Continuing an ongoing rebound after more than a decade of sharply dropping totals, bankruptcy filings in the United States rose 14.2 percent in the twelve-month period ending Dec. 31, 2024.
Annual bankruptcy filings totaled 517,308 in the year ending December 2024, compared with 452,990 cases in the previous year, according to the latest statistics released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. The judiciary’s data showed nationwide increases in both business and nonbusiness bankruptcies,
Business filings rose 22.1 percent, from 18,926 to 23,107, in the year ending Dec. 31, 2024. Nonbusiness bankruptcy filings rose 13.9 percent to 494,201, compared with 434,064 in 2023.
In Massachusetts, the judiciary reported 4,706 bankruptcy filings in 2024. The total includes 2,952 Chapter 7 cases, 108 Chapter 11 filings, and 1,645 cases filed under Chapter 13.
The 2024 total reflects a 21.6 increase from the 3,869 bankruptcy cases filed in the District of Massachusetts in 2023.
In Rhode Island, there were a total of 968 bankruptcy filings, including 672 Chapter 7 cases, 8 Chapter 11 filings, and 288 cases filed under Chapter 13.
By comparison, in 2023, there were a total of 843 bankruptcy filings in the District of Rhode Island, 14.8 percent less than the total filings in 2024.
For more than a decade, total filings in the U.S. fell steadily, from a high of nearly 1.6 million in September 2010 to a low of 380,634 in June 2022. Total filings have increased each quarter since then, but they remain far lower than historical highs, the judiciary’s administrative office said.