of California?

In FY2024, 11,384 bankruptcy cases were filed in the Northern District of California, ranking it 11 out of 90 federal judicial districts by volume.

What is the difference between business and non-business bankruptcy filings?

In FY2024, 868 of the Northern District of California's filings were business cases, versus 10,516 non-business (consumer) filings.

Data sourced from Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC) Judicial Caseload Statistics. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBankruptcy Editorial

Every figure on PlainBankruptcy is rendered directly from federal court source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal court source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.