Bankruptcy Statistics

The Administrative Office of the Courts provides newsletters, reports and statistics on debtor filings within the United States.  We visit the site often, study the reports, and re-write this public information for our customers.

Fiscal Year 2003 saw the number of personal bankruptcies filed in federal court continue to increase, while business bankruptcy filings declined.

There were 1,661,996 bankruptcies filed in Fiscal Year 2003, up 7.4 percent from the 1,547,669 filings in Fiscal Year 2002. This is the highest-ever total of filings for any reporting period. Since 1994, when filings totaled 837,797, bankruptcies in federal courts have increased 98 percent.

Business bankruptcies fell 7.4 percent to 36,183 in Fiscal Year 2003, down from 39,091 in Fiscal Year 2002.

Business and Non-business Filings
(Years Ended September 30, 1999-2003)

Statistics are from the
Administrative Office of the Courts

Bankruptcy Profiles

• average age: 38;
• 44% of filers are couples;
• 30% are women filing alone;
• 26% are men filing alone;
• Two out of three have lost a job;
• Half have experienced a serious health problem;
• Highest bankruptcy rates: Tennessee, Utah, Georgia, Alabama.

Source: The Fragile Middle Class: Americans in Debt;
Elizabeth Warren, Harvard Law School; Smith Business Solutions


Kmart Tops U.S. Retail Bankruptcies List
Kmart Corp. is the biggest U.S. retailer to declare bankruptcy, according to data going back to 1980, with total pre-bankruptcy assets of more than $17 billion, Reuters reported. The following list ranks the 10 largest U.S. retail bankruptcies since 1980, by total assets before bankruptcy, based on figures from BankruptcyData.com: