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The return-to-office debate sometimes feels like it’s stuck on repeat. Employers tighten attendance rules, workers push back – or look for loopholes – and around it goes.
But amid the noise, real progress is being made on the ground. In H1 2026, nationwide office visits grew 6.0% year over year (YoY) and the post-pandemic gap narrowed to its slimmest margin yet.
That national number, though, is an average of increasingly different stories. The same 6.0% contains a Miami sitting within striking distance of 2019, a San Francisco gaining momentum, and a Denver still trailing; a Dallas where roughly one in seven office visits happens on a Friday and a Chicago where it's barely one in ten; a New York where almost half of all visits now come from within five miles and a Houston where it's just a quarter.
This report examines office recovery trends across 11 major U.S. markets, exploring where attendance is gaining fastest, how hybrid workweeks and commute patterns differ by city, and how those local dynamics are beginning to shape commercial real estate conditions.
In H1 2026, nationwide office visits grew 6.0% YoY, a marked acceleration from the 1.9% YoY increase recorded in H1 2025. Total visits remained 31.2% below H1 2019 levels — the narrowest H1 gap since the pandemic began, and a notable improvement from -35.1% in H1 2025.
Macro trends offer a helpful starting point, but they mask significant divergence across markets. How a given city is faring depends less on a single national rule than on a mix of local conditions – from economic drivers to industry composition and urban form.
Sunbelt leaders ride a corporate relocation wave. Miami remains the nation's standout market, sitting closest to its H1 2019 baseline (-11.5%) while also continuing to post above-average YoY growth (+7.7%). Although the broader metro area lost population last year, the city itself is growing, and an ongoing wave of corporate relocations is likely helping draw more workers into local offices. Atlanta (-28.9% vs. 2019; +7.4% YoY) is following a similar return-to-office (RTO) trajectory, buoyed by its own steady stream of corporate moves.
Dallas is another Sunbelt market running ahead of the recovery pack (−24.9% vs. 2019), lifted by sustained corporate relocation activity across the broader DFW region. And though its YoY growth came in slightly below the nationwide average at 5.4%, the Texas hub has less ground left to recover than most markets.
Finance-heavy New York maintains its lead. After Miami, New York (-15.8% vs. 2019) sits closest to its pre-pandemic baseline of any market tracked. Office visits in the city grew another 4.0% YoY in H1 2026 – below the 6.0% national rate, but consistent with a market building on substantial earlier gains. New York’s advantage is supported by its concentration of finance firms, many of which were early adopters of strict return-to-office policies.
The West Coast mounts a late surge. Los Angeles and San Francisco continue to lag nationwide recovery rates vs. 2019 – but the two cities logged the fastest year-over-year gains in the nation. For LA (+13.0% YoY), much of that momentum reflects recovery from a bruising 2025, when January's wildfires and June's downtown unrest likely weighed on office visits. In San Francisco, for its part (+10.9% YoY), an influx of artificial intelligence startups and venture capital has fueled downtown leasing activity, pulling workers back into a market that still sits 41.4% below 2019 levels and is steadily climbing off its post-pandemic floor.
The slow lane is still moving forward. Washington, D.C. recorded the nation's slowest annual growth at 3.0% YoY – perhaps due in part to a shrinking employment base. Between May 2025 and 2026, the DC metro lost more than 100,000 jobs – over half of them federal positions – a contraction whose ripple effects may extend to the contractors, law firms, and advocacy groups that fill many of the area's private office buildings. Boston (4.3% YoY) and Denver (3.3% YoY) also trailed the national rebound, with Denver ranking last for recovery against 2019 levels as well, likely a reflection of its standing as one of the most remote-friendly markets in the country. Still, all three markets moved forward in H1 – a reminder that even the slowest corners of the recovery are still gaining ground.
The national workweek still revolves around a midweek core, but the balance varies locally – especially on Fridays, where recovery strength, commute patterns, and industry norms all appear to play a role.
Even as nationwide office visits continue to rise, the shape of the workweek is still heavily defined by hybrid schedules. Tuesday remains the busiest day, sitting just 19.3% below 2019 levels in H1 2026. Wednesday (-24.2%) and Thursday (-28.7%) round out the mid-week core, while Monday (-34.7%) continues to lag and Friday remains down more than 50%.
And though every weekday’s post-pandemic gap narrowed in H1 2026, the gains were uneven. Tuesday saw the biggest YoY jumps, followed by Wednesday and Thursday, while Monday and Friday saw only modest increases.
And here too, the precise contours of the hybrid week vary significantly by market.
In some cities, Friday attendance largely mirrors the broader recovery. Miami and Dallas, for example – both among the leading recovery markets – recorded the nation’s highest Friday visit shares in H1 2026, at 14.9% each. Atlanta also posted above-average Friday attendance. By contrast, markets with deeper overall visit deficits relative to 2019, including Chicago (9.9%), Boston (10.9%), and San Francisco (11.7%), had some of the lowest Friday shares.
