.svg)
Summer 2025 has arrived, and airports are gearing up for travelers heading out on long-awaited vacations.
We analyzed airport traffic on a nationwide, statewide, and DMA level to assess how the sector stands ahead of one of the year's busiest travel periods.
Summers are typically busy periods for airports as people head out to visit family and friends and take advantage of summer vacations. But going into the 2025 summer travel season, airport visits (excluding traffic from international visitors) have been lagging, with year-over-year (YoY) visits down since February 2025. And while some of the dip may be attributed to a normalization of traffic following the post-COVID recovery, the softer airport visitation trends could also indicate a slower travel season ahead.
Still, diving into airport visits by state reveals pockets of growth – specifically in New England and in the Northwest. Maine, Vermont, and Rhode Island led the country in terms of YoY visit growth in May 2025, with Connecticut and New Hampshire also seeing positive YoY airport visit trends. In the Northwest, May 2025 airport visits also increased YoY in South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Oregon, North Dakota and Idaho.
The strong airport performance in these states indicates that certain regions – perhaps those with outdoor recreation appeal – are still seeing robust visitor activity despite the wider cool down.
Plotting May 2025 YoY airport visits by DMA on a map provides a visual representation of this trend – and highlights other pockets of airport visit growth throughout the country.
For example, while overall airport visits in Florida declined 4.3% YoY in May 2025, airport visits in Tampa-St. Petersburg, Panama City, and Ft. Myers-Naples DMAs all increased. And California, which saw an overall 3.0% dip in airport visits, also saw airport visit bumps in several DMAs, including Bakersfield, Monterey-Selinas, Fresno-Visalia DMAs.
These localized bright spots suggest that while the broader travel recovery may be plateauing, specific markets continue to show resilience and growth potential.
The overall decline in airport visits may suggest a cooling in domestic tourism ahead of summer 2025, perhaps marking the end of the broad-based travel surge of recent years. This shift away from widespread growth suggests that travelers are becoming more discerning in their travel choices, perhaps favoring destinations that offer authentic experiences, natural beauty, or seasonal advantages.
For more data-driven consumer insights, visit placer.ai/anchor.
As value continues to dominate consumer behavior in 2025, full-service restaurants (FSRs) are finding creative ways to adapt to rising costs and shifting consumer priorities. We dove into the data to find out which FSR segments are winning this year and what’s driving these trends.
Despite ongoing anxiety about the economy, FSR visitation trends show that consumers continue to seek out opportunities to enjoy sit-down meals outside the home. During the first five months of 2025, casual dining chains and upscale restaurants both saw largely positive year-over-year visit growth, with only February and March registering YoY declines. And crucially, in May 2025 – a pivotal month for FSRs thanks to Mother’s Day, the industry’s busiest day of the year – both segments saw increases in total visits and average visits per location.
Still, there remain important differences between the two FSR categories. For casual dining, average visits per location grew faster than segment-wide foot traffic, reflecting a reduction in the number of locations over the past year as some brands implemented rightsizing initiatives. The positive gain in per-location gain suggests that those efforts are paying off, boosting visitation at remaining sites.
Meanwhile, for upscale dining chains, the opposite dynamic occurred – overall visit growth outpaced average visits per location. Even so, per-location visits rose YoY here as well, indicating that continued expansion is meeting robust demand.
A closer look at trends in casual dining – by far the larger of the two FSR segments – shows significant differences among cuisine types. Much like upscale concepts, casual dining steakhouses saw total foot traffic growth rise faster than per-location visits as chains like Texas Roadhouse and LongHorn Steakhouse continued to grow while maintaining momentum at existing locations. Against a backdrop of soaring beef prices, the draw of affordable, high-quality steaks remains particularly strong.
American-style restaurants, for their parts – many of which have focused on rightsizing – recorded especially robust per-location visit growth, buoyed by compelling value offers from major players like Chili's and Applebee's. And Italian-themed casual dining also performed well YoY.
However, not all casual dining categories have fared as well. Breakfast-oriented chains experienced a modest YoY decline, while the Mexican segment suffered the steepest dip – likely due in part to On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina’s recent Chapter 11 filing, which was accompanied by the closure of dozens of locations. The segment has likely also been impacted by stiff competition from popular fast-casual brands like Chipotle and Qdoba that offer tasty, quality Mexican-inspired cuisine at more of a bargain.
The rising popularity of steakhouses is further underscored by shifts in casual dining visit share. Since 2019, steakhouses have seen their slice of total visits to the above categories climb from 14.0% to 18.1% in 2025, primarily at the expense of American-style concepts, whose share declined from 45.4% to 43.7% over the same period. Still, American chains have regained some ground over the past year, thanks in part to Chili’s strong comeback.
