BUSINESS CONDITIONS & FORECASTING · SEPTEMBER 26, 2026
Census Releases New Biweekly Business-Conditions Data
The Census Bureau released a new Business Trends and Outlook Survey dataset with recurring measures of revenues, employees, hours, inventories, and expectations available by sector, state, and 25 major metro areas.
What Census released on September 24
Source publication date: September 24, 2026. The U.S. Census Bureau released new products from its Business Trends and Outlook Survey, an ongoing measure of business conditions and projections. The survey complements other economic programs with recurring questions covering revenues, employees, hours, inventories, and expectations. The September announcement is a data release and methodology notice rather than a narrative assessment of one national headline.
- 01Released every two weeks
- 02Sector, state, and metro detail
- 03Company records still drive underwriting
The design emphasizes frequency and geographic detail
BTOS data are designed to represent U.S. employer businesses outside agriculture and are released every two weeks. The sample includes approximately 1.2 million businesses divided into six panels of about 200,000 cases. Selected businesses report every 12 weeks for one year. Results are available by industry sector, state, and the 25 most populous metropolitan statistical areas, allowing users to compare broad conditions across markets.
Timely survey context can strengthen—but not replace—a forecast
Frequent data can help a borrower test whether changes in revenue, staffing, hours, inventory, demand, or disruptions resemble wider sector or regional patterns. Survey estimates still involve sampling and reporting limitations, and broad benchmarks may combine firms with different size, customer mix, financing, seasonality, and operating models. A lender will generally give greater weight to the applicant's current statements, bank activity, aging reports, backlog, contracts, and forecast support.
Practical borrower takeaway
Select the most relevant sector and geography, document the comparison date, and use BTOS as one external reference in the management narrative. Reconcile year-to-date revenue, gross margin, payroll, hours, inventory, receivables, payables, backlog, pipeline, and cash to source records. Explain material differences from the benchmark and stress-test the financing request under slower sales, higher costs, delayed collections, or inventory buildup. Avoid presenting survey context as proof of company performance or loan approval.
Borrowers can use the new dataset as a current external benchmark, while clearly separating national or regional survey context from their own reconciled financials, backlog, pipeline, working capital, and cash forecast.
Discuss a financing need →This independent summary is based on the cited source and is provided for general educational purposes only. Terms and program requirements may change.