The U.S. Census Bureau has published new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), a program designed to track business conditions and projections across the United States. The survey covers all employer businesses except farms, with a focus on providing continuous and timely economic information.
According to the Census Bureau, “BTOS provides insight into the state of the economy by providing continuous, timely data for key economic measures every two weeks. By providing continuous data with geographic and subsector detail, BTOS captures the impact of events like natural disasters and economic crises and assists in monitoring recovery efforts.”
Approximately 1.2 million businesses participate in BTOS through biweekly data collection. These businesses are divided into six panels of about 200,000 each, reporting every 12 weeks over one year. Completing the survey is estimated to take respondents around nine minutes.
The released data are available by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan areas. Officials at local, state, and federal levels use these results for policymaking and decision-making. Businesses also use this information when making their own economic decisions.
In November 2025, new questions related to artificial intelligence were introduced to the survey; findings from these questions will be released in 2026.
There is no formal news release associated with this announcement; only a tip sheet has been provided.
