The U.S. Census Bureau has published new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS) as of July 31, 2025. The survey is designed to measure business conditions and future projections on an ongoing basis, including information from businesses with multiple locations.
According to the Census Bureau, “BTOS data are representative of all employer businesses in the U.S. economy, excluding farms. 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 BTOS sample includes about 1.2 million businesses that are surveyed every two weeks. These businesses are divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each; each panel participates once every 12 weeks over a year. Completing the survey takes about nine minutes per respondent.
Survey results will be released every two weeks and will be available by sector, state, and for the nation’s 25 most populous metropolitan areas. According to officials at the Census Bureau, “Data will be released biweekly and available by sector, state and the 25 most populous metropolitan statistical areas. 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.”
No formal news release was issued alongside this announcement.
