{"id":1036,"date":"2026-06-02T14:39:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T14:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1036"},"modified":"2026-06-02T14:39:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T14:39:12","slug":"california-personal-bankruptcies-up-15-in-a-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1036","title":{"rendered":"California personal bankruptcies up 15% in a year"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div><iframe allow=\"geolocation\" allowfullscreen=\"yes\" allowtransparency=\"1\" class=\"iframe\" height=\"550px\" id=\"6a1ee8ec931df\" loading=\"lazy\" scrolling=\"yes\" src=\"https:\/\/flo.uri.sh\/visualisation\/29134875\/embed\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>More Californians are filing for bankruptcy, yet this signal of bill-paying problems looks middle-of-the-pack on a national scale.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1034\">Will a major update to California\u2019s climate program affect what you pay at the pump?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>My trusty spreadsheet\u00a0examined\u00a0SmartAsset\u2019s state-by-state analysis of personal bankruptcy filings, comparing the 12 months ending in March 2026 with the previous year in order to identify where financial stress is concentrated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>These stats show California filings rose 15% in the year, the 15th largest increase among the states and faster than the nation\u2019s 12% pace. Slowing economic growth, rising inflation and lofty interest rates hammered many household budgets, but not at a common clip across the nation.<\/p>\n<p>The states with the\u00a0biggest jumps in bankruptcy were North Dakota (up 41%), Alaska (up 29%), Florida (up 22%), Texas (up 20%), and Oregon (up 19%).<\/p>\n<p>Only one state had fewer bankruptcies: Maine, down 8%.<\/p>\n<p>The smallest increases were in New Hampshire (up 1%), Hawaii (up 2%), Wisconsin (up 3%), and Illinois (up 4%).<\/p>\n<p>Now, when it comes to the number of filings, it\u2019s not surprising that larger states have more bankruptcies.<\/p>\n<p>California\u2019s 52,973 filings in the year ranked first. That was 9% of the nation\u2019s 559,396 bankruptcies.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Florida was No. 2 at 44,496, then Texas at 35,573, Georgia at 31,677 and Illinois at 26,525.<\/p>\n<h4>Relatively speaking<\/h4>\n<p>To better understand where major financial problems are brewing, consider filing counts relative to a state\u2019s population.<\/p>\n<p>By this math, California had 134 filings per 100,000 residents. That\u2019s just the 28th largest rate and 19% below the nation\u2019s 165-per-100,000 pace.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1032\">California dog trainer on trial for deaths of nearly a dozen canines in his care<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Bankruptcies are most common in Alabama, with 405 filings for every 100,000 residents. Next came Mississippi at 332; Tennessee at 299; Nevada at 285; and Georgia at 283.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Where is it hardest to find bankruptcies? Alaska (32 per 100,000), Maine (38), Vermont (41), New Hampshire (64), and Massachusetts (68).<\/p>\n<p>And peek at California\u2019s economic rivals: Texas had 114 filings per 100,000, No. 31, while Florida had 190, the 15th highest.<\/p>\n<h4>Scoring the states<\/h4>\n<p>These bankruptcy patterns illustrate how credit scores help lenders predict who can repay their bills.<\/p>\n<p>Ponder how a state\u2019s average FICO credit scores from 2025 align with the aforementioned per-capita bankruptcy rankings.<\/p>\n<p>You see three states with poor credit scores having frequent bankruptcies: Mississippi had the nation\u2019s worst credit score, Alabama was third-lowest, and Georgia was fourth-lowest.<\/p>\n<p>Conversely, two states among the highest credit scores experienced rare bankruptcies: Vermont had the nation\u2019s second-highest credit scores, and New Hampshire ranked fourth-highest.<\/p>\n<p>By the way, California\u2019s average credit score ranked 21st among the states \u2013 in step with its No. 28 bankruptcy rate.<\/p>\n<p><em>Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1020\">Video of unattended Peninsula vote center sparks concern<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Slowing economic growth, rising inflation and lofty interest rates hammered many household budgets, but not at a common clip across the nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>California personal bankruptcies up 15% in a year - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1036\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California personal bankruptcies up 15% in a year - 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