The U.S. Census Bureau has released updated data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which measures ongoing business conditions and projections across the United States. The survey now includes information for multiunit and multilocation businesses.
BTOS is designed to complement other economic surveys by collecting data on topics such as revenues, employment, working hours, and inventories. It covers all employer businesses in the U.S., except for farms, and aims to provide timely data every two weeks. The survey’s frequent reporting with detailed geographic and sector breakdowns helps monitor the effects of events like natural disasters or economic crises, as well as recovery efforts.
Approximately 1.2 million businesses are included in the BTOS sample. These are divided into six panels of about 200,000 each, with each panel asked to report once every 12 weeks throughout a year. The Census Bureau reports that it takes an average of nine minutes for respondents to complete the survey.
Data from BTOS will be published biweekly and will be available by industry sector, state, and for the 25 most populous metropolitan statistical areas. New questions focusing on artificial intelligence were added to the survey in November 2025; results from these questions are expected to be released in 2026.
Survey results are intended to assist officials at various government levels with real-time data needed for policymaking and also support business decision-making processes.
There is no separate news release associated with this announcement.
