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 includes information from businesses with multiple locations, providing data that complements other economic surveys by covering topics such as revenue, employment, work hours, and inventories.
The BTOS is designed to represent all employer businesses in the country except for farms. It delivers timely updates on key economic indicators every two weeks, offering detailed geographic and industry breakdowns. This approach allows the survey to track how events like natural disasters or economic crises affect businesses and helps monitor recovery efforts.
About 1.2 million businesses participate in the BTOS through a biweekly collection process. These are divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each, with each panel reporting every 12 weeks over a year. According to Census Bureau estimates, completing the survey takes an average of nine minutes per respondent.
Survey results are published every two weeks and can be analyzed by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. In November 2025, new questions about artificial intelligence were added; data from these questions will be available in 2026. The information gathered assists government officials at all levels in making policy decisions and supports businesses as they plan their operations.
There was no separate news release issued for this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
