Bankruptcies throughout the United States are increasing at an unprecedented rate in 2025, affecting a wide array of industries and entities, from multinational corporations to small local businesses and individual consumers. This surge highlights mounting financial challenges precipitated by rising operating costs, more restrictive credit markets, and persistent geopolitical volatility, collectively straining the economic resilience of both households and companies.
Amy Quackenboss, executive director of the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), emphasized the multifaceted pressures facing the economy, noting earlier this month that "rising costs, tighter credit conditions, and ongoing geopolitical volatility continue to exert pressure on households and businesses already facing financial strain." This multifactorial environment contributes to a notable pattern in bankruptcy trends that contrasts with historical downturns.
Typically, bankruptcy cases tend to be concentrated within specific industries undergoing disruption, a phenomenon often referred to as industry stickiness. For example, in 2022, the bankruptcy filings clustered prominently in the cryptocurrency sector during the so-called "crypto winter," which saw several firms including FTX succumb to financial failure.
However, industry professionals are observing a more diffuse pattern in current bankruptcy filings. Robert Stark, a partner at the law firm Brown Rudnick and chair of its bankruptcy and corporate restructuring practice, described this phenomenon as "unusual" and "shockingly so" given his three decades of experience. Unlike previous waves tied to particular sectors, bankruptcies in 2025 are appearing across a broad array of industries without clear cause for the distribution. Stark noted, "Bankruptcies seem to be kind of all over the place."
High-profile corporate failures this year have included companies such as Sonder, Spirit Airlines, Del Monte Foods, Claire's, and Omnicare—a subsidiary of CVS Health. All these entities have reported liabilities exceeding $1 billion in court documents, indicating some of the most significant bankruptcies in recent years.
Data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, which monitors public and sizable private companies, recorded 717 bankruptcy filings through November 2025. This figure already exceeds the total 687 filings at the same point last year, signaling an accelerated pace of financial distress in large corporations. Without accounting for December filings, 2025 is on track to mark the highest annual aggregate of major corporate bankruptcies since 2010, when S&P Global reported 828 total filings.
When examining sector-specific data, the industrials segment leads with 110 bankruptcy filings through November. Consumer discretionary ranked next with 85, followed by healthcare companies submitting 46 filings. These numbers indicate that financial fragility is not isolated but dispersed across various fields of activity.
Beyond large corporations, the bankruptcy trend extends to smaller enterprises as well. Small business entities with secured and unsecured debts up to $3,024,725 have the option to utilize Subchapter V of Chapter 11 for bankruptcy proceedings, a streamlined reorganization pathway designed to facilitate quicker financial restructuring.
Epiq Bankruptcy Analytics reported over 2,300 Subchapter V bankruptcy filings year-to-date through mid-December 2025, representing an increase of roughly 10% compared to the same timeframe in the previous year. November alone accounted for 223 such filings, marking a 23% rise from November 2024, according to ABI.
Individuals facing financial difficulty have also filed for bankruptcy in growing numbers this year amidst escalating living expenses. Data from ABI shows an 8% increase in personal bankruptcy filings in November 2025, with 40,973 cases compared to 37,814 in November 2024.
Specifically, Chapter 7 filings—commonly referred to as liquidation or "clean slate" bankruptcies—increased by 11% last month, reaching 25,329 cases. Chapter 13 filings, which enable individuals to undergo a wage-earner repayment plan, grew by 5% with 15,558 filings, up from 14,865 in the previous November.
Quackenboss reiterated the critical role bankruptcy continues to play for indebted families and businesses, asserting that it remains a crucial mechanism to regain financial stability and rebuild toward a more sustainable future.