Return-to-Office Momentum Marches On

Visits reached their highest March level since the pandemic, boosted by a recovery on the West Coast.

All of the U.S. office markets that Placer.ai tracks showed an increase in office foot traffic in March 2026 compared with a year ago, with the busiest markets close to the pace of foot traffic last seen in 2019, the year before the pandemic.

This March, foot traffic was an average of 26.5 percent lower than March 2019 levels, a 7.5-percentage point improvement from 34 percent lower in March 2025 compared to the same month in 2019, according to Placer.ai.

That is the latest year-over-year increase in office visits in a string of increases that has partly restored traffic over recent years. The trough was deep: Traffic was down 79.9 percent in 2021 compared to before the pandemic.

Also during March 2026, average visits per working day across 11 major U.S. markets were 4.2 percent higher than March 2025. That metric also slumped severely in 2021, showing an 81.6 percent drop.   ...more

RSK: Of course the Windy City lies at the bottom but it too is showing gains in RTO.