The Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS) is a quick survey, asking for approximately nine minutes of your time. BTOS data will provide insight into the state of the economy by providing timely data for key economic measures every two weeks. By providing continuous data with geographic and subsector detail, BTOS will capture the impact of events such as natural disasters or economic crises and will assist in monitoring the recovery from the event.

To report online:

1. Sign-in with the Login ID provided in your letter or email at https://respond.census.gov/btos.
2. Report by clicking the “Login” button.
3. For assistance completing this survey, please email us at econ.btos@census.gov. 

To help you prepare for online reporting, click below for a preview of the survey questions.

Title 13, United States Code, Sections 131 and 182, authorizes the U.S. Census Bureau to conduct this collection and to request your voluntary assistance.

Title 13, United States Code, Section 9, requires the Census Bureau to keep your information CONFIDENTIAL and can use your responses only to produce statistics. The Census Bureau is not permitted to publicly release your responses in a way that could identify your business, organization, or institution. Per the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015, your data are protected from cybersecurity risks through screening of the systems that transmit your data.

Below are a few common items you can use to verify the legitimacy of this survey:

1. Ensure the web address provided in the letter is a "census.gov" domain.
2. Correspondence sent in the form of a letter or email will contain reporting instructions and an email address for survey assistance. Any email correspondence related to this survey will come from a census.gov address.
3. On the log-in screen, a warning message should be present stating the respondent is accessing a U.S. Government computer.
4. Additionally, the lower left corner of the page should display the OMB eight-digit number and expiration date. This number indicates that the OMB has approved the survey and has confirmed there is a need to collect the information. The bottom of the screen should have a link for the “Burden Statement” which also contains the OMB eight-digit number.