Copyright View the Space, Inc. 2025
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METHODOLOGY
VTS Office
Demand Index
(VODI)
Quarterly Report
Is demand finally thawing?
Get a pulse on what’s happening
in the market today.
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Learn more about VTS Data
The office demand gap between more remote-friendly cities (Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) and less remote-friendly ones (Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City) has narrowed to less than half its peak of over 40 percent in late-2023. This shift reflects earlier return-to-office recoveries in the less remote-friendly group, largely shaped by differences in sectoral makeup and office culture.
LOCAL
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5 of the 7 cities tracked saw year-over-year increases in the VODI.
Read VODI impacts on local markets
LOCAL
At 74, the Los Angeles VODI was 32.1 percent above its level of 56 three months ago, and up 19.4 percent year-over-year. With the exception of a short-lived spike in May 2022, the current reading is Los Angeles’ highest since the Post-Vaccine Wave in the Summer of 2021, when the city’s VODI briefly surpassed 100.
At 74, the Los Angeles VODI is also the highest VODI among all cities reported. The city’s VODI growth owes primarily to a spike in tenants seeking large spaces, greater than 50,000 square feet. New demand for spaces of that size in Los Angeles is now higher than at any time since June 2021. While the WGA strikes may have hurt demand in Los Angeles as of recent, the tech sector made up for that recently.
In contrast, at 21, the Seattle VODI was 43.2 percent below its level of 37 in June, and down 52.3 percent year-over-year.
Flowing at only about one-fifth of its pre-pandemic pace in 2018-2019, Seattle’s VODI is the lowest among all VODI cities. Although Seattle saw considerable new demand in the medium-sized, 10,000-50,000 square foot category, it has seen no new requirements at all for large spaces in the 50,000+ square foot category since June. While the Seattle market occasionally sees a month without new demand in the 50,000+ square foot category, the 3-month absence of such demand from July to September is the only such gap since the early pandemic lockdown period.
SEE MORE LOCAL TRENDS
This refers to the average of the VODI cities’ month-over-month changes using absolute values, so that negative and positive fluctuations don’t cancel each other out.
1
NEW YORK CITY
NEW YORK CITY
SAN FRANCISCO
SAN FRANCISCO
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Pre-Pandemic
The Reset
The Crash
The Thawing
The Trough
New Demand for Office Space Over the Pandemic: An Illustration
From January 2018 to March 2020, new office demand fluctuated around a level of 100. In some cities, there was a noticeable downward trend in advance of the pandemic: Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle; in the other cities the VODI was more ambiguous as to whether it was flat or slightly upward trending.
Pre-Pandemic
In Spring 2020 new office demand fell sharply to the “pandemic low.” Nationally, the VODI fell from 102 in March 2020 to 16 in June 2020, a decline of 84 percent. In some cities the sharp fall was followed by a quick v-shaped rise (New York City and Los Angeles); In others, there was a prolonged u-shaped trough (Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, and Seattle).
The Crash
From June 2020 through the end of that year, new office demand generally remained very low. In some cities, such as Boston, Chicago and Washington, D.C., the VODI remained more or less flat during this period. In others, such as San Francisco and Seattle, and most notably in New York City and Chicago, this period saw new office demand begin to recover, foreshadowing the phase that was to follow.
The Trough
After vaccines were introduced in early 2021 a sense of return-to-normalcy pervaded. Nationally, the VODI rose from 33 in January 2021 to 85 in June 2021, as demand that had been waiting on the sidelines during The Trough entered the market all at once in a short period. Once that pent-up demand was spent, the VODI quickly subsided from 87 in August 2021 to 61 in October 2021. Although cities whose economies are more remote work-friendly exhibited substantially lower levels of new office demand, all cities experienced a reset.
The Reset
Since October 2021 the VODI has been seemingly stagnant. It trended downward slightly in the earlier part of the period, and bottomed out in late-2022 and early-2023. Since then, it has slow v beaun aainina new momentum.
The Thawing
Explore nationwide trends
The VODI softened in Q1 2025. Although the index ended the quarter at 68—up a modest 4.6% from a year earlier—that figure masks declines in January and February that ended a 20-month streak of year-over-year growth.