But in other markets, transportation patterns and other local factors appear to shape Friday attendance. New York combined a strong overall recovery with a relatively soft Friday share of just 11.9%, perhaps because long regional-rail commutes give suburban workers a stronger incentive to work remotely at the end of the week. Los Angeles (13.4%) and Denver (12.7%), by contrast, performed better on Fridays than their overall recovery rankings might suggest – possibly because their car-oriented commuting patterns make end-of-week trips less burdensome. Houston, however, posted a low Friday share despite its car-centric layout – likely due in part to the energy industry’s fondness for compressed “9/80” schedules that grant alternating Fridays off. That practice may also help explain why Houston’s Friday share was already relatively low in H1 2019.
Local transportation patterns are also reflected in how commuting distances have shifted across markets since the pandemic.
Nationwide, short commutes remained a key driver of the office recovery in H1 2026, extending a trend seen in earlier years. Visits originating within five miles of the workplace have recovered more relative to 2019 than those from any other distance band – likely reflecting more frequent attendance among nearby employees – and also posted the strongest YoY growth.
Visits from 10 to 25 miles away, meanwhile, grew faster YoY than those from more than 25 miles but remained the least recovered relative to 2019. This group may represent the classic suburban commuter belt – workers who once made a lengthy drive or train ride each day, but for whom hybrid schedules now offer the greatest savings in time and cost, making those trips the easiest to cut.
Once again, however, the strength of this shift varies considerably by market. San Francisco leads both in its share of close-by visits, at 48.1%, and in the growth of that share since H1 2019. The city's AI boom likely plays a role here as well – the young startups driving the current leasing wave tend to favor in-person work and cluster in neighborhoods like Hayes Valley's "Cerebral Valley," where employees often live within walking distance of their desks.
Chicago (41.5%) and New York (45.3%) also rank near the top. In these dense transit cities, urban-core residents account for a growing share of office traffic, while visits from suburban commuters remain more subdued.
By contrast, the geography of office visits has changed relatively little in sprawling, auto-centric markets like Houston – suggesting that car-dependent development patterns continue to distribute office attendance more evenly across distance bands.
The steady return to the office is beginning to leave a visible mark on local commercial real estate markets. In Q2 2026, nationwide office vacancy rates declined YoY, with conditions improving in more than half of U.S. markets.
And just as the office recovery itself varies by market, so does its impact on commercial real estate. Plotting each market’s office vacancy rate against its post-pandemic visit recovery shows that markets with stronger foot traffic recoveries also tend to have tighter office markets. Miami combines the smallest visit gap with the lowest vacancy rate among the 11 markets analyzed, with New York close behind. San Francisco, Chicago, and Denver, meanwhile, pair some of the deepest visit shortfalls with vacancy rates near or above 25%.
The relationship is not uniform. Boston, for example, combines a relatively low vacancy rate with a steep visit shortfall. Still, the broader pattern reinforces the central takeaway: Office recovery is local, and so are its real estate effects. Foot traffic is one of several forces shaping office fundamentals – and an important indicator to watch as individual markets find their footing.
Halfway through 2026, the return-to-office push is still very much under way. New mandates keep coming into effect – a majority of Fortune 100 companies now require five days a week at a desk – and badge swipes have quietly become a performance metric.
But the national trend tells only part of the story. The pace and shape of the recovery still vary widely by market, reflecting differences in commuting patterns, urban form, industry mix, and local office policies. The next phase of the office recovery is therefore unlikely to follow a single national script. Attendance may continue to rise broadly, but where it rises fastest – and how that growth translates into local commercial real estate conditions – will depend increasingly on the particulars of each market.
Nationwide office visits grew 6.0% YoY in H1 2026, bringing visits to 31.2% below 2019 levels – the narrowest first-half gap since the pandemic.
Market performance diverged widely, with Miami sitting closest to its 2019 baseline (-11.5%). Denver, meanwhile, remained furthest behind, while Los Angeles (+13.0%) and San Francisco (+10.9%) posted the fastest year-over-year (YoY) gains.
Friday’s share of weekday office visits fell across all 11 markets tracked, though the decline varied by market. Miami and Dallas recorded the highest Friday shares in H1 2026, at 14.9% each, while Chicago posted the lowest, at 9.9%.
Visits originating within five miles of the workplace were both the most recovered relative to 2019 and the fastest growing YoY, while the 10-to-25-mile suburban commuter belt remained the least recovered.
San Francisco led all markets in its share of close-by visits, followed by New York, and Chicago, while auto-centric Houston saw relatively little change in visit geography.
