Get the data

Aggregate data for the available counties and states are listed below. We rely on data scraping and FOIA requests with courts to access and clean the data that are shown in the Debt Collection Tracker. For additional information, download our Methodology Report.

To contribute data to the Debt Collection Tracker, please make a request to debtcollectionlab@gmail.com. Include your name, name of court system, and location to begin the process.

Citing the Data

Wherry, Frederick F., Claire Johnson Raba, Dalié Jimenez, Lois Lupica, David McClendon, Jeff Reichman, and Jeffrey Himpele. Debt Collection Tracker. Princeton: Princeton University, 2024. https://debtcollectionlab.org/lawsuit-tracker

Please note that jurisdictions vary in the types of court data they collect. For example, one state may have additional points of data related to default judgments, but other jurisdictions may not. Sometimes court systems code default judgments differently, that can lead to undercounts, so we will provide updates on our standardization of these data in the near future. Check the data dictionary for understanding and interpreting variables.