Looking ahead, the steady increases in per-location visits for both casual and upscale dining signal the industry’s overall resilience. What lies in store for FSRs as 2025 wears on?
Follow Placer.ai/anchor to find out.
As competition intensifies from drive-thru rivals and at-home coffee trends, Starbucks is doubling down on unique in-store experiences and AI-powered service improvements to reignite customer visit frequency.
But how likely are these moves to revitalize the company? We dove into the data to find out.
As the “Back to Starbucks” plan continues to take shape under CEO Brian Niccol, Starbucks finds itself banking on a familiar recipe for success: innovation. The company's recent announcement that it is testing a new protein-enhanced cold foam is a key example of its strategy to re-engage customers. The coffee chain also hopes to boost efficiency and free up employees to engage more with customers through its new “Green Apron” service model.
These moves suggest that Starbucks is focused on driving more consistent and loyal visits through thoughtful menu additions and the restoration of its “coffeehouse feel” rather than relying on temporary discounts – which often provide only a short-term lift without fostering lasting repeat business.
This strategic pivot is crucial as the company works to revitalize its brand. And while Starbucks' plans to return to its "coffeehouse roots" will take time to fully implement, it is building from a position of underlying strength. Data shows that the total number of unique customers visiting Starbucks has remained remarkably consistent over the past several years.
However, the core challenge lies in the fact that individual visit frequency has stagnated, meaning those loyal customers are simply coming back less often, turning instead to competitors or at-home coffee. This presents a clear opportunity: If Starbucks can give its large, established customer base new reasons to visit, it can unlock significant growth. And the narrowing of the company’s visit gap in 2025 so far – with both January and April seeing positive year-over-year visit growth – further underscores the company’s underlying strength.
The urgency for Starbucks’ turnaround is amplified by competition from all sides. The market has seen a surge in new, efficient drive-thru coffee concepts like Dutch Bros, 7 Brew, PJ’s Coffee and others that cater to consumers seeking speed and convenience. Simultaneously, Starbucks faces continued pressure from the at-home coffee trend, with many consumers opting to get their caffeine fix from grocery store purchases. By focusing on unique, in-store-only innovations like protein-boosted beverages, Starbucks aims to give customers an experience they can't replicate at home or get from a faster rival, providing a compelling reason to make that return visit.
For more data-driven dining insights visit Placer.ai/anchor.
Darden recently announced that it was considering ceasing operations for one of its chains, Bahama Breeze, following the closure of 15 of its 43 locations in May 2025.
Visit data for the brand highlights the struggles the Caribbean-inspired chain has faced in recent years. Year-over-year (YoY) visits were down in every year analyzed, and monthly visits declined in all but three of the past 12 months. The chain appeared particularly hard-hit starting in 2025, which may have been a consideration in Darden's decision to shutter Bahama Breeze locations.
Whether Darden plans to keep the remaining 28 Bahama Breeze restaurants operational or opt for a full sale remains to be seen, but the recent foot traffic challenges facing the brand position it for a strategic pivot – or more drastic measures.
As the U.S. economy moves to the midpoint of 2025, a divergent macro picture is starting to take hold. While consumers are showing renewed confidence and returning to stores (or at the very least, responding to heightened promotional activity across many retail categories), the industrial backbone of the economy – manufacturing and shipping – is tapping the brakes. This split narrative suggests that while immediate consumer sentiment has improved as tariff-related news has taken a backseat, industrial signals may be painting a more cautious picture.
The retail sector has seen a welcome rebound in May and June, following a sluggish start to the year when macroeconomic uncertainty and significant tariff-related news dampened spirits and hurt foot traffic in February and March. Year-over-year visitation data for the Placer 100 index – a composite of 100 of the largest retail and restaurant chains in the U.S. – indicates that shoppers have likely grown accustomed to the economic climate and are demonstrating more consistent and normal behaviors.
With the initial shock of potential price hikes having passed, consumers appear to be moving past the cautious approach that marked the first quarter, leading to stabilized and improving year-over-year visit trends across many retail categories.
Admittedly, there are multiple factors driving the recent increases in year-over-year retail traffic. Consumers remain squarely focused on value, which continues to drive outperformance for value grocers, warehouse clubs, and dollar stores (which also appear to be benefiting from less competition from Temu and Shein amid new regulatory restrictions). Off-price retailers continue to be one of the strongest performing categories year-to-date, capitalizing on increased inventory opportunities stemming from recent store closures and tariff-related supply chain disruptions, allowing them to fuel their "treasure hunt" model. Finally, traditional department stores have also contributed to the rebound through strong reception to events like Nordstrom’s Half-Yearly Sale and other promotional activity.
While retail visits have normalized in recent weeks, a different story is unfolding across U.S. factories and ports. Following a production surge in late March and April – when manufacturers ramped up activity to build inventory ahead of tariff deadlines – both manufacturing and port activity have seen a notable decline in May and into June.
