The U.S. Census Bureau has published new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS) as of November 20, 2025. The BTOS provides ongoing information about business conditions and future projections, including data from businesses with multiple locations. This survey continues to collect statistics that complement other economic surveys, focusing on metrics such as revenue, employment, work hours, and inventories.
The survey covers all employer businesses in the United States except farms. It offers frequent updates on key economic indicators every two weeks. The continuous release of detailed geographic and industry data allows the BTOS to reflect how events like natural disasters or economic crises affect businesses and helps track recovery efforts.
Approximately 1.2 million businesses are part of the BTOS sample. These are divided into six panels, each with around 200,000 businesses that participate once every 12 weeks over a year. Completing the survey takes an average respondent about nine minutes.
BTOS data will be released biweekly and broken down by sector, state, and the largest metropolitan areas in the country. On November 17, new questions concerning artificial intelligence were added to the survey; results from these questions will be made available in 2026. The information collected supports policymakers at various government levels in making timely decisions and also helps businesses plan their activities.
There is no accompanying news release for this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
