Weather Can’t Cool Return-to-Office Trend

March 25, 2026

Even in a gloomy February, office visits climbed to their strongest level for the month since 2019.

A major U.S. winter storm affected visits to the office in February, again inspiring a sizable number of workers to work from home, especially in places hit the hardest, such as New York City and Boston. But that didn’t hobble the overall momentum that is taking more American workers back to the office more of the time, according to Placer.ai data.

Last month, nationwide office visits were 31.9 percent lower than the pre-pandemic month of February 2019. During February 2025, visits were down 35.7 percent compared with the same month in 2019.

“February 2026 represented the strongest February return-to-office rebound since the onset of the pandemic, which continues the trend of office-first cultures across American businesses,” Placer.ai Director of Research Elizabeth Lafontaine told Commercial Property Executive.

Chart showing the busiest in-office February since COVID, slightly surpassing even the 2024 leap year, according to Placer.ai — Busiest in-office February since COVID, slightly surpassing even the 2024 leap year. *Chart courtesy of Placer.ai*

As usual for this time of the year, cold weather affected the number of people coming into the office, especially in places hit by the February blizzard in the Northeast. In places such as New York City and Boston, commutes were disrupted, Lafontaine noted.

In New York City, which has seen a fairly robust return to office in recent years, visits for the month were down 21.3 percent compared with the same month in 2019, but only 0.5 percent fewer compared with last year. The weather might have been worse than last year, but even so New Yorkers came to the office in similar numbers.

In Boston, another place that endured blizzard conditions in February, office visits were down 42.6 percent compared with the same month in 2019, Placer.ai reported.

But even Boston, which lags much further behind most places when it comes to RTO, didn’t see office visits decline compared with 2025. In fact, visits in Boston were at the same rate as in February 2025, which was cold, but didn’t experience a blizzard (Boston has seen more than 58 inches of snow so far this winter, compared with a total of about 26 inches last year).

Chart showing office visits across major cities nationwide, February 2026 compared to February 2019 and 2025, according to Placer.ai — Office visits across major cities nationwide, February 2026 compared to February 2019 and 2025. *Chart courtesy of Placer.ai*

Milder weather inspires office visits

Much of the rest of the country had a fairly mild February, and office visits were up compared with last year, the report found. San Francisco topped the list in year-over-year gains, with office visits up 11.9 percent compared with the same month in 2025. Denver saw almost as much gain, with 10.7 percent year-over-year.

Among the 11 cities that Placer.ai tracks, however, those two are still lagging toward the bottom in office attendance, with Denver down 39.8 percent compared with February 2019 and San Francisco down 41 percent. Those places, in other words, still have a lot further up to go when it comes to RTO.

But even most cities closer to their 2019 visitation rates did fairly well year-over-year. Miami, down only 14.9 percent compared with pre-pandemic numbers, gained 8.2 percent when compared with February 2025, and Dallas, down 22.4 percent from 2019, gained 9.3 percent year-over-year.

“The impact of winter storms indicates that there is still more volatility in office attendance on a daily basis as workers react to outside pressure,” Lafontaine told CPE, adding that corporate policies will probably continue to spur RTO this year.

“Corporate workforce reductions in 2026 might also continue to pave the way for more stringent in-office policies moving forward,” Lafontaine said.

Placer.ai