How did stockton go bankrupt?

Stockton, California, filed for bankruptcy in 2012 primarily due to a combination of factors, including the housing market crash, high unemployment rates, and mounting pension costs. The city faced significant budget deficits as revenue from property taxes plummeted, while expenditures for essential services and retirement benefits continued to rise. Additionally, mismanagement and a lack of fiscal planning exacerbated the financial crisis, leading to its historic bankruptcy filing, which was one of the largest municipal bankruptcies in U.S. history at the time.