The U.S. Census Bureau released new data products from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS) on April 9. The survey measures business conditions and projections on an ongoing basis, providing information that complements other economic surveys in areas such as revenues, employees, hours, and inventories.
BTOS offers a continuous view of the state of employer businesses across the United States economy, excluding farms. The survey delivers timely data every two weeks with geographic and subsector detail, which helps capture the effects of events like natural disasters or economic crises while supporting monitoring of recovery efforts.
Approximately 1.2 million businesses are included in the BTOS sample. Data collection is conducted biweekly by dividing participants into six panels—each with about 200,000 cases—that report every twelve weeks over a year-long period. According to the Census Bureau, it takes respondents an average of nine minutes to complete each survey cycle.
Survey results are made available by sector, state, and for the twenty-five most populous metropolitan statistical areas on a biweekly schedule. In November 2025, new questions about artificial intelligence were added to BTOS; results from these questions are expected to be released in Spring 2026.
The Census Bureau said that BTOS provides local, state, and federal officials with essential real-time data to aid policymaking and decision-making processes. Businesses also use this information when making economic decisions.
