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The Lollapalooza festival, held annually in Chicago's Grant Park, is one of the world's most iconic music events. We dove into the location intelligence data to explore how the festival impacts tourism to the Windy City – and understand the characteristics and preferences of the audience that flocks to the city each year.
The festival acts as a powerful magnet for tourists, particularly those from nearby regions. During Lollapalooza, the number of domestic tourists to Chicago (i.e., out-of-market visitors traveling more than 50 miles) surged by 180.7% compared to an average Thursday through Sunday – and by 43.8% compared to the already-busy summer period of June and July.
But a closer look at the data reveals that the greatest increase came from visitors living 50 to 100 miles away, with a massive 343.3% increase over the 12-month average. In contrast, the smallest increase stemmed from long-distance travelers journeying 250 miles or more, with visits up just 145.7% from the average. This strong local pull shows that Lollapalooza is a regional tourism powerhouse, driving an incredible surge in visits from a concentrated market that views the festival as a premiere, must-attend event.
This substantial influx of tourists also brought a more affluent crowd than usual. Summer – peak Chicago tourist season – attracts a slightly wealthier crowd than the rest of the year. But the median household income (HHI) of visitors’ home areas hit $89.7K during Lollapalooza, a clear jump from both the June-July average of $83.9K and the 12-month average of $82.5K.
The festival’s audience is also more diverse than its reputation might suggest. The share of “Young Professionals” in the visitor mix rose to 16.6% during Lollapalooza, up from 14.5% during the summer, while the share of “Ultra Wealthy Families” climbed to 7.6% from 6.4% and the share of “Sunset Boomers” rose to 5.1% from 4.7%. The increase in these segments shows the festival’s broad appeal, attracting not just young people but also older, established, and affluent families.
In addition to being wealthier, Lollapalooza attendees had a distinctly different lifestyle profile. Compared to both the 12-month and summer averages, visitors were more likely to be married couples and to enjoy wine and good coffee. Notably, the share of visitors who worked from home increased to 18.7% during the festival, compared to a 17.0% summertime benchmark. These lifestyle markers signal a premium, high-value consumer that presents an ideal audience for local businesses and sponsors looking to create targeted on-site experiences, from specialized pop-up cafes to wine-tasting events.
Overall, these findings highlight Lollapalooza’s potent role in supercharging Chicago’s tourism sector. Beyond the simple boost in overall visitor numbers, the festival draws a more affluent and distinctive demographic than the typical summer crowd – making it a powerful economic engine for the city.
For more data-driven insights, visit placer.ai/anchor.
For many Americans, Walmart functions as a grocer and essential-goods provider. Target’s competitive advantage, meanwhile, lies in higher-margin discretionary categories – stylish home goods, affordable fashion, and exclusive brand collaborations. In the face of ongoing macroeconomic pressures, both retailers are adopting elements of each other’s approaches: Walmart is seeking to elevate its image and expand discretionary offerings through a rebrand, while Target is ramping up its focus on essentials. But Q2 2025 location intelligence data reveals that the two brands’ immediate challenges remain distinctly different.
Walmart has been thriving in recent months, exceeding analyst expectations with solid sales growth driven largely by a profitable e-commerce segment. Last quarter (ending April 30th, 2025), Walmart U.S. posted comparable sales growth (excluding fuel) of +4.5%, with e-commerce contributing approximately 3.5 percentage points to that growth. And in June 2025, the company built on this momentum with the debut of its “Walmart, Who Knew” campaign – part of a strategic rebranding highlighting expanded, premium product offerings alongside enhanced e-commerce capabilities – such as one-hour express delivery and an online marketplace of over half a billion items.
Against this backdrop, Walmart’s stable YoY foot traffic – hovering between +0.8% and -1.6% monthly May through July – is a powerful signal of its continued strength. The data validates the company’s omnichannel strategy, indicating an ability to grow its digital business without materially sacrificing its foundational in-store visitor base.
In contrast, Target has faced meaningful challenges, with YoY same-store visit gaps ranging from 2.2% to 9.7% since February 2025. Like Walmart, Target’s online growth has been a bright spot – last quarter, the company reported a 4.7% increase in digital comp sales, aided by more than 35% growth in same-day delivery. But this was not enough to offset a 5.7% decline in in-store comp sales. And though consumer reactions to Target’s recent policy updates do appear to have contributed to the retailer’s softening YoY performance, persistent challenges point to a more fundamental shift in consumer preferences amid discretionary cutbacks.
