States ›California › Southern District of California

Federal judicial district · FY2024 · AOUSC

Southern District of California

Bankruptcy filings for the Southern District of California - every Chapter 7, 11, 12, and 13 petition recorded in the district, from AOUSC Judicial Caseload Statistics.

7,588
Total filings FY2024
5,249
Chapter 7
2,103
Chapter 13
578
Business

Data updated July 2026

The bottom line

The Southern District of California recorded 7,588 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

Filed in federal, not state, court; counted by fiscal year (Oct–Sep). Not legal advice.

Filing History

4,0006,0008,00010,00012,00014,000 FY15FY16FY17FY18FY19FY20FY21FY22FY23FY24 7,588
Total bankruptcy filings in the Southern District of California by fiscal year. Source: AOUSC Judicial Caseload Statistics.
Year Total Ch. 7 Ch. 11 Ch. 12 Ch. 13
FY2024 7,588 5,249 232 4 2,103
FY2023 6,780 4,830 187 6 1,757
FY2022 6,062 4,622 131 5 1,304
FY2021 6,468 5,115 133 7 1,213
FY2020 8,514 6,677 197 5 1,635
FY2019 12,117 8,623 199 4 3,291
FY2018 12,196 8,717 196 4 3,279
FY2017 12,006 8,834 204 5 2,963
FY2016 12,424 9,420 205 5 2,794
FY2015 13,205 10,037 212 5 2,951

Year-over-Year Trend & Chapter Mix

69%

Chapter 7 share

7,010

Consumer filings

  • Chapter 7 5,249 (69%)
  • Chapter 13 2,103 (28%)
  • Chapter 11 232 (3%)
  • Chapter 12 4 (0%)

How the 7,588 FY2024 filings split across the four bankruptcy chapters.

Southern District of California filings rose 11.9% year-over-year, from FY2023 to FY2024.

Southern District of California vs. the National Trend

Over FY2015–FY2024, filings in the Southern District of California fell 42.5%, roughly tracking the national decline of 42.5% over the same span.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many bankruptcy cases were filed in the Southern District of California in FY2024?

Southern District of California recorded 7,588 bankruptcy filings in FY2024, placing it 31th among the nation's 90 federal districts.

What share of filings in this district are business cases?

Of the Southern District of California's FY2024 filings, 578 were business cases and 7,010 were non-business (consumer) cases.

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.