Placer.ai: Office visits hit highest pre-pandemic levels in July
The pre- and post-pandemic gap in nationwide office visits is closing.
According to new data from Placer.ai’s Nationwide Office Building Index, in July 2024, office visits nationwide reached 72.2% of July 2019’s levels, outpacing even June 2024’s record-breaking recovery showing. Reaching nearly three-quarters of pre-pandemic levels, visits in the month were down just 27.8% compared to five years prior.
Miami and New York led the regional recovery pack in July, with visits to offices in both cities reaching about 90% of July 2019 levels. For both cities, in addition to Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco, July 2024 was the single busiest in-office month since 2020. While Dallas and Washington, D.C. experienced busier months earlier in the year, both cities outperformed the nationwide baseline of a 16.5% visit increase in July, with local offices recouping 76.9% and 73.9%, respectively, of July 2019 office foot traffic.
[READ MORE: Placer.ai: Hot temps sparked mall traffic and dwell times in June]
“Despite these differences, all 11 analyzed cities experienced year-over-year visit growth in July 2024 – further evidence that the office recovery remains very much underway,” said Placer.ai content writer Lila Margalit in a blog post. “Miami led with 22.8% year-over-year visit growth, followed by West Coast hubs San Francisco and Los Angeles. And though hurricane-hit Houston unsurprisingly lagged behind other cities, it too saw year-over-year growth.”
The Placer.ai Nationwide Office Building Index analyzes foot traffic data from some 1,000 office buildings across the country. It only includes commercial office buildings, and commercial office buildings with retail offerings on the first floor. It does not include mixed-use buildings that are both residential and commercial.
