Bankruptcy Map Gives New Meaning to "Red" States

A map showing Bankruptcy Filings Per Capita gives new meaning to the term "Red State." The map prepared by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts analyzes bankruptcy filings per capita for each of the nation's counties for the year ending September 30, 2010. The higher the per capita filing rate, the redder the map. (You can access the map via the link in the first sentence, but be sure to click on the 2010 tab to get the right map).

The map shows the highest per capita filings in Southern California/Nevada, the Midwest and the Southeast. Texas had light filings compared to the rest of the nation. In Travis County, where I live, the rate was 1.9 filings per thousand residents or about 1 bankruptcy for every 500 people. In contrast, Shelby County, TN had a rate of 14.6 filings per thousand or about 1 filing for every 68 residents. When you think about it, 1 in 68 is a lot of bankruptcies.

The following is a list of those counties experiencing per capita filing rates above 10 per thousand, which works out to 1% (The list may not be exact because it is necessary to mouse over a county to get its specific rate. It is entirely possible that my mousing skills may have left some counties unnoticed).

Counties With Per Capita Filing Rates Above 1%

County	District	Rate
Shelby County	TN-W	14.60
Henry County	GA-N	13.88
Douglass County	GA-N	13.28
Newton County	GA-N	13.14
Walker County	GA-N	13.10
Clark County	NV	13.09
Gallatin County	KY-E	13.05
Rockdale County	GA-N	12.59
Grant County	KY-E	12.33
Clayton County	GA-N	12.23
Ware County	GA-S	11.72
Lauderdale County	TN-W	11.52
Glasscock County	GA-S	11.42
Paulding County	GA-N	11.33
Hopkins County	KY-W	11.26
Tuscaloosa County	AL-N	11.14
Barrow County	GA-N	11.09
Riverside County	CA-C	10.98
Dyer County	TN-W	10.92
Cook County	GA-M	10.84
McDuffie County	GA-S	10.75
Crook County	OR	10.59
Tipton County	TN-W	10.49
Lapeer County	MI-E	10.47
Pierce County	GA-S	10.44
Hardeman County	TN-W	10.39
Haywood County	TN-W	10.38
Crockett County	TN-W	10.35
Troup County	GA-N	10.33
Jennings County	IN-S	10.31
Madison County	TN-W	10.30
Deschutes County	OR	10.29
Gibson County	TN-W	10.11
Genesee County	MI-E	10.04
Whitley County	IN-N	10.01

The Districts with the most high per capita filings were the Northern District of Georgia (nine counties) and the Western District of Tennessee (eight counties). What does this tell us? A lot of people are filing for bankruptcy in the rural Southeast.

None of the highest per capita filing counties were in major metropolitan areas. However, the general pattern held for the ten largest cities in the United States. There were lower per capita filings in the Northeast (New York and Philadelphia) and Texas (Houston, San Antonio and Dallas) and higher filing rates in the Midwest (Chicago), Arizona (Phoenix) and California (Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose).

Per Capita Filing Rates of Counties With Ten Largest Cities

County	District	Rate
New York County	NY-S	1.99
Los Angeles County	CA-C	7.11
Cook County (Chicago)	IL-N	7.23
Harris County (Houston)	TX-S	1.99
Maricopa County (Phoenix)	AZ	7.29
Delaware County(Philadelphia)	PA-E	2.45
Bexar County (San Antonio)	TX-W	2.45
San Diego County (San Diego)	CA-S	7.35
Dallas County (Dallas)	TX-N	2.76
Santa Clara County (San Jose)	CA-N	4.86

Note: I could not find a correlation between "red" counties in the per capita filing rates and "red" Congressional districts in the 2010 elections. Of the counties with the ten highest filing rates, 5 1/6 elected Republican representatives and 4 5/6 elected Democratic representatives. The fractions result from the fact that some counties are included in more than one Congressional district.