Both Walmart and Target are borrowing elements of each other’s playbooks. But consumer visitation data shows that while Walmart and Target can learn from each other, they service fundamentally different shopping missions.
Walmart’s vast scale and extensive grocery selection make it a prime destination for habitual, necessity-driven shopping. Between May and July 2025, about 34.0% of shoppers visited Walmart at least four times a month. Target’s 14% frequent visitor share, on the other hand, reflects its role as a more occasional destination centered on discovery-led shopping experiences – such as its successful Kate Spade collaboration, hailed by the company as the most successful design collab in a decade. While strengthening essentials plays to the current economic climate and likely contributed to the modest increase in Target’s frequent visitors over the past year, the retailer’s future success depends on sharpening – not blurring – its core strengths.
Walmart’s foot traffic stability combined with proven ecommerce growth positions it well to continue outperforming, especially as consumer caution favors essentials and convenience. Furthermore, the retailer’s rebranding and push into broader, discretionary categories may help attract higher-income consumers who are trading down.
Target, for its part, faces a more difficult strategic balancing act in the months ahead. Augmenting its offerings with compelling essentials will be critical. But as demonstrated by the strong performance of retailers like Five Below and T.J. Maxx, there still exists a healthy market for discretionary treasure hunting. Ultimately, Target’s ability to reignite growth will depend on its success in rejuvenating its competitive edge in the discretionary market – a task likely to be further complicated by anticipated tariffs.
For more data-driven retail insights, follow Placer.ai/anchor.
The office recovery is back in full swing. Major employers such as Samsung, Google, and Starbucks have tightened return-to-office (RTO) policies in recent months. And though hybrid work remains prevalent across industries, Q2 2025 saw a majority of Fortune 100 employees subject to full-time in-office mandates – up from just 5.0% in Q2 2023.
In June, accumulating RTO mandates helped shrink the post-pandemic office visit gap to 27.4% compared to the same period in 2019. And July 2025 set a new record for office attendance, with visits down just 21.8% relative to July 2019 (both Julys had 22 working days) – making it the single busiest in-office month since COVID.
Stark regional differences remain, however, between major business hubs nationwide. New York City, where many employees are subject to the stricter in-office requirements of the finance world, saw positive (+1.3%) year-over-six-year (Yo6Y) office foot traffic growth in July 2025 – a first since Placer.ai began tracking these trends. Miami, which has developed a thriving financial sector of its own, followed closely behind, effectively closing its visit gap with a 0.1% lag.
Atlanta and Dallas also made considerable headway – both markets saw visit gaps dip below 20% compared to 2019. Meanwhile, Denver – an emerging hub for tech startups and one of the most remote-friendly labor markets in the U.S. – took up the rear, while San Francisco inched up two notches in the rankings, beating out both Denver and Los Angeles.
Indeed, San Francisco appears to be in the midst of a major revival, with rising rents, improving public sentiment, and waves of new restaurant, retail, and small business openings breathing fresh life into a city once dismissed as stuck in a “doom loop”. And in July 2025, the City by the Bay once again topped the year-over-year (YoY) office recovery charts, outpacing all other analyzed hubs with remarkable 21.6% visit growth – more tangible evidence of the progress San Francisco continues to make.
If past experience is any guide, the road to office recovery will continue to be anything but linear. RTO policies remain far from uniform, and hybrid work continues to serve as a key baseline for many organizations. Still, July 2025 seems to mark a meaningful RTO tipping point, with numerous markets making substantial progress toward pre‐COVID office foot traffic levels.
Follow Placer.ai/anchor for more office visitation insights.
Same-store visit growth at TJX chains in recent months exceeded the company's official guidance of 2-3% same-store sales growth for Q2 FY26 (May 4 - August 2, 2025), aligning with analyst expectations for an earnings beat.
