The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which monitors business conditions and projections across the country. The BTOS gathers information on topics such as revenues, employment, hours worked, and inventories to provide a detailed picture of economic activity.
This survey covers all employer businesses in the United States except for farms. It offers ongoing data every two weeks, allowing for continuous tracking of key economic measures at both geographic and industry-specific levels. According to the Census Bureau, this approach helps capture how events like natural disasters or economic crises affect businesses and supports efforts to monitor recovery.
Approximately 1.2 million businesses are included in the BTOS sample. These businesses are divided into six groups of about 200,000 each, with each group asked to respond every 12 weeks over a year. The Census Bureau estimates that it takes an average respondent around nine minutes to complete the survey.
Survey results are released biweekly and are broken down by sector, state, and the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the country. In November 2025, questions about artificial intelligence were added to the survey; data from these questions will be available in spring 2026. The information collected assists government officials at various levels with policymaking and also helps businesses make informed decisions.
There is no accompanying news release for this announcement; only a tip sheet has been provided.
