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CVS and Walgreens, the two largest drugstore chains in the country, have faced increased competition from superstores and online platforms in recent years. To adapt, both chains are optimizing their brick-and-mortar footprints – and Walgreens is going private following its recent acquisition by Sycamore Partners.
We took a look at the two chains’ visit performance to see what lies ahead for each.
CVS and Walgreens command a major portion of drugstore visits nationwide – and their foot traffic data sheds light on how each is weathering heightened competition. CVS, which consolidated its fleet between 2022 and 2024, saw both overall visits (+0.6%) and average visits per location (+2.9%) elevated YoY in Q4 2024, suggesting that these store closures have helped bolster the chain.
Walgreens, which also closed a significant number of stores over the past two years, saw overall foot traffic lag slightly throughout 2024. However, average visits per location to the chain were up in all but one quarter of the year, suggesting that Walgreen’s rightsizing moves are having a positive impact on the chain, directing more traffic to higher-performing locations.
These patterns held into 2025, with CVS enjoying elevated YoY visits in all weeks analyzed, while Walgreens visits remained, for the most part, slightly below 2024 levels. Walgreens recently announced a definitive agreement to be acquired by private equity firm Sycamore Partners, and while the impact of this deal remains to be seen, it could create opportunities for innovation and strategic transformation.
CVS and Walgreens are major players in the pharmacy space, controlling the lion’s share of offline pharmacy visits (excluding general and grocery retailers with on-site pharmacies such as Walmart and Kroger.) And even as the two chains have reduced their footprints, their overall market presence has expanded – perhaps a reflection of the broader challenges facing smaller pharmacy operators.
Between Q1 2023 and Q4 2024, the share of visits to drugstore and pharmacy retailers attributed to CVS increased from 41.9% to 44.0%, while Walgreens’ share grew modestly from 49.2% to 50.4%. Meanwhile, the share of visits to smaller chains declined from 8.9% to 5.5%. This indicates that CVS’s growing visit share has not come at the expense of Walgreens – underscoring both chains’ resilience and growth potential in the face of sector-wide headwinds.
CVS closed hundreds of stores between 2022 and 2024 as it sought to refine its retail strategy – and now, the drugstore seems to be ready for its next move. The chain announced the rollout of about a dozen small-format stores, set to open throughout 2025. These stores will stock more of the essentials – cold medicine, first-aid care – and offer pharmacy services, while eschewing some of the traditional drugstore offerings like greeting cards and groceries.
And exploring CBSA-level visitation patterns at CVS suggests that this move may indeed be giving consumers what they want – especially in certain areas of the country. In 2024, short visits to CVS (i.e. those lasting less than ten minutes) increased YoY in many CBSAs nationwide, but some regions, like the Northeast, experienced stronger short visit growth than others. As CVS plans out its small-format expansion, focusing on regions with strong interest in short visits – where consumers may be particularly interested in an efficient shopping experience at a scaled-down location – could help it capture even more market share while improving customer convenience.
CVS and Walgreens have faced their fair share of challenges in recent years, but both are adapting to stay competitive. New leadership and store formats may help them better serve customers and navigate the shifting retail pharmacy market.
Will the segment continue to adapt to a changing retail environment? Visit Placer.ai to find out.
Recently, Target announced plans to add around 2,000 items to its baby and toddler assortment, with the goal of "supporting families throughout the parenting journey with products that bring joy and convenience to their everyday lives.”
The data suggests that Target shoppers are likely to react positively to this expanded baby assortment: Layering Placer.ai's trade area data with Spatial.ai's psychographic segmentation shows that Target's trade area is over-indexed for a range of family-oriented consumer segments, and affluent families in particular account for a significant share of Target's captured market. An expanded baby assortment is therefore likely to appeal to much of Target’s visitor base.
In a period marked by ongoing inflation and rising grocery prices, two chains – Trader Joe’s and Aldi – continue to thrive. We took a closer look at the two chains’ data to see what is driving their continued success.
Trader Joe’s and Aldi continue to be growth leaders in the grocery space. Both focus on selling a more limited selection of products and are known for providing quality at more budget-friendly prices. Both have also been in expansion mode, opening new stores and strengthening their market presence.
In 2024, Trader Joe’s visits increased by 6.2% compared to 2023, while Aldi saw an even more significant traffic rise of 18.2%. And while store expansion certainly contributed to this growth, average visits per location also trended upward, indicating strong demand across the two chains’ existing store networks. Trader Joe’s, which added about 35 stores in 2024, saw visits per location rise by 3.2%. Aldi, which added over 100 new locations in 2024, experienced a 13.5% increase in visits per location.
