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 covers all employer businesses except farms, providing continuous data on key economic indicators such as revenues, employees, hours worked, and inventories.
The BTOS collects information from about 1.2 million businesses every two weeks. These businesses are divided into six panels of approximately 200,000 each, with each panel reporting once every 12 weeks over a year. According to the Census Bureau, it takes an average respondent about nine minutes to complete the survey.
Data collected by BTOS is made available biweekly and can be broken down by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country. The survey also includes multiunit or multilocation businesses. In November 2025, new questions regarding artificial intelligence were added to the survey; results from these questions will be published in 2026.
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.”
Survey results are intended to help officials at various levels of government make informed policy decisions using real-time data. Businesses can also use this information to guide their own economic choices.
There was no news release associated with this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
