The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which measures ongoing business conditions and projections across the United States. The survey now includes 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 survey samples about 1.2 million businesses, divided into six panels of approximately 200,000 each. Each panel is surveyed every 12 weeks over a year. The Census Bureau estimates that completing the survey takes an average respondent about nine minutes.
Data from BTOS will be published every two weeks and broken down by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the country. In November 2025, new questions on artificial intelligence were added to the survey; results from these questions are expected to be available in 2026.
The results provide local, state, and federal officials with real-time data for policymaking and decision-making purposes. Businesses can also use this information to inform their own economic decisions.
There was no formal news release associated with this announcement; it was issued as a tip sheet only.
