States Illinois Northern District of Illinois

Federal judicial district · FY2024 · AOUSC

Northern District of Illinois

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

14,852
Total filings FY2024
9,239
Chapter 7
5,247
Chapter 13
966
Business

Data updated July 2026

The bottom line

The Northern District of Illinois recorded 14,852 bankruptcy filings in FY2024, 62% of them Chapter 7 liquidations - up 11.9% from FY2023.

62%
Chapter 7 (liquidation)
35%
Chapter 13 (repayment)
6.5%
business filings
+11.9%
vs FY2023

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

Filing History

10,00015,00020,00025,00030,000 FY15FY16FY17FY18FY19FY20FY21FY22FY23FY24 14,852
Total bankruptcy filings in the Northern District of Illinois by fiscal year. Source: AOUSC Judicial Caseload Statistics.
Year Total Ch. 7 Ch. 11 Ch. 12 Ch. 13
FY2024 14,852 9,239 358 8 5,247
FY2023 13,271 8,557 292 10 4,412
FY2022 11,865 8,320 207 11 3,327
FY2021 12,658 9,306 213 13 3,126
FY2020 16,662 12,131 316 9 4,206
FY2019 23,715 15,186 310 7 8,212
FY2018 23,865 15,365 303 7 8,190
FY2017 23,494 15,704 319 8 7,463
FY2016 24,313 16,884 323 10 7,096
FY2015 25,843 18,000 335 9 7,499

Year-over-Year Trend & Chapter Mix

62%

Chapter 7 share

13,886

Consumer filings

  • Chapter 7 9,239 (62%)
  • Chapter 13 5,247 (35%)
  • Chapter 11 358 (2%)
  • Chapter 12 8 (0%)

How the 14,852 FY2024 filings split across the four bankruptcy chapters.

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

Northern District of Illinois vs. the National Trend

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

Frequently Asked Questions

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

The Northern District of Illinois had 14,852 bankruptcy filings in FY2024, the #6 busiest of the 90 federal districts by filing volume.

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

In FY2024, 966 of the Northern District of Illinois's filings were business cases, versus 13,886 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.