The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which measures ongoing business conditions and projections across the United States. The survey now includes information from businesses with multiple locations.
The BTOS collects key economic data, such as revenues, employee numbers, hours worked, and inventories. It is designed to complement other economic surveys by providing continuous and timely updates every two weeks. The survey covers all employer businesses in the country except for farms.
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.”
The sample size for BTOS is about 1.2 million businesses, divided into six panels of approximately 200,000 each. Each panel reports once every 12 weeks over a year-long period. The agency estimates that it takes an average respondent around nine minutes to complete the survey.
Data are released biweekly and are available by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the country. In November 2025, new questions on artificial intelligence were added to the survey; results from these questions will be published in 2026.
“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,” according to the Census Bureau.
There is no formal news release associated with this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
