The U.S. Census Bureau has published new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which measures ongoing business conditions and projections. The survey now includes information for multiunit and multilocation businesses, providing a broader look at the U.S. economy beyond what is captured in other economic surveys.
BTOS covers all employer businesses in the United States except for farms. The survey aims to deliver continuous and timely data every two weeks on important economic indicators such as revenues, employees, hours worked, and inventories. According to the Census Bureau, this frequent reporting allows BTOS to capture the effects of significant events like natural disasters or economic downturns and helps monitor recovery efforts across different regions and sectors.
The sample size for BTOS consists of about 1.2 million businesses, with data collected biweekly. These selected businesses are divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each, reporting once every 12 weeks over a year. The agency estimates that it takes an average respondent around nine minutes to complete the survey.
Data releases from BTOS are available by sector, state, and within the 25 most populous metropolitan areas in the country. New questions related to artificial intelligence were added to the survey on November 17, 2025; results from these will be released during 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 news release associated with this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
