The Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS) provides insight into the state of the economy by providing timely data for key economic measures and business expectations about future conditions. By providing detailed geographic and subsector data, BTOS provides local, state, and federal officials near real-time data for policy and decision-making including after natural disasters or during economic crises. The BTOS provides insight into recovery after these events.

The BTOS sample consists of approximately 1.2 million businesses split into six panels (approximately 200,000 cases per panel). Businesses in each panel will be asked to report once every 12 weeks for a year. Data collection will occur every two weeks. The BTOS is comprised of a set of core questions and supplemental content, which is included as needed.

For the data period from July 2022 to September 2023, BTOS data are representative of all single location employer businesses in the U.S. economy, excluding farms. For data released after September 2023, the BTOS sample includes all employer businesses (single location and multi-location) in the U.S., excluding farms. Data are released every two weeks and are available by 2017 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) sector, by state and for the 25 most populous Metropolitan Statistical Areas. Data are also available by subsector (three-digit NAICS) and state by sector. Data released after September 2023 are also available by additional employment size classes.