The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which measures ongoing business conditions and projections in the United States. The BTOS now includes information for businesses with multiple locations, expanding its coverage of the national economy.
According to the Census Bureau, BTOS gathers data that complements other economic surveys by focusing on areas such as revenues, employment levels, working hours, and inventories. The survey covers all employer businesses except farms and is designed to provide continuous updates every two weeks. This regular reporting allows for monitoring of economic changes at both geographic and industry-specific levels, which helps track the effects of events like natural disasters or economic downturns.
The survey sample includes about 1.2 million businesses, divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each. Each panel reports once every 12 weeks over a year-long period. Completing the survey takes an average respondent approximately nine minutes.
BTOS results are published biweekly and can be broken down by sector, state, and among the 25 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country. In November 2025, new questions related to artificial intelligence were added; findings from these will be made public 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 accompanying news release for this announcement; it was distributed as a tip sheet only.
