The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which measures business conditions and future expectations on a regular basis. The BTOS now includes information from businesses with multiple locations, providing broader coverage of employer businesses across the United States, excluding farms.
The survey is designed to provide timely data every two weeks about key economic indicators such as revenues, employment, hours worked, and inventories. 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.”
Approximately 1.2 million businesses are included in the BTOS sample. These are divided into six panels of around 200,000 each; each panel reports once every 12 weeks throughout the year. The Census Bureau estimates that it takes about nine minutes for respondents to complete the survey.
Data from BTOS will be released biweekly and will include breakdowns by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the country. The survey also introduced new questions about artificial intelligence on November 17; results from these questions are expected to be published in 2026.
According to the agency, “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.
