STATISTICS/DEMOGRAPHICS

  • Although bankruptcy filings continued to decline for the second consecutive year, the Central District still averaged over 111,000 filings per year during the past five years, the highest average in the Court’s history. This was the fifth consecutive year the Central District led the nation in total bankruptcy filings.
  • The Central District of California led the nation in both the number and percentage of pro se filings in 2012. The Central District’s rate of pro se filings for the year was 27.2 percent, over three times the national average of 8.9 percent and 331 percent more than the next highest district, the Eastern District of California. The Central District handled over 26 percent of the entire nation’s pro se bankruptcy filings.
  • According to the national filing data released by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, the Central District of California received 85.2 percent more bankruptcy filings than the second largest district, the Northern District of Illinois. Additionally, the Central District of California led the nation with the highest total of chapters 7, 11, 13, business, and nonbusiness filings.
  • The number of bankruptcy petitions closed by the Central District in 2012 dropped 24.8 percent to 110,014. Because terminations exceeded filings in 2012, there were 65,962 cases pending in December 2012, which was 6 percent less than the number of cases pending in December 2011.

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