Is 50% the new RTO (Metro)?
I mentioned a few weeks ago the better europeThe rate of return to the office was doing against ours: 90+% RTO, while the US is ~60%. I can’t speak to Europe, but that US number is an average across all regions, industries, age groups, etc. In some parts of the country, it is appreciably higher or lower; As you can imagine, it varies a lot.
The biggest drag? Big cities.
As the graph above by Torsten Slok shows, the largest metropolitan employment centers perform below the national average, which is around 50%. The range is surprisingly wide, from the mid-30s to the upper 60s: Austin,1 Texas is in the mid-60% range; San Jose is in the top 30%; San Francisco, DC and Philidelphia are under 40%. New York City, the largest metropolitan center in the US, is one of the laggards with an office occupancy rate of 46%.
Hybrid work models are now well established. This leads Slok to ask a fascinating question: Is 50% the new permanent level in most metro areas for RTO?
Could be…
Previously:
Of course the WFH is “really working” (March 29, 2023)
WFH vs RTO (February 16, 2023)
Why aren’t there enough workers? (December 9, 2022)
sorry we are closed (March 13, 2020)
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1. One of the funniest things a customer told us was that “Austin is the hint of blueberry in the middle of Texas raspberry pie.” I really love that line…
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