The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which tracks business conditions and projections across the United States. The survey covers all employer businesses except farms and includes information on multiunit or multilocation companies.
According to the Census Bureau, BTOS is designed to provide continuous, timely data every two weeks for key economic measures such as revenues, employees, hours worked, and inventories. The survey aims to help capture the effects of events like natural disasters and economic crises, while also supporting efforts to monitor recovery.
The BTOS sample consists of about 1.2 million businesses that participate in biweekly data collection. These businesses are divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each, with each panel reporting every 12 weeks over a year. The agency estimates that it takes an average respondent nine minutes to complete the survey.
Data from BTOS will be released every two weeks and made available by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan statistical areas. New questions related to artificial intelligence were added on November 17; results from these questions are expected in 2026.
The Census Bureau states: “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.”
Survey findings are intended to support local, state, and federal officials with real-time information useful for policymaking as well as aid businesses in making informed decisions.
There is no separate news release associated with this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
