The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which tracks business conditions and future expectations on a regular basis. The survey now includes information from businesses with multiple locations.
The BTOS is designed to provide continuous, up-to-date data for key economic indicators such as revenue, employment, hours worked, and inventories. This data set covers all employer businesses in the United States except farms. Data are collected every two weeks and include geographic and industry-specific details. According to the Census Bureau, this allows them to monitor how events like natural disasters or economic downturns affect businesses and helps track recovery efforts.
Approximately 1.2 million businesses participate in the BTOS sample, with data collection occurring biweekly. These businesses are divided into six panels of about 200,000 each; each panel reports once every 12 weeks over a year-long period. The agency estimates that completing the survey takes about nine minutes per respondent.
Results from the BTOS will be published every two weeks and broken down by sector, state, and the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the country. Starting November 17, 2025, new questions related to artificial intelligence were added to the survey; results from these questions will be available in 2026.
“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,” according to a statement from the U.S. Census Bureau.
There is no formal news release associated with this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
