The U.S. Census Bureau has published new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), an ongoing effort to track business conditions and projections in the United States. The survey covers all employer businesses except farms, including those with multiple locations.
The BTOS provides updates every two weeks on key economic measures such as revenue, employment, hours worked, and inventories. The survey is designed to help monitor economic events like natural disasters or crises and support recovery tracking efforts by offering timely geographic and industry-specific information.
About 1.2 million businesses are included in the sample, divided into six groups of approximately 200,000 each. These groups report once every 12 weeks throughout a year. According to the Census Bureau, it takes most respondents about nine minutes to complete the survey.
Data from BTOS will be released biweekly and broken down by sector, state, and the 25 largest metropolitan areas. New questions addressing artificial intelligence were introduced in November 2025; responses to these questions will be made public in 2026.
According to the Census Bureau: “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.”
There is no formal news release associated with this announcement.
