Chicago skyline with lake michigan and lake shore drive showing


Office visits by building tenants are up big in two major U.S. cities but down in four others.

Since August 2024, Chicago and San Francisco have enjoyed a 12 and 10 percent increase in office visits by tenants, respectively, according to the Placer.ai Nationwide Office Building Index. Those figures are quite impressive considering the index showed an average increase of 2.9 percent among the 10 cities it tracks. Boston was the only other city of the 10 to exceed the average, suggesting it's good to be in the cleaning business in Bean Town, too.

Unfortunately, office visits are down year-over-year in Houston, Dallas, Miami, and Washington, D.C. Luckily, none of those decreases are devastatingly large, as Washington, D.C. experienced the biggest drop off at -3.9 percent. 

America's two biggest cities, Los Angeles and New York, experienced marginal growth at 2.5 and 0.2 percent, respectively. Atlanta experienced a small spike of 2.1 percent.

Placer.ai reasons that San Francisco's boom in office occupancy can be attributed to strong hiring and the presence of A.I. businesses in the city. Placer.ai called the rise in Chicago "encouraging," but isn't sure if the uptick will be lasting or not.

For a better look at the index, click here.