Are a record number of mom and pops going bankrupt? Kinda but not really

Of more than 33m small businesses in the US, only 2,221 declared bankruptcy in 2025. Photograph: Willie B Thomas/Getty Images

Are mom-and-pop stores going bankrupt at historically high levels? That would seem to be the impression you’d get from recent news reports referencing data released from Epiq Bankruptcy Analytics, a provider of legal services that specializes in bankruptcy services.

Uh-oh! Some have seen this as proof that Donald Trump’s policies are bankrupting Main Street. Well, no, not quite.