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
Occupancy in Class A+ buildings rose to record levels this past week in a late-January pattern similar to prior years. For the week, occupancy hit 80.8%, a full point higher than their previous record set in October 2025 and more than 11 points above the prior week. It is the first time the Class A+ weekly average has topped 80 percent. Peak daily occupancy occurred Tuesday, at 97.2% — high but about a point below the prior one-day record, indicating that the weekly record reflects a broader return to the office than a single high day. By comparison, across all buildings, both the weekly average (56.9%) and peak day (66.6%) hit record highs.
Peak Day
In a pattern similar to late January in prior years, workers returned to the office in record numbers this past week, with the 10 City Back to Work Barometer peaking Tuesday at 66.6%. Tuesday saw Washington DC hit its record daily high, 65.5%, and Dallas, 76.4%. Significantly, daily occupancy was up every day compared to the week prior, indicating a large-scale return to work.
Weekly Average
In a pattern similar to prior late Januarys, workers returned to the office in large numbers this past week, with the 10 City Back to Work Barometer reaching a record high of 56.9% for the week, three tenths higher than the prior record set in early December 2025. Washington DC (55.8%), New York (60.1%) and Dallas (66.6%) all experienced new record highs. But even those cities not hitting records experienced large gains over the week prior; San Jose was up 12.3 points to 51.1%, while even Philadelphia, at 43.7%, was up four and a half points.
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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