The U.S. Census Bureau has published new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS) as of August 14, 2025. The BTOS collects information about business conditions and projections from multiunit and multilocation businesses across the United States, excluding farms.
The survey is designed to supplement existing economic surveys by collecting data on revenues, employees, 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 sample for this ongoing biweekly survey. These selected businesses are divided into six panels—each with about 200,000 participants—that will report every 12 weeks over a year. The Census Bureau estimates that completing the survey takes an average respondent around nine minutes.
Survey results are released every two weeks and are broken down by sector, state, and among the 25 most populous metropolitan statistical areas. This information is intended to support local, state, and federal officials with real-time data for policy decisions. It also serves as a resource for businesses making economic choices.
There was no formal news release issued alongside this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
