What share of US businesses use AI?
24.6% of US employer businesses said they used AI in at least one business function in the two weeks to October 4, 2026, according to the Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey. That is up from 17.3% in November 2025.
US businesses using AI in the last two weeks
The Census Bureau asks about 200,000 businesses every two weeks whether they used AI in the last two weeks and whether they expect to in the next six months. We downloaded the national, sector and employment-size files from the BTOS data downloads page on October 30, 2026 and built the tables on this page from them. The latest period has a reference window of September 21 to October 4, 2026, was collected October 5 to 18, and was published October 22, 2026.
The national figure has a standard error of 0.27 points, so the 90% margin of error is about plus or minus 0.4 points (our calculation: 1.645 times the published standard error). In the same period, 65.8% said no and 9.6% said they did not know.
We use these numbers when a client asks whether they are early or late. If you are deciding where AI fits in your own business, our AI consulting service starts with a free audit of the processes where it could pay off.
| Survey period (reference two weeks) | Used AI in last two weeks | Expect to use AI in next six months |
|---|---|---|
| November 3 to 16, 2025 | 17.3% | 21.1% |
| January 26 to February 8, 2026 | 17.5% | 21.0% |
| March 23 to April 5, 2026 | 19.8% | 23.0% |
| May 18 to 31, 2026 | 20.6% | 23.9% |
| July 13 to 26, 2026 | 21.8% | 25.9% |
| September 21 to October 4, 2026 | 24.6% | 28.6% |
The series starts in November 2025 because the Census Bureau changed the question then: from the November 17, 2025 collection, "producing goods or services" became "any of its business functions". Older AI figures use the narrower wording and are not comparable.
Which industries use AI the most?
Information (46.4%), professional, scientific and technical services (43.8%) and finance and insurance (40.5%) lead. Accommodation and food services (10.7%) and agriculture (6.0%) are lowest. Health care sits at 27.6% and real estate at 29.0%.
AI use by sector, highest and lowest
All figures are for the reference period September 21 to October 4, 2026, by two-digit NAICS sector. "Change" compares the November 3 to 16, 2025 period. The margin of error is our 90% calculation from the published standard error. "S" means the Census Bureau suppressed the estimate.
| Sector (NAICS) | Use AI now | Margin (90%) | November 2025 | Change, points | Expect to in 6 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Information (51) | 46.4% | ±3.3 | 41.0% | +5.4 | 51.1% |
| Professional, scientific and technical services (54) | 43.8% | ±1.5 | 34.7% | +9.1 | 48.8% |
| Finance and insurance (52) | 40.5% | ±2.5 | 29.9% | +10.6 | 47.4% |
| Management of companies (55) | 36.4% | ±20.7 | S | n/a | 38.8% |
| Educational services (61) | 33.4% | ±3.2 | 31.9% | +1.5 | 36.7% |
| Firms in more than one sector (XX) | 32.1% | ±4.4 | 24.2% | +7.9 | 39.0% |
| Real estate and rental and leasing (53) | 29.0% | ±1.7 | 21.0% | +8.0 | 35.4% |
| Health care and social assistance (62) | 27.6% | ±1.4 | 18.1% | +9.5 | 32.9% |
| Manufacturing (31-33) | 22.9% | ±2.2 | 12.7% | +10.2 | 27.0% |
| Administrative, support and waste services (56) | 22.7% | ±2.4 | 15.3% | +7.4 | 25.5% |
| Wholesale trade (42) | 21.4% | ±1.4 | 12.6% | +8.8 | 25.7% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation (71) | 21.4% | ±2.1 | 18.0% | +3.4 | 24.6% |
| Retail trade (44-45) | 18.5% | ±1.2 | 12.5% | +6.0 | 22.5% |
| Mining, quarrying, oil and gas (21) | 16.8% | ±4.9 | S | n/a | 16.6% |
| Utilities (22) | 16.7% | ±9.4 | 13.1% | +3.6 | 13.4% |
| Construction (23) | 16.1% | ±1.3 | 7.4% | +8.7 | 19.1% |
| Other services (81) | 14.6% | ±1.7 | 10.2% | +4.4 | 16.5% |
| Transportation and warehousing (48-49) | 13.5% | ±2.5 | 7.9% | +5.6 | 16.0% |
| Accommodation and food services (72) | 10.7% | ±1.8 | 8.9% | +1.8 | 13.9% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting (11) | 6.0% | ±4.3 | S | n/a | 9.0% |
Treat the rows with wide margins (management of companies, utilities, mining, agriculture) as rough. A 36.4% estimate with a margin of plus or minus 20.7 points tells you very little.
