According to The American Bankruptcy Institute, the overall number of people filing a bankruptcy this year has risen dramatically compared to 2009. Despite the fact that bankruptcy filing dropped slightly from 145,000 in April to 137,000 in May of this year, analysts suspect that the bankruptcy filing numbers were effectively stable for both months, with maybe a small decrease.

Despite this slight stabilization, the number of people filing a bankruptcy is still 15% higher than it was in the January to May period of last year. In the first five months of this year, bankruptcy filing was a reported 5700 cases per one million households, which equals 1 bankruptcy filing for each 175 households.
The data from The American Bankruptcy Institute shows that the bankruptcy filing cases are concentrated in two areas: the Southwest and the Southeast. Nevada and Georgia have extremely high household-adjusted bankruptcy filing rates. In Nevada, more than twice the amount of people than in the rest of the country was reported as filing a bankruptcy. In Georgia, more than 50% over the national average was reported as filing a bankruptcy.

Alaska, the District of Columbia and South Carolina reported the lowest bankruptcy filing rates, with all three states having lower than 40% of the national average. When it comes to the bankruptcy filing rate at a county level, the difference between counties raises many questions. This is because the highest number of people filing a bankruptcy are grouped in a small area of one single state: the suburbs of Atlanta, in the state of Georgia. Out of the ten counties with the highest bankruptcy filing rates, six were in Georgia.

Almost 4000 households were reported as filing a bankruptcy in May in Henry County, Georgia, making this the highest bankruptcy rate in the United States. Furthermore, the data from the American Bankruptcy Institute proves the continued dominance of people filing a bankruptcy under Chapter 7. A mere 26% were reported as filing a bankruptcy under Chapter 13, despite the amendments instated in 2005 by Congress to discourage people filing a bankruptcy to file Chapter 7, liquidation bankruptcy, in favor of rehabilitation bankruptcy, Chapter 13.

A 2009 trend that continues in bankruptcy filing statistics is that the number of people filing a bankruptcy who hold bachelor’s or graduates degrees and earn $60,000 or more each year, has increased even further. In addition, the number of people over 55 years of age who are reported as filing a bankruptcy continues to rise.Bankruptcy Filing rates among unemployed Americans also continue to rise, while the number of married Americans filing a bankruptcy has increased over 8% in the past four years, and the number of Asian Americans filing a bankruptcy has more than doubled since 2006.

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