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
The June surge continued this week as workers in A+ buildings flowed into the office, pushing average occupancy to 80.4% for the week, more than a point higher than the week prior, and several points higher than the 74% to 77% during most of April and May. Peak occupancy occurred Tuesday, at 97.8%, four tenths over the prior week.
Peak Day
Daily office occupancy rose this past week, peaking Tuesday at 66.8%, a record high for the nation. New York City, at 77.9%, reached an individual record high. Most other cities saw increases in occupancy over the week prior. The biggest increase took place in Austin TX, where occupancy shot up more than 5 points Tuesday, to 91.1%. Notable exceptions to this upward trend included Philadelphia and Los Angeles, which both experienced daily decreases, for example, falling 2 or more points Tuesday to Tuesday.
Weekly Average
June office occupancy continued to surge this past week, with the 10 City Back to Work Barometer rising three tenths, to 56.5%. Most cities experienced an increase in average occupancy or held essentially flat. Only Philadelphia (down 1.2 points to 43.2%) and Los Angeles (down 8 tenths to 48.8%) bucked the trend. Prior years have seen similar surges between the Memorial Day and July 4 holidays.
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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