Boston leads the U.S. in year-over-year growth for workers returning to the office, with a 10.3 percentage point increase, according to data from Placer.ai after tracking foot traffic in commercial office buildings in major metro areas. This growth surpasses the national average of 5.3%. Following Boston are Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, and New York. 

Despite this progress, Boston’s office-building foot traffic in June was still 32% below June 2019 levels. The national average drop is 29.4%, with Miami showing the lowest decline at 9.8%. New York has seen high return-to-office rates, driven by Wall Street mandates. In contrast, San Francisco has the lowest return rate, with only 49.2% of pre-pandemic office attendance. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly altered office-work patterns, leading to lower office-building sale prices, reduced valuations, and a slowdown in new office space construction in Boston and other major cities.