Hybrid work patterns reveal occupancy varies throughout the week with Tuesdays typically being the highest day of the week and Fridays being the lowest. The chart below tracks Tuesday occupancy over time in ten cities and provides a new dimension to the weekly Barometer report. The Peak Day Hybrid Index will now be published weekly, offering a wider aperture into the full picture of workplace occupancy.
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Class A+ Occupancy
After posting gains or holding steady during April, Clas A+ buildings registered a full 2-point drop in occupancy last week, from a 78.7% national average the previous week to 76.7%. A deep dive into the daily data indicates that a significant drop in occupancy for the New York metro area on Monday, May 4th brought the national average down since NYC has a significant share of Class A+ building. We note there was a 10 a.m. 3-alarm fire with 180 firemen responding in Upper Manhattan that day which did significantly impact travel. None-the-less, workers returned to work in NYC the following Tuesday, which continued as the peak occupancy day of the week with May 5th coming in nationally at 94.6% down just slightly from the prior Tuesday’s 95.3%
Peak Day
The 10-city Barometer reported the peak day last week as Tuesday, May 5th, with occupancy of 64.7%, up one tenth over prior week’s Tuesday report of 64.6%. All ten cities in the Barometer experienced Tuesday as their peak day. Regional patterns remain consistent as well as the national consistency across the ten cities. All ten cities in the Barometer reported peak day values last week 5-7 points lower than each city’s highest peak day value for all of 2025-2026 — mostly occurring in mid-March of this year.
Weekly Average
The Kastle Barometer national weekly average occupancy was 54.6% this week, a second consecutive weekly drop, falling from the prior week’s 55.0%. Seven of the ten cities in the Barometer saw their weekly average drop, but all just slightly lower from the prior week. Austin, Dallas, and San Francico were the three gainers. Dallas was the biggest mover in a positive direction, gaining 1.1% to 63.5% weekly occupancy. San Jose reported the largest drop, falling 1.3% to 44.8% average weekly occupancy. Looking at the graph of the last 12 weeks of Barometer data, the lines are very stable for the last six weeks, smoothing out the March waves. The question is will May look like April, or more like March? Based upon data from the previous two years, we would expect May to continue the April pattern.
Methodology
To provide some clarity on the issues facing American businesses, Kastle has been studying keycard, fob and KastlePresence app access data from the 2,600 buildings and 41,000 businesses we secure across 47 states. We’re analyzing the anonymized data to identify trends in how Americans are returning to the office.
We have tracked and published U.S. office occupancy status in Kastle-secured commercial properties since the beginning of the Covid crisis in early 2020. We continue to seek to help companies navigate the ever-changing workplace landscape and adjust to the ‘new normal’ of office occupancy. Whether full-time hybrid or in-person, our commitment remains to helping American businesses understand how average workplaces are being attended weekly, monthly, and annually.
Kastle’s reach of buildings, businesses and cardholders secured generates millions of access events daily as users enter office complexes, and individual company workspaces. The Barometer weekly report summarizes access control data among our business partners in ten major metro areas, not a national statistical sample. Charted percentages reflect unique authorized user entries in each market relative to a pre-COVID baseline, averaged weekly.*
*On March 22, 2021, Kastle moved from daily to weekly data reporting to provide a more robust and comprehensive picture of office occupancy. We have also recalculated data back to the start of the time series for consistency. This has only a marginal impact on most cities and the national average.
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