Which industries are adding AI fastest?
Finance and insurance (+10.6 points), manufacturing (+10.2), health care (+9.5) and professional services (+9.1) grew most between November 2025 and October 2026. Construction more than doubled, from 7.4% to 16.1%.
Growth is widest in sectors with a lot of paperwork, scheduling and customer messages: finance, health care, real estate (+8.0) and wholesale (+8.8). Educational services (+1.5), accommodation and food services (+1.8) and arts and recreation (+3.4) barely moved. Information was already the highest sector and grew a more modest 5.4 points.
The industries we build for most often sit in the middle of the table. Health care at 27.6% and real estate at 29.0% mean roughly seven in ten businesses in those sectors were not using AI in the reference period. For healthcare practices and real estate teams starting out, we suggest one narrow process first, such as answering and booking new enquiries.
Does company size change AI use?
Yes, mostly at the top. Firms with 250 or more employees reported 43.6% AI use, firms with 100 to 249 reported 35.3%, and firms with 1 to 49 employees sat between 22.6% and 26.0%. The smallest firms (1 to 4 people) were at 24.3%.
AI use by company size, Nov 2025 and Oct 2026
| Employees | Use AI now | Margin (90%) | November 2025 | Change, points | Expect to in 6 months | "Do not know" |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 24.3% | ±0.5 | 17.0% | +7.3 | 28.1% | 8.8% |
| 5 to 9 | 22.6% | ±0.8 | 15.5% | +7.1 | 26.7% | 9.3% |
| 10 to 19 | 24.6% | ±1.5 | 17.8% | +6.8 | 28.9% | 10.8% |
| 20 to 49 | 26.0% | ±1.2 | 18.7% | +7.3 | 30.1% | 12.0% |
| 50 to 99 | 29.0% | ±1.8 | 20.7% | +8.3 | 34.5% | 15.8% |
| 100 to 249 | 35.3% | ±3.2 | 23.7% | +11.6 | 41.1% | 17.4% |
| 250 or more | 43.6% | ±2.5 | 30.5% | +13.1 | 51.4% | 21.7% |
Two things stand out. Larger firms grew fastest (+13.1 points for 250 or more). And the share answering "do not know" rises with size, to 21.7% in the largest firms: the person filling in the survey often cannot see what every team uses. That is a reason to start any AI plan with an inventory, as in our AI readiness assessment checklist.
The 250-plus figure moves around between periods: it was 36.5% in the period collected to October 4 and 43.6% in the one collected to October 18 (Census Bureau chart data for employment size). Read single periods for large firms with care.
How many businesses plan to use AI in the next six months?
28.6% of businesses expected to use AI within six months, four points above current use. Plans run ahead of use in almost every sector, highest in information (51.1%) and among firms with 250 or more employees (51.4%).
Plans are not results. In November 2025, 21.1% expected to use AI within six months; by May 2026 actual use had reached 20.6%, close to that figure. The gap between plans and use was about four points in both periods. Our research on the success rate of AI automation projects covers what happens after a business starts, and our AI agent adoption statistics show how few firms run agents at scale.
How was this dataset built?
We downloaded three Census Bureau BTOS files on October 30, 2026 (national, sector, employment size class), took the AI use and AI plans questions for every period since November 2025, and calculated changes and 90% margins from the published estimates and standard errors.
- Source files: National.xlsx, Sector.xlsx and Employment Size Class.xlsx from the BTOS data downloads page, sheets "Response Estimates" and "Response Standard Errors", question IDs 7 (use in the last two weeks) and 24 (use in the next six months).
- Periods: 24 biweekly periods, November 3 to 16, 2025 through September 21 to October 4, 2026. Collection and publication dates come from the files' "Collection and Reference Dates" sheet.
