The U.S. Census Bureau has published new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS) as of August 14, 2025. The BTOS is designed to measure ongoing business conditions and projections, now including data for 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 gathers information similar to that collected by other economic surveys, such as revenues, employment numbers, hours worked, and inventory levels. About 1.2 million businesses are part of the BTOS sample. These are divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each; each panel is surveyed every 12 weeks over a year.
As stated by the Census Bureau, “The BTOS sample consists of approximately 1.2 million businesses with biweekly data collection. Selected businesses are split into six panels (approximately 200,000 cases per panel) that will be asked to report every 12 weeks for a year. The Census Bureau estimates it takes the average respondent approximately nine minutes to complete the survey, including the time for reviewing the instructions and answers.”
Results from this survey will be released every two weeks and organized by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country. This data helps officials at various levels make decisions based on real-time information about business activity across regions and sectors.
“Data will be released biweekly and available by sector, state and the 25 most populous metropolitan statistical areas. Survey results give local, state and federal officials essential, real-time data to aid in policymaking and decision-making. In addition, the information aids businesses in making economic decisions,” according to Census Bureau representatives.
There was no formal news release issued with this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
