The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which tracks business conditions and projections across the United States. The BTOS includes information from multiunit and multilocation businesses, aiming to complement existing economic surveys by collecting data on revenues, employees, hours worked, and inventories.
According to the Census Bureau, the BTOS covers all employer businesses in the country except for farms. The survey is designed to provide timely updates every two weeks on key economic indicators with detailed geographic and industry breakdowns. This allows policymakers to monitor the effects of events such as natural disasters or economic crises and assess recovery efforts.
The survey sample consists of about 1.2 million businesses divided into six panels, each with roughly 200,000 cases. These panels are surveyed every 12 weeks over a year. On average, it takes respondents nine minutes to complete the survey.
Data from BTOS will be published biweekly and broken down by sector, state, and the 25 largest metropolitan statistical areas. In November 2025, new questions related to artificial intelligence were added; results from these questions are expected in 2026. The Census Bureau notes that these results help officials at various levels of government make informed policy decisions and also support businesses in their planning.
There is no formal news release associated with this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