The largest growth in same-store visits went to HomeGoods, which continues to be a key growth engine for TJX, with its outperformance stemming from a multi-faceted competitive edge. Its consistent lead over the core apparel banners, T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, may be due to its more defensible position in the less-crowded off-price home category. And when compared to its sister brand, Homesense, HomeGoods' superior performance may be attributed to its significant brand maturity and a merchandise mix centered on higher-frequency, smaller-ticket items. This positions the banner effectively to capture discretionary spending from consumers seeking affordable indulgences in the current economic environment.
All banners experienced YoY growth in overall traffic, but the strongest growth went to the latest newest additions to the company's U.S. portfolio – Homesense and Sierra, suggesting that both brands have a long runway for unit potential.
Sierra is engineered to capture a significant share of the lucrative outdoor and active lifestyle market, a space that critically lacks a dominant, national, off-price competitor, giving it a clearer and more defensible runway for explosive growth. In contrast, while Homesense plays the vital role of deepening TJX's penetration in the home category with larger-scale items like furniture, it enters a more contested field and must contend with established competition from other discount and value-oriented furniture retailers.
Both expansions are ultimately underpinned by TJX's core competency: leveraging its world-class buying organization and real estate expertise to dominate new off-price segments and capture a larger share of total consumer discretionary spending.
This push into new product categories is happening in parallel with a push into new markets. Year-over-year analysis reveals TJX has systematically expanded its rural and semi-rural household penetration across all banners – aligning with management's stated focus on "smaller markets and smaller footprint stores" as identified growth opportunities. With TJX planning around 130 net new stores in 2025, this rural expansion strategy provides a credible pathway for continued domestic growth in an increasingly competitive retail landscape.
For more data-driven retail insights, visit placer.ai/anchor.
The information, data, analyses and opinions presented herein do not constitute investment advice; are provided solely for informational purposes and therefore are not an offer to buy or sell a security; and are not warranted to be correct, complete or accurate. By means of this publication, Placer Labs Inc. (“Placer”) is not rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor.
Placer shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person who relies on this publication. The opinions and data presented are as of the date written and are subject to change without notice. The information contained herein is the proprietary property of Placer and may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, or used in any manner, without the prior written consent of Placer.
As the U.S. economy enters the second half of 2025, evidence is mounting that consumers are pulling back on discretionary purchases. This possibility was something we recently discussed when highlighting the divergence between industrial and retail activity. While last week's Amazon Prime Day and other sales events drove a temporary surge in visits for big-ticket and back-to-school items, persistent macroeconomic uncertainty and the first real impacts of tariff-related price increases appear to be taking a toll on consumer confidence. With sentiment remaining fragile, households are becoming more selective, prioritizing essential spending while cutting back on discretionary purchases and travel.
Recently, Placer’s analyst team looked at visitation trends for airports, but we’re also seeing a slowdown in car travel based on visitation data to gas stations. After a sluggish February, foot traffic to gas stations and convenience stores has continued to show year-over-year declines through the spring and into the summer. This trend points to more than just fluctuating fuel prices; it reflects a conscious pullback by consumers who appear to be consolidating trips and reducing non-essential driving. This financial anxiety is causing many to shorten or delay vacation plans, resulting in weaker foot traffic at airports and fewer long-distance road trips.
Our analysis confirms that the traditional summer vacation is being reshaped by this economic uncertainty. Using our new Markets data, we’ve seen a decrease in the average miles traveled during the first half of 2025 for roughly two-thirds of the top 25 most populated markets in the U.S.
This has led to a rise in shorter "micro-cations" rather than extended, long-haul journeys. Consequently, while people are still traveling, the overall distance covered per trip has decreased, a sentiment that also extends to air travel, where a slowdown in both leisure and corporate bookings reflects a broad pullback on expensive, long-distance commitments in favor of more predictable, regional getaways.
As we move through July, the consumer narrative for the second half of 2025 is being defined by a strategic retreat in discretionary spending, particularly travel. While major sales events can still create temporary bursts of activity, the underlying trend shows a more cautious consumer responding to economic pressures by reducing non-essential driving, shortening vacation distances, and opting for more budget-friendly "micro-cations." This shift away from long-haul travel, visible in both gas station and airport traffic data, signals a significant recalibration of household budgets that will likely shape the broader retail and travel landscape for the remainder of the year.
