There were 956 commercial Chapter 11 filings in January 2026, an increase of 76% from the 544 filings registered in January 2025, according to data provided by Epiq AACER, a provider of U.S. bankruptcy filing data. The rise in overall commercial Chapter 11 filings was primarily driven by related filings from larger corporate parent companies.
Small business filings, captured as subchapter V elections within Chapter 11, numbered 255 in January 2026, representing an increase of 68% from the 152 filings in January 2025. Overall commercial filings increased 18% to 2,840 in January 2026, up from the 2,408 commercial filings registered in January 2025.
“The significant spike in commercial Chapter 11 filings this month reflects the outsized impact that related filings from large corporate families can have on the overall landscape,” Michael Hunter, vice president of Epiq AACER, said. “Individual filings also continue to show strong increases. With volumes steadily moving back toward pre pandemic levels, it’s clear that financial strain among those seeking bankruptcy protection is broad based across both businesses and consumers.”
Total bankruptcy filings were 45,808 in January 2026, a 10% increase from the January 2025 total of 41,551. Individual bankruptcy filings also increased 10% to 42,968 in January 2026 from the 39,143 filings in January 2025. There were 25,805 individual Chapter 7 filings in January 2026, a 13% increase over the 22,934 filings recorded in January 2025, and there were 17,052 individual Chapter 13 filings in January 2026, a 6% increase over the 16,103 filings in January the previous year.
“The gap between current and pre-pandemic bankruptcy filing totals continues to narrow amid the growing financial strains on households and businesses,” Amy Quackenboss, executive director of the American Bankruptcy Institute, said. “For distressed families and companies struggling with higher costs, tighter lending terms and heightened geopolitical risks, bankruptcy remains a step toward restoring their financial footing.”
The large number of related filings pushed commercial Chapter 11s to a 61% increase over December’s 593 filings. Overall commercial filings increased 11% from the 2,560 filings registered in December, and subchapter V elections within Chapter 11 increased 7% from the 239 filed in December 2025. Total bankruptcies registered a small decrease of 0.3% when compared to the December 2025 filing total of 45,950, and individual bankruptcies fell 1% from the 43,390 filings the previous month. Individual Chapter 7 filings decreased 5% from December’s total of 27,151, but Chapter 13 filings increased 6% from 16,150 filings the previous month.
