The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which tracks business conditions and future projections on a regular basis. The survey covers all employer businesses in the United States, except farms, and now includes information for companies with multiple locations.
BTOS gathers key economic indicators such as revenues, employment, hours worked, and inventories. Data is collected from about 1.2 million businesses through biweekly surveys. These businesses are divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each; each panel reports every 12 weeks throughout the year. According to the Census Bureau, completing the survey typically takes respondents around nine minutes.
Survey results are released every two weeks and are available by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country. On November 17, new questions about artificial intelligence were added to BTOS; data on this topic will be published in 2026.
According to the U.S. 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.”
The survey is designed to support local, state, and federal officials with real-time information useful for policymaking and also helps businesses make informed economic decisions.
There was no formal news release issued with this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
