Boston Leads U.S. Cities in Unprecedented Office Return Rates Growth

Boston has seen the highest year-over-year increase in workers returning to offices, based on data from Placer.ai, a company monitoring foot traffic in commercial office buildings across major metro areas. The city experienced a 10.3 percentage point rise in office visits over the past year, significantly higher than the national average increase of 5.3%.

Comparison with Other Cities

Following Boston's lead in office return growth are Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, and New York. Despite this impressive growth, Boston still lags behind many cities in the overall return of workers to office spaces. As of June, foot traffic in Boston’s office buildings was still 32% below the levels seen in June 2019, pre-pandemic.

Ongoing Impact of the Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has fundamentally altered office work patterns, continuing to affect downtown areas in major cities. In Boston, the shift to remote and hybrid work models has resulted in lower office-building sale prices, reduced valuations, and a slowdown in new office space construction.

National Trends and Comparisons

On average, major metro areas have seen a 29.4% decrease in foot traffic to office buildings compared to 2019. Miami has fared the best with only a 9.8% decline, while New York has shown strong return-to-office numbers, driven by Wall Street firms requiring in-office presence. Conversely, San Francisco has the lowest percentage of workers back in offices, at just 49.2% of 2019 levels.