The U.S. Census Bureau released new data products from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS) on April 9. The survey measures business conditions and projections across the United States, excluding farms, providing ongoing insights into key economic indicators such as revenues, employees, hours, and inventories.
The BTOS is designed to give policymakers and businesses timely information about the state of the economy every two weeks. The continuous collection of data with detailed geographic and industry breakdowns helps capture the effects of significant events like natural disasters or economic crises, supporting efforts to monitor recovery.
Approximately 1.2 million businesses are included in the BTOS sample, with biweekly data collected from six rotating panels of about 200,000 cases each. Each selected business is asked to participate every twelve weeks over a year-long period. According to the Census Bureau’s estimates, it takes an average respondent around nine minutes to complete the survey.
Data releases occur every two weeks and are broken down by sector, state, and for the twenty-five most populous metropolitan statistical areas. In November 2025, new questions regarding artificial intelligence were added to BTOS; results from these questions are expected in Spring 2026.
Survey results provide local, state, and federal officials with essential real-time information that aids in policymaking and decision-making processes. Businesses also use this information for their own economic planning.