Office visits retreated in August following a stronger performance in July, likely due to fewer working days during the month this year, as well as the peak of vacation season. Even markets like New York and Miami, which had fully recovered in July 2025 in terms of post-pandemic office visits, saw August dips of over 10%.
Office visits remained down 34% nationally from August 2019 levels, according to Placer.ai’s end-of-summer office index report, which called the shift a "modest setback." By comparison, July office visits were down 21.8% relative to 2019.
This year, August had 21 working days compared with 22 in August 2024 and 2019. On a per-workday basis, visits this year outperformed August 2023, which had two extra working days.
Seasonal dynamics also likely played a crucial role.
“August represents peak vacation season, and just as employees often embrace remote work on Fridays to extend weekends, they likely embrace similar flexibility during the peak summer travel season,” Placer.ai explained.
“Organizations may relax in-office requirements when substantial portions of their workforce are taking time off.”
Placer.ai noted that office recovery is nonlinear, with periods of improvement alternating with slowdowns influenced by calendar differences and seasonality, but the underlying recovery trajectory remains fundamentally intact. September is poised to be a critical month for office recovery, as schools resume and employees return from vacations.
While gaps widened across most markets, San Francisco avoided last place again, beating out Chicago in terms of post-pandemic office recovery metrics, although the market still faces below-average office attendance relative to 2019. Bolstered by increased AI sector leasing activity, the Bay Area continues drawing employees back to offices even amid summer distractions. The city ranked among the year-over-year office visit recovery leaders for August, highlighting its robust recovery momentum, said the report.
Chicago claimed the top spot with a 12.5% year-over-year increase in visits. Placer.ai said it remains to be seen whether this encouraging progress signals the beginning of a lasting turnaround for the Windy City. Boston also exceeded the nationwide year-over-year average of 2.9% with a 3.1% increase in visits. Meanwhile, Washington, D.C., lagged with an annual decline of 3.9%, according to Placer.ai.
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