Business bankruptcy filings in the U.S. have surpassed pre-pandemic levels. After bottoming out at 13,481 filings in 2022, annual business bankruptcies climbed to 24,737 by 2025. A new report by The Kaplan Group analyzes federal judiciary data from 2019 through 2025 to map where commercial bankruptcies are rising fastest.
Key Takeaways
- Annual U.S. business bankruptcy filings reached 24,737 in 2025. This is 8.6% higher than in 2019 and 83.5% above the 2022 trough.
- From 2019 to 2025, Texas saw business bankruptcy filings rise from 2,429 to 4,087. This is the largest absolute and percentage increase of any state, followed by Florida, California, Georgia, and New Jersey.
- National Chapter 11 filings grew from 6,052 in 2019 to 11,730 in 2025, meaning more companies are trying to reorganize debt rather than shut down.
National business bankruptcy trends
U.S. business bankruptcy filings fell sharply in the years immediately after the pandemic shock, before rebounding strongly through 2025. Annual business filings dropped from 22,780 in 2019 to a low of 13,481 in 2022, then climbed to 24,737 in 2025. That left business filings 8.6% higher than in 2019 and roughly 83.5% above the 2022 trough by the end of the period.
In contrast, the recovery in consumer filings was much weaker. Nonbusiness bankruptcies declined from 752,160 in 2019 to 549,577 in 2025, leaving them about 27% below pre‑pandemic levels.
State hotspots where business filings are rising fastest
The national rebound is not evenly distributed. Some states are now well above their 2019 business bankruptcy levels, while others still sit below that baseline. But every state saw business bankruptcy filings rise between 2022 and 2025.
Measured by percentage growth in business bankruptcy filings from 2019 to 2025, the five strongest increases came in Texas, Florida, Colorado, Arkansas, and Georgia.
Measured by absolute growth in filings over the same period, the largest increases came in Texas, Florida, California, Georgia, and New Jersey.
Together, those states account for much of the national rise in filings, though the mix of scale and growth differs across them.
- Texas posted the largest increase, rising from 2,429 business filings in 2019 to 4,087 in 2025, a gain of 1,658 filings or 68.3%. From 2022 to 2025, filings rose by 2,209, a jump of 117.6%.
- Florida increased from 1,817 in 2019 to 2,372 in 2025, a gain of 555 filings or 30.5%. From 2022 to 2025, filings rose by 1,101, or 86.6%.
- California rose from 2,773 in 2019 to 3,128 in 2025, an increase of 355 filings or 12.8%. From the 2022 trough of 1,775, filings climbed by 1,353, a rebound of 76.2%.
- Georgia increased from 863 in 2019 to 1,076 in 2025, a gain of 213 filings or 24.7%. From 2022 to 2025, filings rose by 570, or 112.6%.
- New Jersey went from 662 in 2019 to 801 in 2025, an increase of 139 filings or 21.0%. From 2022 to 2025, filings rose by 225, or 39.1%.
States still below pre‑pandemic levels
While every state recorded an increase in business bankruptcy filings between 2022 and 2025, a number of states still remained below their 2019 levels by 2025. South Dakota, Kentucky, and Connecticut remained well below their pre-pandemic business bankruptcy levels in 2025.
Filings fell from 63 to 28 in South Dakota, from 271 to 120 in Kentucky, and from 189 to 109 in Connecticut. Other states still below their 2019 business bankruptcy totals included Kansas, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Michigan, Nebraska, and Indiana.
Bankruptcy pressure clearly re-emerged after the 2022 trough, but it did so with very different intensity across states.
Data by State
The Chapter 11 restructuring signal
The mix of business bankruptcies matters as much as the total, because a rise in Chapter 11 points to more companies trying to reorganize rather than shut down outright. Nationally, business Chapter 11 filings rose from 6,052 in 2019 to 11,730 in 2025, suggesting that the current business distress cycle is not just larger, but also more restructuring-oriented.
In several states, stronger Chapter 11 activity appears to be contributing to the rebound, reinforcing the need for creditors to prepare for more negotiated outcomes, court-supervised delays, and partial recoveries rather than quick liquidation-driven resolutions.
What this means for collections and credit teams
Taken together, the data suggests that U.S. business bankruptcy risk has not simply returned, but has returned in a more selective and operationally important way. The strongest signals are:
- Business filings have fully recovered and now sit above 2019 levels, while consumer filings remain well below their pre-pandemic numbers.
- Large commercial states such as Texas, Florida, California, New York, and Georgia show meaningful increases in business bankruptcies, though the size of those increases varies significantly across markets.
- In several jurisdictions, the recovery appears to be driven in part by stronger Chapter 11 activity, not just small liquidation cases.
For a B2B audience, that implies the need to:
- Monitor business bankruptcy trends separately from consumer trends. The aggregate bankruptcy number can hide commercial risk that is growing faster under the surface.
- Pay closer attention to geographic exposure. Accounts in states with the largest absolute increases in business filings should face tighter credit policies and faster escalation when invoices become seriously past due.
- Prepare for more restructuring‑driven delays. In Chapter 11‑heavy states, expect more automatic stays, plan negotiations, and partial recoveries instead of quick resolutions.
One practical implication: waiting longer to place delinquent business accounts in high‑risk states could mean the difference between negotiating a payment plan and being frozen out by a bankruptcy filing.
Methodology
This analysis uses annual bankruptcy filing totals from federal judiciary statistics for 2019 through 2025. National totals come from the annual summary table of business and nonbusiness cases. State-level results are constructed from corrected state-year business filing totals derived from the annual F-5A tables.
The analysis focuses on 2019, 2022, and 2025 to capture three key points in the cycle:
- 2019 as the pre‑pandemic baseline.
- 2022 as the post‑pandemic trough in business filings.
- 2025 as the most recent year available.
State hotspot rankings in this version are based on raw filing counts rather than population- or establishment-adjusted rates. As a result, the findings are best interpreted as indicators of where filing activity is rising most in volume terms, not necessarily where distress is highest on a per-business basis.
