More than two years after the onset of the Covid pandemic, the return to work downtown is going slowly. This slow return raises questions about the future demand for office space, especially by tech firms.
According to a report released by the Downtown Seattle Association, the number of workers downtown is just 42% of pre-Covid levels. Seattle’s level of return to work downtown narrowly trails Portland but is higher than Los Angeles and San Francisco.
At the same time, Seattle has seen a significant rebound in visitors. In July 2019, Seattle had almost 3.3 million visitors, but that number dipped to 1.1 million in July 2020. This July, total visitors jumped to 2,977,653, injecting needed vitality into downtown Seattle.
