June 2026 Bankruptcy Filings Report

July 08, 2026

According to AIS bankruptcy filing data compiled daily from PACER, U.S. bankruptcy filings totaled 52,303 in June, up 554 from May and up 6,003 from June 2025, a 12.97% year-over-year increase.

However, June isn't supposed to go up. From 2006 through 2025, filings declined an average of 3.1% from May to June. This year they rose 1.1%. That's not a massive move in absolute terms, but the direction is the story. In a month that historically gives back some of May's volume, June held firm and then added to it. That puts Q2 in a different light than a quarter that simply carried elevated volume from Q1.

The second quarter finished at 160,508 filings, up 11.2% from Q2 2025 and 6.9% above Q1 2026. Through six months, 2026 filings total 310,613, running 12.3% ahead of the same period last year. The filing environment continues to build.

Key Takeaways

Total filings: 52,303
Month over month: +554, or +1.07%
Year over year: +6,003, or +12.97%
Highest June total since: 2019
Q2 2026 (full quarter): 160,508
Q2 vs. Q1 2026: +6.93%
Q2 vs. Q2 2025: +11.16%
YTD 2026 (Jan-June): 310,613
YTD vs. same period 2025: +12.26%
Vs. pre-Covid June avg (2017-2019): 18.13% below

Chapter Mix

June brought a subtle but meaningful shift in the chapter breakdown.

Chapter 7: 33,014 filings, up 13.56% from June 2025
Chapter 13: 18,335 filings, up 11.28% from June 2025
Chapter 11: 915 filings, up 31.09% from June 2025
Subchapter V: 265 filings, up 25.59% from June 2025

Chapter 7's share of consumer filings pulled back to 63.1% in June, down from 65% in May and 66% at the March peak. Chapter 13 picked up the difference, rising to 35.1%. That's worth watching. The drift toward liquidation that defined the first half of 2026 may be stabilizing rather than continuing to push higher. Whether that's a meaningful reversal or normal monthly variance will become clearer over the next few months.

The commercial picture is harder to ignore. Chapter 11 jumped 31% year over year and Subchapter V rose 25.6%. The absolute numbers remain small relative to consumer volume, but consecutive months of double-digit commercial growth suggest business stress is building in a way that hasn't been visible in the national totals yet. We see this pattern across the portfolios we service, and it's worth flagging for teams whose exposure includes commercial accounts.

Second-Half 2026: The Range Tightens

Six months of actuals have compressed the full-year projection considerably. The range narrows to 624,000 to 644,000, base case near 634,000, down from the wider 614,000 to 655,000 range carried through May. Each month of actuals reduces the uncertainty.

The Path Back to Pre-Covid Norms

The YTD gap to pre-Covid norms stands at 20.8% through June, down from 21.3% through May. At the current pace of normalization, 8 to 9 percentage points per year, the market returns to pre-Covid filing levels around 2028. The 2026 base case of 634,000 would put the annual gap at roughly 16.6% below the pre-Covid average of 760,000.

June adds an interesting wrinkle to that outlook. A market that rises when it's supposed to fall could be closing the gap faster than the base case suggests, or it could be signaling that the filing cycle now has momentum of its own, independent of calendar patterns. The direction is right. The pace is the question, and June complicated the answer.

Geographic Trends

The top ten states in June:

California: 4,798
Florida: 4,356
Texas: 3,352
Georgia: 2,670
Ohio: 2,382
Illinois: 2,262
Tennessee: 1,986
New York: 1,975
Alabama: 1,952
Michigan: 1,947

Indiana's one-month appearance in the top ten in May didn't hold. Alabama returned in June, and the list otherwise looks nearly identical to prior months. The stability of the top ten itself is a signal worth noting: this isn't a filing increase being driven by one or two outlier states. The same markets are producing elevated volume month after month, which means the operational pressure on servicers with concentrated exposure in these states is sustained, not episodic.

This month's sharpest geographic data point comes from ATTOM. Texas, Florida, and California led the country in foreclosure starts in May. All three are also in the top four bankruptcy filing states. Foreclosure starts feed Chapter 13 filings as homeowners seek to cure arrears, typically with a 6 to 12 month lag. For servicers managing mortgage portfolios in those three states, the second half of 2026 is already visible in the foreclosure data.

Economic Indicators to Watch

Inflation re-accelerated again in May. CPI rose 4.2% year over year, up from 3.8% in April, with gasoline and shelter as the primary drivers. Core CPI came in at 2.9%. That's two consecutive months of re-acceleration and the highest headline reading in this cycle. For consumers managing elevated debt payments, rising prices at this pace close off what little margin remains.

Kevin Warsh took over as Federal Reserve Chair on May 22, succeeding Jerome Powell. His mandate is straightforward: tackle inflation, hold the line on rates, and eliminate the forward guidance the Fed previously used to signal upcoming decisions. The rate stayed at 3.50% to 3.75% at his first policy meetings, and with CPI at 4.2% and climbing, further cuts look less likely near-term. The removal of forward guidance adds a layer of uncertainty that wasn't present earlier in the year. Operations leaders who were modeling rate relief into their second-half planning now have less visibility into when, or whether, that relief arrives.

The New York Fed's Q1 2026 Household Debt report, the most recent available, put total debt at $18.8 trillion. Serious mortgage delinquency had ticked up to 1.5%. The Q2 update releases August 4, and it will be worth watching whether that mortgage delinquency trend continued into the spring. ATTOM's May foreclosure data suggests it did: 40,355 properties with foreclosure filings, down 5% from April but up 14% year over year. Foreclosure starts specifically rose 13% from a year earlier. The month-over-month dip is seasonal. The annual trend continues to point upward.

What It Means

June broke the seasonal pattern. In a month that has historically given back volume, filings rose. That's not a rounding error or a data quirk. The filing cycle now has enough momentum to override the calendar. When a market rises in a month that has historically pulled back, and does so in the context of a 12% YTD increase, that's worth paying attention to.

Q2 finished as the strongest second quarter since 2020. The first half closed at 310,613 filings, 12.3% above last year. The full-year projection has tightened to 624,000 to 644,000 as six months of actuals reduce the uncertainty. The economic backdrop isn't offering a path to relief. Inflation is re-accelerating, the Fed is on hold, and the foreclosure pipeline keeps building. The Q2 NY Fed debt report on August 4 will add important color on whether delinquency trends held or worsened through the spring.

Most bankruptcy departments are staffed for where filings have been. A market that defies its own seasonal patterns is one that's increasingly difficult to staff for internally. The organizations that have the right infrastructure and partnerships in place now will be in a very different position by 2027.

AIS provides the Bankruptcy Data and Bankruptcy Servicing that help lenders and servicers stay ahead of a filing environment that continues to rise.

Data sourced from the AIS proprietary bankruptcy database, compiled daily from U.S. court records (PACER) since 2000.