The federal bankruptcy courts publish detailed statistics on bankruptcy filings. California has four federal judicial districts, with Fresno located in the Eastern District.
The 2011-2014 bankruptcy filings for the Eastern District of California show a substantial decline, as shown in this table:
| E.D. Cal. total filings | Chapter 7 cases |
Chapter 11 cases |
Chapter 12 cases |
Chapter 13 cases |
|
| 2014 | 24,030 | 19,634 | 109 | 18 | 4,269 |
| 2013 | 32,635 | 25,930 | 187 | 30 | 6,487 |
| 2012 | 42,850 | 33,761 | 201 | 37 | 8,846 |
| 2011 | 53,888 | 42,957 | 234 | 38 | 10,659 |
| Decrease | 55% | 54% | 53% | 53% | 60% |
What does this mean for the future? Hard to tell, as the Central Valley remains in the grip of a years-long drought. Agricultural revenues will remain depressed, which will not help the local economy.