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San Francisco Chronicle
3 days ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
S.F. has more workers returning to the office than Los Angeles
San Francisco's return-to-office rate is gaining steam and jumped ahead of Los Angeles and Denver in July for the first time since the pandemic, according to new cell phone data from location tracking firm San Francisco office visits were down 34.2% in July compared to 2019, narrowly ahead of Los Angeles' 34.6% and Denver's 40% declines in the same period, data released Monday showed. San Francisco is still near the bottom for return to work — it's far below nationwide office visits, which were 21.8% below 2019 levels in July. 'It's obviously a far cry from pre-pandemic,' said R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research at of San Francisco. But the artificial intelligence boom is bolstering the return to office, he said, and driving up apartment and office rents. BART reported higher downtown ridership in June as well. As a result, San Francisco saw the biggest percentage jump in office visits in the past 12 months, 21.6%, among the cities that tracks. In contrast, Los Angeles has seen a weaker return to office in part because of lingering disruption from Hollywood actor and writer strikes in 2024 and 2023, Hottovy said. Denver's low ranking reflects a heavily remote working culture, especially for tech, according to The data uses anonymized cell phone location data to measure foot traffic to offices, with 'predefined criteria specific to employee behavior.' Higher return to office rates measure not only workers coming back, but also population and job growth compared to 2019. San Francisco saw a big population drop of 6.3% during the first year of the pandemic, according to census data, but has been growing again modestly. Downtown events like First Thursday and Unstaged street parties are also helping draw office workers and visitors back, businesses and organizers have said. The leaders for return to office are New York, which was 1.3% above its 2019 level, and Miami, which was only 0.1% below its 2019 level in July. It was the first time New York beat its 2019 numbers on data, which Hottovy attributed in part to large employers like banks requiring five days in the office again. 'I don't think we're ever going to quite get to 100% nationally,' Hottovy said. Despite some companies like Amazon and JPMorgan bringing workers back full-time, many companies have embraced at least a couple days at home each week.
CTV News
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Black Lives Still Matter: Textile artist Simone Saunders launches new book at Contemporary Calgary
A new book featuring the unique work of Calgary fibre artist Simone Saunders is being launched May 1 at Contemporary Calgary's First Thursday event. (Contemporary Calgary/Jesse Tamayo)
