The U.S. Census Bureau released its latest data from its Business Trends and Outlook Survey, measuring conditions and projections for 1.2 million non-farm businesses, as well as the bureau’s Business Formations Statistics report. The survey is designed to provide insight into the economy by providing data for economic measures.

Manufacturing

For the second quarter of 2025, after-tax profits for manufacturers was $216.1 billion, up slightly from $207.3 billion in the first quarter, according to reports released Sept. 9 and 10. Sales totaled $1.9 billion, up from the first quarter of the year and the second quarter of 2024. Durable good profits increased to $138.2 billion, while non-durable goods profits fell to $77.9 billion.

Wholesale trade sales rose to $971.3 billion, up from the first quarter. Information services sales reached $466.9 billion, also up from the previous quarter. Professional and technical services reported an after-tax loss of $1.3 billion, which is less of a loss than the $0.5 billion in the first quarter.

Services

Quarterly services revenue for Q2 2025, reported Sept. 12, were up $5.97 trillion, up 2.2% from the first quarter and 6.4% year over year, led by growth in health care, information, finance and other services. Growth was strongest in other services, such as repair shops, salons and drycleaners, which were up 12.8% year over year; health care, up 8.8% and information, up 7.8%.

Business Formations Statistics report

Business applications for August 2025, adjusted for seasonal variation, were 473,679, an increase of 0.5% compared to July 2025.

The Census Bureau is projecting that 28,725 new business startups with payroll tax liabilities will form within four quarters of application from all the business applications filed during August 2025. The 0.8% increase indicates that for August 2025 there will be 0.8% more businesses projected to form within four quarters of application, compared to the projections for July 2025.