Mall visit trends improved slightly in July 2025. Indoor mall traffic grew 1.3% year-over-year, reversing June's visit declines. This growth highlights indoor malls' rebound and suggests that enclosed shopping centers continue to attract consumers seeking climate-controlled comfort during peak summer heat.
Meanwhile, open-air shopping centers and outlet malls narrowed their visit gaps, with visits to open-air shopping centers almost on par with July 2024 levels and visits to outlet malls just 2.1% lower than this time last year.
Diving into the weekly data reveals a more complex picture. While mid-July visits were generally up relative to 2024 – perhaps boosted by the various July sales events – traffic across all three formats softened towards the end of the month. This may suggest that these major promotional events may be pulling demand forward rather than generating sustained, incremental traffic and highlights the challenge of converting a promotional 'sugar rush' into lasting momentum.
Boise Towne Square significantly outpaced the broader Placer.ai Indoor Mall Index in July, posting 12.2% year-over-year growth versus the national average of 1.3% – extending the Idaho mall's exceptional performance streak throughout 2025. And remarkably, Boise Towne Square has also consistently surpassed its pre-pandemic visit level every month of 2025 so far.
While multiple factors likely contribute to this strength, a major traffic driver has been the new In-N-Out location that opened in the mall in late October 2024. Since the opening, visits to Boise Towne Square have steadily increased, and other tenants – including other dining establishments – have also benefited from sustained visit improvements across the entire mall.
This demonstrates the powerful halo effect that a high-draw non-traditional anchor tenant can create for an entire shopping center.
To check out retail foot traffic trends for yourself, try Placer.ai's free industry trends tool.
In today’s retail landscape, consumer behavior is influenced by a multitude of factors, directly impacting the success of products and brands. This report explores the latest trends in value perception, shopping behavior, and media consumption that impact which brands consumers are most likely to engage with – and how.
In the apparel space, consumers continue to prioritize value and unique merchandise.
Analysis of visits to various apparel categories reveals a steady increase in the share of visits going to off-price retailers and thrift stores at the expense of traditional apparel chains.
And the popularity of off-price chains and thrift stores appears to be widespread across multiple audience segments. Analyzing trade area data with the Experian: Mosaic psychographic dataset reveals a clear preference for second-hand retailers among both younger (ages 25-30) and older (51+) consumer segments. Meanwhile, middle-class parents aged 36-45 with teenagers – the “Family Union” segment – are significantly more likely to shop at off-price apparel stores, highlighting their emphasis on buying new, while saving both time and money.
This suggests that the powerful blend of treasure-hunting and deep value, central to both the off-price and thrift experiences, is driving traffic from a variety of audiences, and that other industries could benefit from combining affordability with the allure of unique products.
Diving deeper into the location intelligence for the apparel space further highlights thrift and off-price’s broad appeal – and that a combination of quality and price motivates consumers to visit different retailers.
Between 2019 and 2024, the share of Bloomingdale’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstrom visitors that also visited a Goodwill or Ross Dress for Less increased significantly.
And while this could mean that the current economic climate is causing some higher-income consumers to trade down to lower-priced retailers, it could also be that consumers are prioritizing sustainability and seeking value in terms of “bang for their buck” – shopping a combination of retailers depending on the cost versus quality considerations for each purchase.
Consumers increasingly expect to shop on their own terms, opting for a more flexible shopping experience that blurs the lines between traditional retail channels and categories.
Superstores and warehouse stores, for example, often evoke the image of navigating aisle after aisle of nearly every product imaginable – a time-consuming endeavor given the sheer size of their stores. But the latest location intelligence shows that more consumers are turning to these retailers for super-quick shopping trips.
Between 2019 and 2024, the share of visits lasting less than ten minutes at Target, Walmart, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Sam’s Club, and to a lesser extent Costco, rose steadily – perhaps due to increased use of flexible BOPIS (buy online, pick-up in-store) and curbside pick-up options. These stores may also be seeing a rise in consumers popping in to grab just a few items as-needed or to cherry-pick particular deals to complement their larger online shopping orders.
This trend highlights the demand for frictionless store experiences that allow visitors to conveniently shop or pick up orders even at large physical retailers.
