The U.S. Census Bureau released new data products from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS) on March 12. The survey measures business conditions and projections, collecting information such as revenues, employees, hours, and inventories.
BTOS is designed to provide timely insight into the state of the U.S. economy by gathering continuous data every two weeks from employer businesses, excluding farms. This approach allows for detailed geographic and subsector analysis, helping to capture the effects of events like natural disasters or economic crises and supporting efforts to monitor recovery.
The BTOS sample includes about 1.2 million businesses that participate in biweekly data collection. These businesses are divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each, with each panel reporting every 12 weeks over a year. According to the Census Bureau, it takes an average respondent about nine minutes to complete the survey.
Survey results are released biweekly and are available by sector, state, and for the 25 most populous metropolitan statistical areas. New questions focusing on artificial intelligence were added in November 2025; responses to these questions will be published in Spring 2026. The Census Bureau said that these results provide essential real-time data for local, state, and federal officials to support policymaking and decision-making processes. Businesses also use this information when making economic decisions.
No separate news release was issued with this announcement.