These strong foot traffic trends have continued into 2025, with weekly visits maintaining 2024’s momentum. Visits and visits per location were consistently elevated, an impressive feat given 2024’s already strong visit metrics.
As both chains continue to expand – Trader Joe’s has announced dozens of new openings in 2025, and Aldi has hundreds in the pipeline – the chains are well positioned for an even stronger 2025.
Trader Joe’s and Aldi offer a similar shopping experience – limited assortment, smaller store sizes, and a focus on budget-friendly offerings – but in practice, the two chains attract different audiences. In 2024, the median household income (HHI) in Trader Joe’s captured market trade area was $110.1K, significantly higher than Aldi’s $75.7K and the national median for grocery shoppers ($82.0K).
And while the two grocers attract shoppers from different sides of the income spectrum, analyzing consumer behavior at Aldi and Trader Joe’s reveals commonalities that may be driving some of their success.
Both Trader Joe’s and Aldi received a larger share of weekend visitors (35.0% and 34.4%, respectively) than the grocery nationwide average (32.1%). This suggests that, despite both chains’ limited assortment, consumers view Trader Joe’s and Aldi as weekend stock-up destinations – taking advantage of their days off to enjoy a more leisurely shopping experience at these value-driven retailers.
The relatively high share of weekend visits is consistent with another emerging trend at the two grocers that suggests Trader Joe’s and Aldi are increasingly becoming primary grocery destinations.
Between 2023 and 2024, both Aldi and Trader Joe’s saw a decrease in the share of visitors that visited another grocery chain immediately before or after their Aldi or Trader Joe’s trip. This shift may be a result of an increasingly budget-conscious shopper, and suggests that visitors are choosing Aldi and Trader Joe’s as a main shopping destination rather than supplementing trips to larger chains.
This marks a promising shift for Trader Joe’s and Aldi as they continue expanding their footprints. By commanding a bigger slice of the grocery pie, both chains are solidifying their positions as go-to destinations for full grocery hauls.
Trader Joe’s and Aldi seem well-positioned as 2025 gets underway, with both driving continued foot traffic growth and becoming more of a primary destination for their shoppers.
As both stores expand their footprint, will these trends hold?
Visit Placer.ai to find out.
As we wrap up Q1 2025, we’re already beginning to see a slow down in retail visitation by consumers. Despite general growth in retail visitation over the past few years, rapid price increases and changes in consumer behavior may finally have caught up to consumers across income levels. In this new unknown chapter of the retail industry, one thing is clear; high income consumers are critical for retailers to capture and retain in order to offset a drop-off in demand by other cohorts.
High income shoppers have long been the elusive target of retailers across a variety of price points. From Target to Neiman Marcus to specialty grocers, retailers have tried to enhance assortments, increase service offerings, and eliminate inconveniences for consumers who have the highest levels of disposable income. These factors only grew in importance as the retail industry navigated the pandemic and the subsequent consumer recovery – high income shoppers' price elasticity has bolstered the industry against rising inflation and price increases.
What’s fascinating, though, is that despite the buying power of high income consumers – they aren’t large contributors of retail visitation overall. According to our Placer 100 Dining and Retail Index, households with income greater than $200K accounted for 8.1% of overall visits in 2024, which is slightly lower than the share of visits from the same group in 2019 (8.2%). The share of visits from lower income households increased since the pandemic (32.9% of visits from households with a median income of $50K or less in 2024, compared to 32.7% in 2019), while the inverse is true for higher income shoppers.
The lower share of visits from high income households does align with the general trends we’ve observed across retail. Lower income shoppers, who have become more price conscious and constrained by rising costs, have increased their frequency of visits across multiple retail chains in order to derive the most value from their visits. Meanwhile, wealthier shoppers may have maintained or increased their online purchasing since the pandemic onset, which could have lessened their desire to shop in person.
With a smaller share of the wealthiest shoppers visiting retail locations, the fight for those consumer dollars is going to be even more competitive. Alternatively, for categories that are capturing even more visits from high income shoppers, the need to satisfy their needs and drive conversion is critical.
Retailers that have won over this group have tapped into the desire for value no matter the level of household income. Walmart executives recently shared that their largest growth in market share came from consumers with income over $100K. Placer’s foot traffic estimates also indicate that, indeed, traffic distribution for households with income over $75K increased in 2024 compared to 2022, with declines in the share of visits by lower income households.
