The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which provides ongoing information about business conditions and projections across the country. The BTOS covers all employer businesses in the United States except for farms.
The survey aims to give a detailed view of the economy by collecting continuous, timely data every two weeks on important economic indicators such as revenues, employees, hours worked, and inventories. The BTOS is designed to help capture how events like natural disasters or economic crises affect businesses and to support efforts in monitoring recovery.
The BTOS sample includes about 1.2 million businesses, divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each. Each panel reports once every 12 weeks over the course of a year. According to the Census Bureau, completing the survey takes an average respondent about nine minutes.
Data from the BTOS are released every two weeks and are available by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the United States. In November 2025, new questions regarding artificial intelligence were added to the survey; results from these questions are expected to be released in Spring 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 was no formal news release associated with this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
