The U.S. Census Bureau released new data products from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS) on March 12. The survey measures business conditions and projections, collecting information on revenues, employees, hours, and inventories.
BTOS is designed to provide timely insight into the state of the U.S. economy by offering continuous data every two weeks. The survey covers all employer businesses in the country except farms, allowing officials to monitor economic trends and respond to events such as natural disasters or economic crises.
The BTOS sample includes about 1.2 million businesses, divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each. Each panel is asked to report every twelve weeks over a year. According to the Census Bureau, it takes an average respondent about nine minutes to complete the survey.
Data from BTOS will be released biweekly and will be available by sector, state, and for the twenty-five most populous metropolitan statistical areas. New questions focusing on artificial intelligence were added in November 2025; results from these questions are expected in spring 2026.
Survey results are intended to help local, state, and federal officials make informed policy decisions while also supporting businesses in their economic planning.