Placer’s Industrial Manufacturing composite indicates that activity at manufacturing facilities – representing visits for both facility employees (estimated based on dwell time) and visitors, who often represent logistics partners – slowed in May and June.
Looking at manufacturing visit data by category, many U.S. factories took a breather in May, with our data showing a widespread slowdown in visits. The auto and auto parts industry has been hit particularly hard, feeling the direct impact of international tariffs. But this isn't just a car story – most other manufacturing sectors also pumped the brakes, signaling that many companies are cautiously getting ready for what could be an unpredictable second half of the year.
Slowing new orders and decreasing container volumes at major ports suggest that businesses, having already front-loaded their inventory, are now taking a more cautious look toward the second half of 2025. Many appear hesitant to over-commit amidst an unpredictable trade policy landscape.
Our visitation data for some of the busiest ports in the U.S. generally shows a strong correlation with the Bureau of Transportation's container import and export statistics. While our data indicated increased activity at several Eastern ports ahead of initial tariff implementation dates in early April, we have since observed visitation trends declining through much of April and May. The one notable exception is the Port of Houston – where gasoline imports are often received – which saw a spike in activity in May that has continued through June.
The two-track U.S. economy at the mid-point of 2025 highlights a clear divergence between consumer behavior and industrial strategy. While shoppers have returned to stores, driven by a hunt for value and successful promotions, the industrial sector is sending more cautious signals. The slowdown in activity at manufacturing facilities and ports suggests that businesses, having already front-loaded inventory ahead of tariffs, are now bracing for potential volatility. This sets up a classic economic tug-of-war for the second half of the year, leaving a critical question: Will resilient consumer spending eventually pull the industrial sector back into a growth cycle, or will the manufacturing slowdown ultimately impact supply chains, shelf availability, and the recent retail rebound?
For more data-driven retail insights, visit placer.ai/anchor.
Grab-and-go dining is thriving. Recent data indicates that nearly three out of four restaurant orders are taken to go. This trend is a particularly beneficial one for the limited-service dining category, which encompasses quick-service, fast-casual, and coffee chains.
We took a look at the visit data for these three subcategories of the limited-service dining world to understand how consumer behavior varies by dining type.
In a period marked by economic concerns, diners seeking convenient and budget-friendly choices often turn to limited-service options. And in recent months, coffee emerged as the strongest segment within the limited-service category, followed by fast-casual restaurants. Visits to both segments were up every month except February, when YoY foot traffic dropped due to inclement weather and a leap year comparison. Meanwhile, QSR saw essentially flat YoY visitation trends since March 2025.
This visit performance highlights shifts in dining preferences across visitors to the three segments. Coffee’s status as an affordable indulgence may be one factor driving traffic to the category. And with consumers becoming more discerning about their disposable income, fast-casual restaurants appear to be benefiting from the quality and perceived value that many such chains offer.
Diving deeper into the data suggests that short visits (less than 10 minutes) drove much of the growth in the coffee and fast-casual segments during the first five months of 2025, with YoY trends for short visits consistently outperforming YoY trends for longer (10+ minutes) visits.
The overall coffee segment continues to impress with elevated visits, though a closer look reveals significant variances within the category.
Specifically, mid-sized and small coffee chains are thriving. These chains – including brands like Dutch Bros and Black Rock Coffee Bar experienced YoY visit growth of 7.3% and 7.1%, respectively, largely due to chain expansions. In contrast, large coffee chains – a sub-category that includes major players like Starbucks and Dunkin’ – saw visits dip by 4.5% YoY.
And small coffee chains were the only segment to experience a slight YoY uptick in average visits per location – indicating that even as the segment expanded its footprint, existing locations, on average, continued to see modest visit growth. This trend may be partially attributed to the relative affluence of these chains’ visitors, who tended to come from trade areas with more high-income consumers (>$100K) than those frequenting mid-sized and large coffee chains.
Within the fast-casual and quick-service dining segment, burger chains reign supreme, but they face a formidable new challenger. Big Chicken – fast-casual and quick-service dining chains that focus on chicken in all its forms – have been ascendant over the past few years. Between 2019 and 2025, these restaurants significantly expanded their relative visit share from 15.0% to 18.3% among a wide range of fast-casual and quick-service dining categories, including burgers, Mexican chains, sandwich chains, and pizza chains. Much of this growth came at the expense of burger chains, which, despite retaining their title as the category’s largest segment, saw their relative visit share decline from 62.3% in 2019 to 59.8% in 2025.
The limited service category, encompassing a huge range of dining options, continues to evolve and thrive, whether through the dominance of small coffee chains or chicken offerings.
What changes might the category undergo in the coming months and years?
Visit Placer.ai/anchor for the latest data-driven dining insights.
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.
