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Office

Placer.ai Office Index: August 2024 Recap

Find out how return to office trends held up in August 2024.

By 
Lila Margalit
September 10, 2024
Placer.ai Office Index: August 2024 Recap
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The Placer.ai Nationwide Office Building Index: The office building index analyzes foot traffic data from some 1,000 office buildings across the country. It only includes commercial office buildings, and commercial office buildings with retail offerings on the first floor (like an office building that might include a national coffee chain on the ground floor). It does NOT include mixed-use buildings that are both residential and commercial.
Key Takeaways
  • In August 2024, office visits nationwide were 68.8% of August 2019 levels – slightly below the post-pandemic office visit recovery level seen in July. 
  • Also in August, Miami, New York, Atlanta, and Dallas outperformed the nationwide baseline for year-over-five-year (Yo5Y) office recovery – while Los Angeles and San Francisco lagged behind. Year over year (YoY), Atlanta saw the most impressive office visit growth (7.3%).
  • The accelerated office recovery seen in recent months has been driven in part by singles: One-person households made up 35.7% of the Census Block Groups (CBGs) feeding visits to office buildings this summer, compared to just 34.5% in the summer of 2019. Meanwhile, the share of households with children in these areas continued to decline – highlighting the premium placed by busy parents on flexible work arrangements.

The return to office (RTO) has been on an upswing, with employers across industries cracking down on remote work and requiring employees to put in more face time. Indeed, July 2024 emerged as the busiest in-office month since the pandemic. But what happened in August?

We dove into the data to find out. 

The Dog Days of Summer

August is a time for family vacations – and millions of Americans planned to take the roads and skies this summer to get away from it all and enjoy some downtime. So it may come as no surprise that the accelerated mandate-driven RTO seen in recent months – moderated somewhat in August, with a larger visit gap compared to the equivalent period of 2019 than that seen in July or in June

Still, despite an end-of-summer slump, the nationwide office recovery appears to be very much underway. Office foot traffic last month was just 31.2% below pre-pandemic levels. Or put another way, August 2024 office visits were 68.8% of what they were in August 2019.

A Regional Snapshot

Drilling down into the data for major urban hubs throughout the country shows a continuation of recent trends, with Miami, New York, Atlanta, and Dallas outperforming the nationwide baseline. In Miami and New York, office visits were nearly 90.0% and 85.0%, respectively, of what they were pre-pandemic. And Atlanta, where employers from the CDC to UPS have begun enforcing stricter in-office policies, held onto its high ranking, with visits 75.6% of what they were in August 2019.

Indeed, Atlanta, which has seen a surge in office leasing activity, saw 7.3% year-over-year (YoY) visit growth in August 2024 – followed by Miami (5.7%). San Francisco – which despite lagging behind other cities compared to pre-pandemic, has been making steady YoY gains – came in third with a YoY visit increase of 3.0%. 

A Shifting In-Office Workforce

Who are the employees driving this summer’s accelerated recovery? 

Analyzing the trade areas of office buildings nationwide reveals that between June and August 2024, the Census Block Groups (CBGs) feeding visits to office buildings (their captured markets) continued to see a decline in their share of households with children – indicating that parents still account for fewer office visits than they did pre-pandemic. Employees with children, it seems, remain especially likely to place a premium on flexibility – embracing work routines that allow them to more efficiently juggle home and work responsibilities.

Over the same period, the share of one-person households in offices’ captured markets rose substantially, highlighting the important role played by young professionals – who may be more likely to be single – in today’s office recovery. Whether driven by a desire to embrace in-office career growth and mentorship opportunities, or by a craving for more social interaction, these employees are returning to the office in ever greater numbers. 

Looking Ahead

With the school year underway and summer vacations already a not-so-distant memory, office foot traffic is likely to resume its upward trajectory. Will September 2024 set a new post-pandemic RTO record?

Follow Placer.ai’s data driven analyses to find out.

This blog includes data from Placer.ai Data Version 2.1, which introduces a new dynamic model that stabilizes daily fluctuations in the panel, improving accuracy and alignment with external ground truth sources.

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