- Size classes: the files code sizes A to G; the Census Bureau's own chart data labels them 1 to 4, 5 to 9, 10 to 19, 20 to 49, 50 to 99, 100 to 249 and 250 or more employees.
- Sector names: two-digit NAICS sector titles as listed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics industry index. The Census Bureau labels firms operating across sectors "XX".
- Our calculations: change = latest estimate minus the November 2025 estimate, in percentage points; 90% margin = 1.645 times the published standard error. We did no weighting or modelling of our own.
- Wording: the files now label the question "Super Intelligence or SI (formerly referred to as Artificial Intelligence or AI)". The Census Bureau says the instrument wording changed from the October 19, 2026 collection because of Executive Order 14434 of September 29, 2026. Every figure on this page was collected before that change, under the "Artificial Intelligence or AI" wording.
What does this data prove, and what does it not?
It shows how many US employer businesses say they used AI in a recent two-week window, by sector and size, and how that changed over eleven months. It does not show how much they use it, what for, or whether it paid off.
- It does show: a broad rise in reported AI use across almost every sector and size class, with the largest firms and finance, manufacturing and health care rising fastest.
- It does not show depth. One staff member using a chatbot once counts the same as an AI agent answering every enquiry.
- It does not show results. There is no question on cost, savings or failure.
- Each period is a different panel. The Census Bureau splits about 1.2 million businesses into six panels surveyed in turn, so period-to-period moves mix real change with panel differences. Look at the trend, not one jump.
- It is a firm-level survey answered by one person, which is one reason "do not know" is high in large firms.
- It covers employer businesses in the United States only.
What does this mean for a business planning AI?
If you are not using AI yet, about three in four US businesses are in the same place. If your sector is above 40%, many competitors report using it, and the useful question is where it pays off for you.
Use your sector's row as a rough benchmark, then ignore it and look at your own processes: where staff retype data, where enquiries wait for an answer, where reports take hours. Those are the places our AI automation services start. The strategy call and first audit are free; a small build of two or three automations is about $1,000 at the time of writing, and larger systems get a fixed quote after the audit.
Questions people ask about AI adoption by industry
Which industry uses AI the most?
Information, at 46.4% of businesses in the Census Bureau's survey for September 21 to October 4, 2026. Professional, scientific and technical services (43.8%) and finance and insurance (40.5%) follow. These are sectors where most work is text, data and analysis, which current AI tools handle well. Agriculture (6.0%) and accommodation and food services (10.7%) report the lowest use.
What percentage of small businesses use AI?
Between 22.6% and 26.0% for firms with 1 to 49 employees in the period to October 4, 2026, according to the Census Bureau. Firms with 1 to 4 employees reported 24.3%, up from 17.0% in November 2025. Small firms trail firms with 250 or more employees (43.6%) but are growing at a similar pace in points.
How fast is AI adoption growing in the US?
Reported use rose from 17.3% to 24.6% of US employer businesses between the November 3 to 16, 2025 and September 21 to October 4, 2026 reference periods, about 7.3 points in eleven months. Expected use within six months rose from 21.1% to 28.6% over the same time.
Is the Census AI survey reliable?
For national and size-class figures, the margins are small (about plus or minus 0.4 points nationally at 90%, our calculation). Some sectors have wide margins and suppressed values, so read those as rough. The survey measures whether a business used AI, not how much, and each period surveys a different panel of businesses.
Why does the Census survey now say "Super Intelligence"?
The Census Bureau says it updated the instrument wording from the October 19, 2026 collection because of Executive Order 14434, signed September 29, 2026, which tells federal agencies to use "Super Intelligence" and "SI" in place of "Artificial Intelligence" and "AI". The data files now label past results with the new term, though they were collected under the old wording.
Where can I download the data myself?
From the Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey data downloads page. The national, sector, subsector, state, metro area and employment size files are free Excel downloads, updated every two weeks on Thursdays. Question 7 is current AI use and question 24 is expected use in the next six months.
Sources and method
- US Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey data downloads (National, Sector and Employment Size Class files, downloaded October 30, 2026; latest period published October 22, 2026)
- US Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey home and methodology notes (read October 30, 2026)
- The White House, Executive Order 14434, September 29, 2026
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, industries by NAICS sector
