Bankruptcy Filings Per Capita

[BK411]

The US Courts recently released information regarding per capita bankruptcy filings in each state and county. You can view a map demonstrating the counties in each state with the highest per capita bankruptcy filing rates at the following link: http://www.uscourts.gov/Press_Releas...1209_fcmap.pdf

[AngelinaCatHub]

WOW! Is all I can say. Thanks. 'Hub

[DeadManCrawling]

Stand by.

The usual political brigade will be in here shortly to blame Obama.

And then the other side will blame Bush.

And the other side will say Bush made Obama do it.

And that will be countered by charges against Clinton, Hoover, Lincoln, and Taft.

Soon thereafter, we will have lost all value this post might have offered and will resort to name calling and partisan bickering.

Then it will get really ugly.

Sorry, but it seems to be a growing theme on the forum, and I am tiring of it.

Tag, you're it.

[DeadManCrawling]

Clinton, Hoover, Lincoln, and Taft

Also sounds like a law firm.

The ones who are "On YOUR Side."

If you win, or pay up front.

Sorry if I seem a bit more cynical than usual.

Too much time to think about too many things this weekend. Please forgive me.

[WhatMoney]

It is all Nixon's fault, or Reagan, or FDR. Is is OK to blame dead people?


Re the map, the rates seem pretty low. Only 0.5% in my county, and even the reddest county on the map is only 1.6% max.

I thought the numbers were higher.

[MSbklawyer]

Re the map, the rates seem pretty low. Only 0.5% in my county, and even the reddest county on the map is only 1.6% max.

I thought the numbers were higher.

The figures show per thousand, not per hundred. If you want percentages, multiply the given rate by 10. Thus, the reddest county is 16%, not 1.6 percent.

[OhioFiler]

Stand by.

The usual political brigade will be in here shortly to blame Obama.

And then the other side will blame Bush.

And the other side will say Bush made Obama do it.

And that will be countered by charges against Clinton, Hoover, Lincoln, and Taft.

Soon thereafter, we will have lost all value this post might have offered and will resort to name calling and partisan bickering.

Then it will get really ugly.

Sorry, but it seems to be a growing theme on the forum, and I am tiring of it.

Tag, you're it.

You are not forced to read anything here. It it tires you why do you force yourself to participate?

[BCA2009]

The figures show per thousand, not per hundred. If you want percentages, multiply the given rate by 10. Thus, the reddest county is 16%, not 1.6 percent.

No, it is 16 people out of every 1000, which is 1.6%. I still think that is alot. This number is "per capita", so you have to some ciphering (as Jethro Bodine would say) to get to a usable %.

In an average city how many people are in a family? Probably 4. So you could divide the 1000 by 4 and say that there is 16 BK's per family in those counties in 2009, which would be 6.4% of families. Now if you assume there will be just as many in 2010, then you would have 12.8% over a two year period. I would guess that over a five year period from 2008 to 2013, it could end up being 20% or more of families have dealt with a BK.

You would really need to know alot more about the underlying data, but still a large number in my opinion.

[WhatMoney]

No, it is 16 people out of every 1000, which is 1.6%. I still think that is alot. This number is "per capita", so you have to some ciphering (as Jethro Bodine would say) to get to a usable %... In an average city how many people are in a family? Probably 4.

Because per capita isn't really specific, eg. did they only include adults over 18, etc., the number per household should be higher. I think average household size is more like 2.2. And in some cases both adult members of a household could file BK. And about 40% of the population lives alone.

The typical bk rate for the counties is under 1%, no county in my state was over 0.8%. Only in a few states are there many of the >1% red counties. If you take all the personal AND business bankruptcies in 2009 and divide by the population of the United States, you get a bankruptcy rate of 0.47718%. That seems consistent with the average rate on the map. And using 2.2 average household size that would mean a little over 1% of US households filed bankruptcy in 2009.

http://www.uscourts.gov/Press_Releas...ngsDec2009.cfm

[WhatMoney]

From the 2000 US Census:
HOUSEHOLDS BY TYPE

Total households 105,480,101 100.0%

Family households (families) 71,787,347 68.1%

With own children under 18 years 34,588,368 32.8%

Married-couple family 54,493,232 51.7%

With own children under 18 years 24,835,505 23.5%

Female householder, no husband present 12,900,103 12.2%

With own children under 18 years 7,561,874 7.2%

Nonfamily households 33,692,754 31.9%

Householder living alone 27,230,075 25.8%

Householder 65 years and over 9,722,857 9.2%

Households with individuals under 18 years 38,022,115 36.0%

Households with individuals 65 years and over 24,672,708 23.4%

Average household size 2.59

http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFFacts

The 2010 Census results will be out next year. The over 65 groups will increase, and I expect average household size will be smaller than in 2000.