Walmart attributed these changes to their increased premium service offerings, including its membership program and delivery services – but there could also be another element at play. As prices have gone up considerably since the pandemic, even wealthier shoppers don’t want to see their receipts rise on a daily or weekly basis. Price perception can spur changes in consumer behavior, and this can apply to any consumer, no matter their socioeconomic status. Walmart’s success with wealthier cohorts sends a message to others in the industry; just because a consumer can afford to pay higher prices, doesn’t mean they will.
On the other end of the retail spectrum, the luxury retail market is also facing new challenges in regards to their changing consumer base. As we discussed in our overview of the category in January, there has been a consolidation of visits favoring high income households. In reviewing the captured share of visits by household income for luxury apparel and accessories chains, the largest declines came from “aspirational shoppers,” or those who made less than $150K, who might shop for luxury brands less frequently or for a special purchase. With a smaller pool of potential shoppers to pull from, luxury brands can no longer rely on those outside their core base.
The higher concentration of ultra wealthy consumers forces luxury brands to once again center themselves around the in-store experience and competitive advantages. Brands are constantly vying for shoppers' attention, and luxury brands can take full advantage of their store fleets as a way to court consumers. Personal shoppers, services, and private appointments will all become more important for stores to make up for a potential loss in aspirational consumers.
According to Personalive’s window of insight into different socioeconomic consumer cohorts, Ultra Wealthy Families, defined as those with income higher than $200K, also frequent specialty grocery chains, high-end fitness clubs such as Lifetime Fitness and high-end home goods retailers like Restoration Hardware and West Elm. These retailers, similar to luxury apparel and accessories brands, cater directly to high income households, which provides both opportunities for growth and potential hurdles if these consumers change their spending habits.
High income shoppers are quickly becoming the most courted shopper cohort. As retailers look to innovate and open new locations, lucrative neighborhoods with more high-touch services might pave the way for growth. However, the industry, particularly retailers who service middle and low income families, cannot abandon their consumer base in their efforts. With consumers so intrinsically focused on value, even high income consumers can’t be relied on solely to sustain the retail industry.
For more data-driven insights, visit placer.ai
Iconic clothing brand Brooks Brothers – known for dressing presidents – has experienced a challenging few years. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2020 and closed a number of stores – but recent foot traffic suggests that things are turning around for the retailer.
We took a look at the location analytics for the brand to see how it’s been weathering recent challenges.
Brooks Brothers has long been synonymous with high-quality clothing, specializing in office attire – blazers, dress shirts, and tailored trousers. However, the brand faced significant challenges leading up to its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in July 2020. Even before the pandemic reshaped work routines, office wear had been trending toward more casual styles. COVID-19, which brought with it a surge in remote work, accelerated this shift even further.
As a response to the bankruptcy, Brooks Brothers implemented a strategic restructuring plan, closing underperforming stores and refocusing on high-traffic locations. This rightsizing strategy appears to be yielding positive results, with visits per location rising 4.7% year-over-year in Q4 2024. While total visits have declined, the remaining stores drew more customers on average, suggesting a more efficient footprint. Now, with the brand even opening new locations – including a flagship store in Boston – Brooks Brothers is signaling renewed confidence in its future.
Store count isn't the only thing changing at Brooks Brothers – its customer base is shifting as well. Between 2019 and 2024, the share of households with children in Brooks Brothers’ captured market trade area increased from 26.5% to 28.0%, while the share of “Suburban Periphery” households (as defined by Esri's Tapestry segmentation dataset) grew from 45.4% to 47.5%.
These shifts align with broader trends, including a renewed interest in suburban living and the rise of the quiet luxury movement, which favors timeless, high-quality fashion. And with back-to-office mandates continuing to ramp up, Brooks Brothers is well-positioned to maintain its momentum with this growing segment.
Despite the rocky economic environment, Brooks Brothers seems to be holding steady. By focusing on its strongest locations and core offerings, the brand may be on its way to a comeback.
For more data-driven retail and apparel insights, visit Placer.ai.
When it comes to home improvement retail, big-box chains like Home Depot and Lowe’s are often top of mind. However, retail visit share data shows that smaller-format chains such as Ace Hardware, Harbor Freight, and Tractor Supply have been outperforming their larger competitors over the past several years.
This trend is primarily driven by store expansion and migration patterns. Ace Hardware and Harbor Freight have aggressively increased their presence in high-growth markets, particularly in smaller cities where their 10,000-20,000 square foot store footprints provide a strategic advantage. In contrast, Home Depot and Lowe’s, with their larger 100,000+ square foot layouts, face greater challenges expanding into these markets.
The success of smaller retailers reflects a broader industry shift toward optimizing store formats, with many retailers—including those in home furnishings, department stores, and grocery – embracing smaller stores to mitigate rising operational costs and respond to evolving consumer migration trends.
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.
