Texas small claims statistics, 2018 to 2024
Key takeaways
60,556 small claims cases were filed in Texas justice courts from September 2023 to August 2024.
Debt claim filings by lenders, debt buyers and collectors grew 67% from 2018 to 2024. Small claims filings fell 14%.
29% of small claims cases ended in a hearing before a judge. Only 7% of debt claim cases did.
37% of debt claim cases ended in a default judgment, against 13% of small claims cases.
How many small claims cases are filed in Texas each year?
About 60,000. Texas justice courts reported 60,556 new small claims cases in fiscal year 2024, 57,600 in 2020 and 70,085 in 2018. Debt claim cases moved the other way, climbing every year we checked.
| Fiscal year | Small claims filed | Debt claims filed | Debt claims per small claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 70,085 | 214,182 | 3.1 |
| 2020 | 57,600 | 281,375 | 4.9 |
| 2024 | 60,556 | 358,598 | 5.9 |
| Change, 2018 to 2024 | Down 14% | Up 67% | Almost double |
Each Texas fiscal year runs from September 1 to August 31, so fiscal year 2024 means September 2023 to August 2024.
What is the difference between a small claims case and a debt claim case?
The difference is who files. A debt claim case is brought by an assignee of a claim, a debt collector or collection agency, a financial institution, or a business mainly engaged in lending money at interest, as Fort Bend County's justice courts explain. Both kinds of case are heard in justice court and both are capped at $20,000.
A contractor, agency or supplier suing a client over its own unpaid invoice usually files a small claims case. So the small claims numbers are the closer measure of how often ordinary businesses and people use the court to get paid. Our guide to Texas small claims for businesses covers the limit, fees and which precinct to file in.
How do Texas small claims cases end?
Small claims cases are far more likely to be decided at a hearing than debt claim cases, and far less likely to end in a default judgment. Here is how the cases closed in fiscal year 2024 ended.
| How the case ended | Small claims | Debt claims |
|---|---|---|
| Trial or hearing before a judge | 17,554 (29%) | 24,483 (7%) |
| Non-suited or dismissed by the plaintiff | 13,258 (22%) | 109,188 (33%) |
| Dismissed for want of prosecution | 9,681 (16%) | 24,842 (8%) |
| Default judgment | 7,557 (13%) | 122,581 (37%) |
| Agreed judgment | 1,108 (2%) | 32,799 (10%) |
| Trial by jury | 344 (under 1%) | 90 (under 1%) |
| All other dispositions | 10,697 (18%) | 15,865 (5%) |
| Total cases closed | 60,199 | 329,848 |
Shares are of cases closed in the year, rounded, so they may not add to exactly 100%. A default judgment is what a plaintiff can ask for when the defendant is properly served and never answers.
What do the numbers suggest for a business with an unpaid invoice?
The court data shows what happened, not why, so read these as patterns rather than conclusions.
- Repeat filers dominate the docket. Lenders and debt buyers now file almost six debt cases for every small claims case in Texas.
- Small claims cases are contested more often. Nearly three in ten end at a hearing, so the business that shows up with an invoice, a written agreement and a demand letter is better placed.
- About one in five small claims cases is dropped by the plaintiff. The data does not separate cases settled out of court from cases simply abandoned.
- Dismissal for want of prosecution, at 16%, usually means a filed case that nobody moved forward.
If you are weighing whether to file, start with how to collect an unpaid invoice, then read small claims for an unpaid invoice for the filing steps.
