ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Behind the Washington region’s cooling housing market is a household ledger under growing pressure: personal bankruptcies are rising faster across the metro than in the country as a whole, and food-assistance enrollment is falling — though for reasons that are not all signs of recovery.
The figures come from Brookings’ DMV Monitor, the interactive dashboard tracking the regional economy that the institution updated June 4. They set the backdrop for Tuesday’s City Council meeting, where City Manager James Parajon is scheduled to deliver his monthly State of the Economy report and Police Chief Tarrick McGuire is set to update members on crime.
Personal bankruptcy filings across the metro rose 27.1% between the first quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2026, according to the DMV Monitor, which draws the figure from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. The regional increase ran just behind the 27.6% rise in very large metros and ahead of the 25.1% national increase. Alexandria recorded 98 non-business bankruptcy filings per 100,000 residents as of March, among the higher rates in the region — a figure consistent with the financial strain the Brief reported in March…