The U.S. Census Bureau released new data products from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS) on April 9. The BTOS is an ongoing survey that measures business conditions and projections, collecting information such as revenues, employees, hours, and inventories.
The BTOS provides a continuous look at the state of employer businesses in the U.S., excluding farms. Its biweekly updates offer timely data for key economic indicators across sectors and geographic areas, helping track the effects of events like natural disasters or economic crises while also supporting recovery monitoring efforts.
According to the Census Bureau, about 1.2 million businesses participate in BTOS through a system where selected companies are divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each. Each panel is surveyed every twelve weeks over a year-long period. Completing the survey takes respondents an estimated nine minutes including time spent reviewing instructions.
Survey results are released every two weeks with breakdowns by sector, state, and for the twenty-five largest metropolitan statistical areas. In November 2025, new questions regarding artificial intelligence were added to BTOS; responses to these will be made available in spring 2026.
The Census Bureau said that these results provide local, state, and federal officials with essential real-time data for policymaking as well as assisting businesses in making informed economic decisions.
