The U.S. Census Bureau released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS) on May 7, providing updated information about business conditions and projections in the United States.
The BTOS is designed to measure ongoing business trends by collecting data that complements other economic surveys, such as those covering revenues, employees, hours worked, and inventories. The latest release includes supplemental questions focused on business use of artificial intelligence (AI), with data collected between Nov. 17, 2025, and Feb. 8, 2026.
According to the Census Bureau’s announcement, “These data are now available on the BTOS webpage as data download files and visualizations.” The information shows how AI adoption varies across industries, states, and firm sizes. It also provides insight into how businesses use AI for different tasks and how it is changing work practices.
The survey covers all employer businesses in the U.S., excluding farms. Data collection occurs every two weeks from a sample of approximately 1.2 million businesses divided into six panels of about 200,000 each; each panel reports every twelve weeks over a yearlong period. The agency estimates it takes respondents about nine minutes to complete the survey.
BTOS results are released biweekly with details available by sector, state, and for the twenty-five most populous metropolitan statistical areas. These findings help local, state, and federal officials make policy decisions based on real-time economic conditions while also assisting businesses in their own planning.
