The long shadow of the pandemic still looms over the workforce, with many still working from home. But office buildings and downtown parking garages are slowly filling up as people return to their cubicles.
The latest data from the Placer.ai Office Index suggests that nationwide office visits may be trending upwards once again. Although March 2025 office visit levels didn’t match the peaks of October and July 2024, visits last month were only 32.2% below March 2019 levels — an improvement over March 2024.
Significantly, among months with 21 or fewer working days, March 2025 ranked as the second-busiest in-office month since the pandemic, just slightly behind October 2023.
Overall, the Placer.ai Office Index points to a renewed upswing in return-to-office momentum, likely driven by increasingly strict mandates from governments and corporations. Though persistent post-pandemic office visit gaps point to the continued prevalence of hybrid work, March’s noticeable uptick suggests that offices may be poised to make further gains in the coming months.
Here are the six cities with the biggest year-over-year return-to-office increases between March 2024 and March 2025, according to Placer.ai.
Bostonians had the highest year-over-year return-to-office rate of any city, with a 10.2% uptick in office visits compared to a year ago. Still, Boston office populations are 40% below where they were pre-pandemic.
Washington D.C. was in second with a 9.8% increase over last March. But the city’s offices are still 30.6% lower in occupancy than before the pandemic.
President Trump gave workers an incentive to come back to their offices in the form of a not-so-veiled threat. “If people don’t come back to work, come back into the office, they’re going to be dismissed,” he said shortly after taking office.
According Place.ai, the amount of office workers in San Francisco has increased by 9.6% over last March. Still, San Francisco has a long way to go before reaching pre-pandemic office levels. Offices are still 44% below the pre-pandemic baseline.
DOGE administrator and Trump confidante Elon Musk said the city’s empty streets gave it a “post-apocalyptic” feel.
New York City’s office occupancy crept up 6.1% from the previous year and now leads the pack overall, sitting only about 10% below pre-pandemic occupancy levels.
Miami saw a 5.7% increase over last March. The city is still 17% below its pre-pandemic occupancy.
Place.ai shows office visits going up 5.6% in March 2025 over March 2024, but the city still lags far beyond it’s pre-pandemic rate. The city is still down over 44% in office visits.
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