And the breaking down of traditional retail silos isn’t limited to big-box chains. Diving into the data for quick service restaurants (QSR), fast casual chains, and grocery stores indicates that more consumers are also looking for new ways to grab a convenient bite.
Since 2019, grocery stores have been claiming an increasingly large share of the midday short visit pie – i.e. visits between 11:00 AM 3:00 PM lasting less than ten minutes – at the expense of QSR chains. This suggests that consumers seeking quick and affordable lunches are increasingly turning to grocery stores to pick up a few items or take advantage of self-service food bars. Notably, the rise in supermarket lunching hasn’t come at the expense of fast-casual restaurants, which have also upped their quick-service games – and have seen a small increase in their share of the quick lunchtime crowd over the past five years.
While some of QSR’s relative decline in short lunchtime visits could be due to discontent with rising fast-food prices, it’s clear that an increasing share of consumers see grocery and fast-casual chains as viable options during the lunch rush.
In 2025, tapping into hot trends and creating viral moments are among the most powerful tools for amplifying promotions and driving foot traffic to physical stores.
Retailers across categories have successfully harnessed the power of pop culture collaborations to generate excitement – and visits – by leaning into trending themes. On October 8th, 2024, for example, Wendy’s launched its epic Krabby Patty Collab, inspired by the beloved SpongeBob franchise. And during the week of the offering, the chain experienced a remarkable 21.5% increase in foot traffic compared to an average week that year.
Similarly, Crumbl – adept at creating buzz through manufactured scarcity – sparked a frenzy with the debut of its exclusive Olivia Rodrigo GUTS cookie. Initially available only at select locations near the artist’s concert venues, the cookie was launched nationwide for a limited time from August 19th to 24th, 2024. This buzz-driven release resulted in a 27.7% traffic surge during the week of the launch, as fans rushed to get a taste of the star-studded treat.
And it’s not just dining chains benefiting from these pop-culture moments. On February 16th, 2025, Bath & Body Works launched a Disney Princess-inspired fragrance line, perfect for fans of Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Moana, and Tiana. The collaboration resonated, fueling a 23.2% visit spike for the chain.
While tapping into existing pop-culture trends has the ability to drive traffic, so does creating a new one. Analysis of movie theater visits on National Popcorn Day (Sunday, January 19th, 2025) shows how initiating a trend can spur social media engagement and impact in-person traffic to physical retail spaces.
National Popcorn Day was a successful promotional holiday across the movie theater industry in 2025. Both Regal Cinemas and AMC Theatres offered popcorn-based promotions on the day, but Cinemark’s “Bring Your Own Bucket” campaign, in particular, appears to have spurred a significant foot traffic boost during the event.
Visits to Cinemark on National Popcorn Day in 2025 increased 57.5% relative to the Sunday visit average for January and February 2025, as movie-goers showed off their out-of-the-bucket popcorn receptacles on social media. Clearly, by starting a trend that invited creativity and expression, Cinemark was able to amplify the impact of its National Popcorn Day promotion.
Location intelligence illuminates some of the key trends shaping consumer behavior in 2025. The data reveals that value-driven shopping, demand for flexibility across touchpoints, and the power of unique retail moments have the power to drive consumer engagement and the success of retail categories, brands, and products.
Placer.ai observes a panel of mobile devices in order to extrapolate and generate visitation insights for a variety of locations across the U.S. This panel covers only visitors from within the United States and does not represent or take into account international visitors.
Downtown districts in the nation’s major cities attract domestic travelers all year long with their iconic sights, lively entertainment, and diverse dining offerings. But each hub follows its own rhythm, shaped by distinct seasonal peaks and dips in visitor flow.
This white paper examines downtown hotel visitation patterns in four of the nation’s most popular destinations for domestic tourists: Miami, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. Focusing on 20 downtown hotels in each city, the analysis explores seasonal variations in domestic travel, city-specific dynamics, and differentiating factors.
Domestic tourism has rebounded strongly in recent years, and hotels in Miami and Chicago have been the biggest beneficiaries. In 2024, visits to analyzed hotels in each of these cities’ downtown areas grew by 8.9% and 7.4%, respectively, compared to 2023. Meanwhile, hotels in downtown and midtown Manhattan saw a more modest 2.0% increase, while Los Angeles experienced a slight year-over-year (YoY) decline in downtown hotel visits.
