The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which measures ongoing business conditions and future projections across the United States. The BTOS now includes information from businesses with multiple locations.
This survey covers all employer businesses in the country, except for farms, and provides updates every two weeks on important economic indicators such as revenue, employment, work hours, and inventory levels. By collecting continuous data at both geographic and industry subsector levels, the BTOS helps track how events like natural disasters or economic downturns affect businesses and supports efforts to monitor recovery.
Approximately 1.2 million businesses are part of the BTOS sample. These businesses are divided into six panels of about 200,000 each, with each panel asked to complete the survey every 12 weeks over a year. The Census Bureau reports that it takes an average of nine minutes for respondents to finish the survey.
Survey results will be published biweekly and broken down by sector, state, and the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. New questions regarding artificial intelligence were added on November 17; data from these questions will be available in 2026. According to the Census Bureau, “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.
