The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which measures business conditions and future projections across the country. The BTOS is designed to complement other economic surveys by collecting information on key topics such as revenues, employees, hours worked, and inventories.
The survey covers all employer businesses in the United States except for farms. Data are collected every two weeks, providing timely updates on economic trends with details at both geographic and industry subsector levels. This allows BTOS to capture how events like natural disasters or economic crises affect businesses and helps track recovery efforts.
About 1.2 million businesses participate in the BTOS sample, divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each. Each panel reports once every 12 weeks over a year-long period. According to the Census Bureau, it takes an average of nine minutes for respondents to complete the survey, including reviewing instructions and answers.
Biweekly data releases are available by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan statistical areas. In November 2025, new questions about artificial intelligence were added to the survey; results from these questions will be published in Spring 2026. The Census Bureau states that “Survey results give local, state and federal officials essential, real-time data to aid in policymaking and decision-making. In addition, the information aids businesses in making economic decisions.”
There is no news release associated with this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