One factor that may be driving Miami and Chicago’s stronger performance is their higher proportion of long-distance visitors, defined as those visiting from over 250 miles away. Miami remains a top destination for snowbirds and spring breakers, while Chicago serves as a cultural and entertainment hub for the sprawling Midwest. These long-distance leisure travelers may be more likely to splurge on downtown hotel stays during their trips, helping drive hotel visit growth in the two cities.
By contrast, hotels in the Los Angeles and Manhattan city centers drew lower shares of domestic travelers coming from less than 250 miles away. These shorter-haul domestic tourists may be less likely to splurge on downtown hotels than those taking longer vacations. Both cities are also surrounded by numerous regional getaway options that can draw long-haul leisure travelers away from their downtown cores.
Each of the four analyzed cities has its own unique ebbs and flows – and city center hotel visits reflect these patterns. Miami, with its warm, sunny climate, experiences influxes of tourists during the winter and spring, with March seeing the biggest jump in downtown hotel visits last year (13.0% above the monthly visit average). Chicago, which thrives in the summer with its many festivals and events, saw its biggest downtown hotel visit bump in August. Meanwhile, Manhattan experienced a major uptick in December, likely fueled by holiday tourism and New Year celebrations, and Los Angeles visits were highest in the summertime.
What drives these seasonal visit peaks? Miami has long been a top tourism destination, especially in early spring, when snowbirds and spring breakers flock to the city for sun and relaxation. In recent years, the city has seen a rise in short-term domestic tourism, suggesting that the city is becoming increasingly popular for weekend getaways. According to the Placer.ai Tourism Dashboard, the share of domestic tourists staying just one or two nights grew from 71.7% in March 2022 to 78.3% in March 2024.
This shift aligns with an impressive increase in the magnitude of downtown Miami’s springtime hotel visit peak: In March 2022, visits to downtown hotels were 5.0% above the monthly average for the year, a share that more than doubled by 2024 to 12.9%.
These numbers may mean that more people are choosing to head to Miami for a quick break from the cold – and staying in downtown hotels to make the most of their short getaway.
Chicago’s major August visit spike was likely driven by the Windy City’s impressive lineup of major summer festivals, from Lollapalooza to the Chicago Air and Water Show, which draw thousands of attendees from across the country.
Lollapalooza fueled the largest visit spike to the city – between Thursday, August 1st and Sunday, August 4th, visits to downtown Chicago hotels surged between 51.1% and 63.8% above 2024 daily averages for those days of the week. The Air and Water Show and the Chicago Jazz Festival also generated significant hotel visit increases – highlighting the boost these events bring to the city’s tourism and hospitality sector.
The Big Apple draws a diverse mix of visitors throughout the year. But in December – the city’s peak tourist season – visitors pour in from all over the country to skate in Rockefeller Center, browse Fifth Avenue’s festive window displays and experience the city’s unique holiday magic.
And analyzing data from hotels in midtown and downtown Manhattan reveals a striking shift in the types of visitors who stay in the heart of NYC during the holiday season. While visitors from other urban centers dominated downtown hotel stays throughout most of the year – accounting for 47.9% of visits from January to November 2024 – their share dropped to 42.0% in December 2024. Meanwhile, the share of guests from suburban areas and small towns rose from 37.3% to 41.0%, and the share of guests from rural and semi-rural areas nearly doubled, from 3.5% to 6.1%.
These patterns suggest that, though Manhattan typically attracts a wide range of visitors, the holiday season is uniquely appealing to tourists from smaller towns and suburban areas. Understanding these trends can provide crucial context for hotels and civic stakeholders alike as they work to maximize the opportunities presented by the city’s December visit surge.
Los Angeles hotels also experience significant demographic shifts during peak season. In July, visits to downtown LA hotels surged by 15.3% relative to the 2024 monthly visit average. And a closer look at audience segmentation data suggests a corresponding surge in the share of "Flourishing Families" – an Experian: Mosaic segment consisting of affluent, middle-aged households with children. Throughout the year, "Flourishing Families" comprised between 7.7% and 8.7% of the census block groups (CBGs) driving visits to downtown LA hotels. But in July, this share jumped to 9.9%.
