Return-to-Office Momentum Marches On

April 23, 2026

Visits reached their highest March level since the pandemic, boosted by a recovery on the West Coast.

All of the U.S. office markets that Placer.ai tracks showed an increase in office foot traffic in March 2026 compared with a year ago, with the busiest markets close to the pace of foot traffic last seen in 2019, the year before the pandemic.

This March, foot traffic was an average of 26.5 percent lower than March 2019 levels, a 7.5-percentage point improvement from 34 percent lower in March 2025 compared to the same month in 2019, according to Placer.ai.

That is the latest year-over-year increase in office visits in a string of increases that has partly restored traffic over recent years. The trough was deep: Traffic was down 79.9 percent in 2021 compared to before the pandemic.

Also during March 2026, average visits per working day across 11 major U.S. markets were 4.2 percent higher than March 2025. That metric also slumped severely in 2021, showing an 81.6 percent drop.

Chart showing March 2026 was the busiest in-office March since COVID — March 2026 was the busiest in-office March since COVID. *Chart courtesy of Placer.ai*

RTO Momentum is broad-based now

In short, according to Placer.ai, return to office has momentum across the board. Indeed, the report noted, office visits reached their highest March level since COVID-19 hit. Even after accounting for calendar effects, foot traffic showed clear year-over-year momentum.

Placer.ai predicts that the trend toward increasing in-office work will continue, driven partly by the fact that hybrid policies are tightening, with some companies (such as Stellantis) requiring five-day-a-week attendance; and partly by the fact that workplace behavior is shifting slowly but surely toward more in-person work.

Chart showing monthly visits to nationwide office index compared to Mar. '19 baseline — Monthly visits to nationwide office index compared to Mar. ’19 baseline. *Chart courtesy of Placer.ai*

While office attendance is unlikely to return to pre-COVID norms, additional mandates that are set to take effect later this year—at Home Depot and the California state government, to cite two diverse examples—point to further gains in office visits in the months ahead.

Miami, NYC still top the nation for office visits

While all the cities tracked by Placer.ai saw year-over-year increases in office foot traffic during March, Miami and New York City remain closest to pre-pandemic levels. Miami’s March 2026 office visits were down 9.1 percent compared to March 2019, while New York City visits were down 9.7 percent.

Even so, Placer.ai reported that the more interesting story is unfolding on the West Coast, where some of the nation’s “biggest recovery laggards” are making steady progress.

“The rebound of return-to-office trends stood out across West Coast cities in March,” Placer.ai Director of Research Elizabeth Lafontaine told Commercial Property Executive.

“Cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco have often lagged behind their eastern counterparts in the percentage of workers returning to an office setting, but those trends have accelerated over the last year as conditions improve,” Lafontaine said.

If the shift toward more office visits on the West Coast has any legs to it, the impact could be national. If trends across slower-rebounding markets continue to improve, that could bring nationwide levels even closer to pre-pandemic baselines, Lafontaine noted.

Chart showing March 2026 saw YoY office visit growth across the board, according to Placer.ai — March 2026 saw YoY office visit growth across the board. *Chart courtesy of Placer.ai*

West Coast gains

Los Angeles turned in the strongest year-over-year growth of any market that Placer.ai tracks, supported in part by the comparison to early 2025, when the city was still feeling the aftermath of January’s wildfires. L.A.’s foot traffic came 16.6 percent stronger this March than the same month in 2025.

San Francisco, where an AI-driven recovery has pumped up return-to-office numbers, saw visits up 15.4 percent year-over-year, coming in at number two for increases after L.A.

The city used to be at the bottom in office visits, but that hasn’t been true for more than six months, as the city climbs in the post-pandemic recovery rankings. In March, San Francisco came in third from last, for the second month in a row.

These days, Chicago is at the bottom of the RTO trend, according to Placer.ai. The Windy City’s office visits are down 40.6 percent compared with before the pandemic, but even so the city has seen a gain in office attendance of 10.9 percent compared with last year.

Placer.ai