The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which tracks business conditions and future projections on an ongoing basis. The survey now includes data for businesses with multiple locations, offering a broader view of economic activity.
The BTOS covers all employer businesses in the United States except farms. It provides frequent and timely updates every two weeks on key economic indicators such as revenue, employment, hours worked, and inventories. By offering continuous data with detailed geographic and industry breakdowns, the survey helps capture the effects of events like natural disasters or economic crises and supports monitoring recovery efforts.
About 1.2 million businesses are part of the BTOS sample, with biweekly data collection. These businesses are divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each; each panel is surveyed every 12 weeks over a year. The Census Bureau estimates that completing the survey takes an average respondent about nine minutes.
Data from BTOS will be released every two weeks by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the country. In November 2025, new questions regarding artificial intelligence were added to the survey; results from these questions are expected to be published in 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 is no formal news release associated with this announcement; it was distributed as a tip sheet.