These families may be taking advantage of summer vacations to enjoy Los Angeles’ cultural attractions and entertainment. Hotels and city stakeholders who understand the appeal the city holds for this demographic can better cater to them through family-friendly promotions and strategic marketing efforts to target these households.
Downtowns are making a comeback – and hotels in the heart of the nation’s major tourist hubs are reaping the benefits. By understanding who frequents these downtown hotels and when, local businesses and civic leaders can optimize their resource management and strategic planning to make the most of these opportunities.
The New York office scene is buzzing once again, as companies from JPMorgan to Meta double down on return-to-office (RTO) mandates. But just how did New York office foot traffic fare in 2024? How did Big Apple office foot traffic compare to that of other major business hubs nationwide? And how is New York’s office recovery impacting post-COVID trends like the TGIF work week? Are office visits still concentrated mid-week, or are people coming in more on Fridays and Mondays? And how has Manhattan’s RTO affected local commuting patterns?
We dove into the data to find out.
In 2024, New York City cemented its position as the nationwide leader in office recovery. Thanks in part to remote work crackdowns by banking behemoths like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan, visits to NYC office buildings in 2024 were just 13.1% below pre-pandemic (2019) levels.
For comparison, Miami’s office foot traffic remained 16.2% below pre-pandemic levels, while Atlanta, Washington D.C., and Boston saw significantly larger gaps at 28.6%, 37.8%, and 43.9%, respectively.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the Big Apple’s robust year-over-five-year (Yo5Y) recovery, the pace of year-over-year (YoY) visit growth to NYC office buildings was somewhat slower in 2024 than in other major East Coast business centers. Still, New York’s YoY office recovery rate of 12.4% outpaced the nationwide baseline, and came in just slightly below Washington, D.C.’s 15.2% and Atlanta’s 14.6%.
Interestingly, New York’s return to office has not led to a significant retreat from the TGIF work week that emerged during COVID. In 2024, just 11.9% of weekday (Monday to Friday) visits to NYC offices took place on Fridays – only slightly more than the 11.5% recorded in 2023 and significantly below the pre-pandemic baseline of 17.2%.
Meanwhile, Monday has quietly regained its footing as the dreaded start of the New York work week. After dropping significantly in 2022 and 2023, the share of weekday office visits taking place on Mondays rebounded to 18.2% in 2024 – just slightly below 2019’s 19.5%. Still, Tuesday remained the Big Apple’s busiest in-office day of the week last year, accounting for nearly a quarter (24.6%) of weekday NYC office foot traffic.
And diving into Yo5Y data for each day of the work week shows just how much New York’s overall recovery is driven by mid-week visits – and especially Tuesday ones. In 2024, Friday visits to NYC office buildings were down 40.2% compared to 2019. But on Tuesdays, visits were essentially on par with pre-pandemic levels (-0.3%), even as nationwide office visits remained 24.6% below 2019.
Another post-COVID trend that has shown staying power in New York is the growing share of office visits coming from employees who live nearby. As hybrid schedules become the norm, it seems that those commuting more frequently are often just a short subway ride -or even a stroll- away.
The share of NYC office workers coming from less than five miles away, for example, has risen steadily since COVID, reaching 46.0% in 2024. Over the same period, the share of workers coming from 5-10 miles, 10-15 miles, or 25+ miles away has declined.
Looking at commuting trends across the East Coast helps put New York City’s shift into perspective. In 2019, NYC’s share of nearby commuters was on par with Washington, D.C. and slightly below Boston. But while both cities experienced moderate increases in local commuters between 2019 and 2024, New York pulled ahead, outpacing all other analyzed cities in its share of nearby office workers last year.
Miami and Atlanta – two other standout cities in office recovery – also saw significant growth in the percentage of short-distance commuters over the past five years. This trend underscores a broader shift: As hybrid work reshapes commuting habits, employees across multiple markets are more likely to go into the office if they live nearby, reducing reliance on long-haul commutes.
As the nation’s office recovery leader, New York offers a glimpse into what other cities can expect as office visitation rates continue to improve. Even at just 13.1% below pre-pandemic levels, NYC office visit levels continue to rise. And as recovery nears completion, trends that took hold during COVID remain firmly entrenched.