Small claims and debt claims by county
In every large Texas county we checked, debt claim filings now outnumber small claims filings by at least 3 to 1, and in most by 6 to 1 or more. Debt claims roughly doubled or more in each county between fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2025, while small claims stayed flat or fell in most of them.
| County | Small claims filed, FY2025 | Debt claims filed, FY2025 | Debt claims per small claim (our arithmetic) | Debt claims filed, FY2018 | Change in debt claims, 2018 to 2025 (our arithmetic) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harris | 12,115 | 82,559 | 6.8 | 41,925 | +97% |
| Dallas | 5,990 | 42,651 | 7.1 | 21,735 | +96% |
| Tarrant | 5,674 | 36,431 | 6.4 | 16,097 | +126% |
| Bexar | 3,131 | 33,407 | 10.7 | 17,237 | +94% |
| Travis | 4,612 | 14,029 | 3.0 | 6,002 | +134% |
| El Paso | 1,217 | 14,832 | 12.2 | 9,960 | +49% |
| Denton | 2,246 | 13,922 | 6.2 | 5,531 | +152% |
| Montgomery | 1,547 | 13,911 | 9.0 | 4,262 | +226% |
| Collin | 2,794 | 13,620 | 4.9 | 5,789 | +135% |
| Fort Bend | 1,169 | 12,804 | 11.0 | 4,773 | +168% |
| Williamson | 1,617 | 10,278 | 6.4 | 3,090 | +233% |
| All Texas justice courts | 63,622 | 459,104 | 7.2 | 217,600 | +111% |
For a business with one unpaid invoice, the takeaway is simple: most of the money cases in these courts are brought by lenders, debt buyers and collectors, not by businesses chasing their own clients. A small claims case is the smaller lane, and it is the one built for you.
Source: Texas Office of Court Administration, Court Activity Reporting and Directory System, Justice Court Activity Detail report, new cases filed by county, pulled October 31, 2026. FY2025 runs September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2025; FY2018 runs September 1, 2017 to August 31, 2018. Ratios and percentage changes are our arithmetic. Live figures can differ slightly from the published annual reports because late court reports are added. Statewide FY2025 reflects 94.5% of expected court reports. Fort Bend reported 85.7% of expected reports in FY2025 and 71.4% in FY2018, so both years undercount. Bexar and Collin show more FY2018 reports than expected (likely court reorganisation). Hidalgo is left out because its courts filed few or no reports for these years.
Where does this data come from, and can I cite it?
Every figure on this page comes from the Texas Office of Court Administration's justice court activity reports for fiscal years 2024, 2020 and 2018. Percentages and ratios are our own arithmetic on those totals. The 2024 report is based on 9,051 of 9,624 possible court reports, a 94% reporting rate, so true totals are likely a little higher.
You are welcome to use these numbers. Please cite the Texas Office of Court Administration as the source and link to this page as Easy Small Claims, Texas small claims statistics.
Last updated October 31, 2026 (county figures for FY2025 added). Easy Small Claims is not a law firm and this page is general information, not legal advice.
Questions, answered
How many small claims cases are filed in Texas each year?
Texas justice courts reported 60,556 new small claims cases in fiscal year 2024, which ran from September 1, 2023 to August 31, 2024. That is down from 70,085 in fiscal year 2018. The figures come from the Texas Office of Court Administration, and about 94% of justice court reports were received for 2024.
What is a debt claim case in Texas?
A debt claim case is a justice court lawsuit to recover a debt, brought by an assignee of a claim, a debt collector or collection agency, a financial institution, or a business mainly engaged in lending money at interest. A business suing a client over its own unpaid invoice usually files a small claims case instead.
How often do Texas small claims cases go to a hearing?
In fiscal year 2024, 17,554 of the 60,199 small claims cases that were closed ended in a trial or hearing before a judge, about 29%. Another 22% were non-suited or dismissed by the plaintiff, 16% were dismissed for want of prosecution and 13% ended in a default judgment.
What is the small claims limit in Texas?
A Texas small claims case in justice court can ask for up to $20,000, not counting statutory interest and court costs. The same limit applies to debt claim cases. Claims above that amount go to county or district court, where the rules and costs are different.
A small business owner himself, Nitin has been on the wrong end of an unpaid invoice and knows how easy it is to give up on one. He built Easy Small Claims so owners can get that money back. He is also a practicing barrister.