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Summer RTO Momentum
The return-to-office (RTO) push kept gathering steam this summer. On July 1st, California’s four-day-a-week in-office mandate for state employees came into effect, while EY became one of the latest major private employers to tighten its own in-person policy.
But July also brought significant commuting disruptions, from extreme weather early in the month to the FIFA World Cup hosted in major markets nationwide.
So where did office attendance land amid these competing forces? We dove into the data to find out.
Office Visits Hold Near Their Post-Pandemic High
Nationwide office visits in July 2026 were 23.6% below July 2019 and just 0.7% below July 2025 (all three months had the same number of working days). Visits also increased month over month in July, exceeding June 2026 in absolute terms. But because June had one fewer working day, it ranked slightly higher on a per-working-day basis. By that measure, July 2026 was the third-busiest in-office month since COVID, behind June 2026 and July 2025.
Miami, New York and Dallas Lead the Pack
Miami (-0.1%), New York (-6.2%), and Dallas (-12.3%) led the rankings relative to 2019 in July 2026, with Miami and Dallas also posting year-over-year (YoY) gains. New York saw a modest 2.3% YoY decline, which may have been exacerbated by multiple heat emergencies. And Atlanta also remained among the most recovered markets despite a 4.4% YoY decline, likely influenced by World Cup-related road closures and calls for employers to embrace WFH.
Los Angeles, which has ranked at or near the top of the YoY standings for several months, continued to lead on YoY growth, with office visits up 5.7%. While some of the city’s recent gains may still reflect easier comparisons, its sustained strength increasingly points to genuine momentum – likely supported by stricter RTO policies at entertainment giants such as NBCUniversal. San Francisco’s AI-driven resurgence, meanwhile, helped keep the city in the middle of the rankings, even as visits remained 33.6% below 2019 levels. In both California hubs, the state-worker RTO mandate that took effect July 1 may be reinforcing the broader return-to-office trend.
Washington, D.C. and Denver, for their part, posted the largest post-pandemic office-visit gaps, with D.C.’s lag likely tied partly to a contracting job market and Denver’s to its remote-friendly work culture.
More Mandates and Less Leverage Ahead
June may have set 2026’s high-water mark so far, but conditions are in place for office attendance to climb again this fall. Five-day mandates from companies like Fidelity are set to take effect in September, while July’s surprisingly soft jobs report may further tilt workplace leverage toward employers.
Will office attendance reach new post-pandemic highs as summer disruptions fade?
Follow Placer.ai’s data-driven RTO analyses to find out.
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