Market
Business bankruptcy filings in 2026, by the numbers
Business bankruptcies are higher in 2026 than in 2025. Epiq AACER figures published by ABF Journal on 2026-10-09 count 25,467 commercial filings under all chapters between January and September, a 7% rise from 23,789.
In this guide
01
Filings through September
Commercial filings, all chapters
Jan to Sep 2026
25,467
Jan to Sep 2025
23,789
Change
+7%
Commercial Chapter 11
Jan to Sep 2026
6,560
Jan to Sep 2025
5,895
Change
+11%
Subchapter V elections
Jan to Sep 2026
2,442
Jan to Sep 2025
Not stated
Change
+46%
| Measure | Jan to Sep 2026 | Jan to Sep 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial filings, all chapters | 25,467 | 23,789 | +7% |
| Commercial Chapter 11 | 6,560 | 5,895 | +11% |
| Subchapter V elections | 2,442 | Not stated | +46% |
02
September went the other way
Commercial Chapter 11 filings in September totalled 648, down 16% from 769 a year before. The September 2025 figure was inflated by 109 related filings from one long-term care pharmacy provider. Subchapter V elections still rose 38% that month, to 276.
03
What it means for data
Behind every filing sits a business with years of messages and documents. Most of those archives disappear when the servers go dark, but some find buyers: Google's $10.0M took Spirit's archive, and SimpleClosure's wind-down deals usually fetch $10K to $100K.
If your company is one of them, start with selling data in bankruptcy and Subchapter V.
FAQ
Questions, answered
How many businesses filed for bankruptcy in 2026?
25,467 commercial filings from January to September 2026, per Epiq AACER data reported by ABF Journal.
Are Chapter 11 filings rising?
Yes, up 11% through September, though September itself was down 16% against an unusually high month a year earlier.
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Sources
Every number on this page links back to one of these.
- 1ABF Journal: Epiq AACER commercial bankruptcy filing data (9 Oct 2026)abfjournal.com
- 2Chapter11Cases (Stretto): docket report on the Spirit Airlines de-identified data salechapter11cases.com
- 3MIT Technology Review: AI labs are buying data from dead startups (13 Oct 2026)technologyreview.com
- 4SimpleClosure: what your startup's assets are worthsimpleclosure.com
- 5U.S. Courts: Chapter 7 bankruptcy basicsuscourts.gov
- 6U.S. Courts: Chapter 11 bankruptcy basicsuscourts.gov
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