The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS) as of July 31, 2025. The survey collects ongoing information about business conditions and projections, now including data for businesses with multiple units or locations.
The BTOS is designed to represent all employer businesses in the United States except for farms. The survey provides updated data every two weeks on economic indicators such as revenues, employees, hours worked, and inventories. This frequent reporting allows the BTOS to capture the effects of events like natural disasters or economic downturns and helps track recovery efforts across various regions and industries.
About 1.2 million businesses are included in the BTOS sample. These are divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each, with each panel asked to respond every 12 weeks over a year-long period. According to the Census Bureau, it takes respondents about nine minutes on average to complete the survey.
Results from the BTOS will be available biweekly and broken down by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country. The continuous flow of data supports local, state, and federal officials in policy development and decision-making processes. Businesses can also use this information to inform their own economic planning.
There is no separate news release associated with this announcement; only a tip sheet has been provided.
