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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Occupancy Dips Due to Winter Weather; Class A+ Buildings Continue to Show Higher Occupancy in January
Peak day office occupancy was 61.2% on Tuesday last week, down 2.1 points from the previous week. Winter weather affected workers in Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Philadelphia, as Wednesday occupancy fell 36.1 points, 22.3 points, and 13.9 points, respectively. San Jose reached 64.5% occupancy on Tuesday, hitting a new record single-day post-pandemic high. The average low was on Friday at 36.4%, up six tenths of a point from last week.
The weekly average occupancy fell nearly three points to 51.4% last week, according to the 10-city Back to Work Barometer. The winter weather in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Chicago accounted for much of the drop, as occupancy fell 12.4 points to 39.2%, 6.5 points to 37.7%, and 5.9 points to 50.4%, respectively. San Jose experienced a record high of 54.9%, up 1.4 points from last week and the city’s third record in four weeks.
In January 2025, over 100 buildings categorized as Class A+ within the Barometer dataset continued to show higher occupancy rates consistent with our previous occupancy analysis by building class. Average occupancy in January among Class A+ buildings was 68.0% compared to the Barometer average of 48.7%. And on peak days (Tuesdays) in January, Class A+ occupancy averaged 82.5% compared to the Tuesday average of 56.7% across all Barometer buildings.
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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