The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which provides regular updates on business conditions across the United States. The survey, designed to capture information from all employer businesses except farms, aims to offer continuous and timely economic data.
According to the Census Bureau, BTOS collects key indicators such as revenues, employment numbers, working hours, and inventories. The survey includes multiunit or multilocation businesses and complements other major economic surveys by offering biweekly insights into various sectors and regions of the country.
Approximately 1.2 million businesses participate in BTOS through a rotating panel system. Each panel contains about 200,000 cases that are surveyed every 12 weeks for one year. On average, respondents spend nine minutes completing the survey.
The data are made available every two weeks and include breakdowns by sector, state, and the largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country. Starting November 17, new questions related to artificial intelligence have been included in the survey; results for these items will be published in 2026.
The BTOS is intended to help local, state, and federal officials with policymaking by providing real-time information on economic trends. Businesses also use this data to inform their own decision-making processes.
“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,” according to a statement from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Survey findings are expected to support efforts in understanding how different events affect business operations across various locations and industries.