NATIONAL
SEE LOCAL TRENDS
The broader labor market continues to cool. Job postings have declined significantly since their 2022 peak, falling steadily over the past two years. While demand for workers surged during the initial recovery, the pace of new postings has slowed across nearly all major sectors.
View impact on VODI
The tech sector, which has been the most resistant to returning to the office, seems to be shifting towards a more favorable view of on-site work.
NATIONAL
Seattle has also seen its VODI trend downwards in recent years, since the
Post-Vaccine Wave of new office demand. However, it has strengthened in recent months, rising 38.2 percent on a quarterly basis and more than doubling from its low point of 20 in August 2023. Having said that, we want to see this trend continue for several more months before labeling it as a resurgence, as we did in Los Angeles and New York City.
Chicago’s VODI has also been declining since the Post-Vaccine Wave and has remained relatively flat since mid-2022. It is not yet clear in which direction it will head.
Finally, San Francisco and Boston both experienced minimal versions of the Post-Vaccine Wave, and despite some volatility, they have essentially remained flat at levels near or below 50 since then.
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KEY TAKEAWAYS
NATIONAL TRENDS
LOCAL TRENDS
METHODOLOGY
COMPANY
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From the early stages of the post-pandemic recovery, demand for office space rebounded more quickly in cities with a stronger presence of FIRE and professional and business service industries. These sectors tend to support more traditional, in-person work cultures, and are especially concentrated in markets like New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
In contrast, more remote-friendly cities — including San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, and Washington, D.C. — have larger footprints in TAMI industries, where employer policies and worker preferences leaned more heavily toward remote work. As a result, these cities saw a slower rebound in office demand, widening the gap between the two groups.
By late 2023, that divergence peaked: the VODI gap between more and less remote-friendly cities exceeded 40 percent. But by early-2025, the gap had narrowed to less than half its peak level, marking the closest alignment in demand since before the pandemic.
Despite some pullback in Q2 of 2024, New York City shows a steady increase in the 12-month VODI change trend line.
National
Local
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS REPORT
The VODI softened in Q1 2025. Although the index ended the quarter at 68—up a modest 4.6% from a year earlier—that figure masks declines in January and February that ended a 20-month streak of year-over-year growth.
NEXT
NEXT
VTS Office
Demand Index
(VODI)
QUARTERLY REPORT
April 2025
The VODI softened in Q1 2025. Although the index ended the quarter at 68—up a modest 4.6% from a year earlier—that figure masks declines in January and February that ended a 20-month streak of year-over-year growth.
NATIONAL
The first quarter of 2025, however, showed uneven movement:
SEE MORE NATIONAL TRENDS
The broader labor market continues to cool. Job postings have declined significantly since their 2022 peak, falling steadily over the past two years. While demand for workers surged during the initial recovery, the pace of new postings has slowed across nearly all major sectors.
Growing uncertainty around U.S. trade policy is compounding a slowdown in the labor market, marked by fewer job postings and a hiring rate now at early-2010s levels. The softening VODI points to weakening office demand, though this may be offset by employers regaining leverage in a cooler market and pushing for more on-site work. A recent drop in the share of demand from the FIRE sector, which is more sensitive to uncertainty and further along in returning to the office, underscores the trend.
NATIONAL
From January 2018 to March 2020, new office demand fluctuated around a level of 100. In some cities, there was a noticeable downward trend in advance of the pandemic: Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle; in the other cities the VODI was more ambiguous as to whether it was flat or slightly upward trending.
Pre-Pandemic
In Spring 2020 new office demand fell sharply to the “pandemic low.” Nationally, the VODI fell from 102 in March 2020 to 16 in June 2020, a decline of 84 percent. In some cities the sharp fall was followed by a quick v-shaped rise (New York City and Los Angeles); In others, there was a prolonged u-shaped trough (Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, and Seattle).
The Crash
From June 2020 through the end of that year, new office demand generally remained very low. In some cities, such as Boston, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., the VODI remained more or less flat during this period. In others, such as San Francisco and Seattle, and most notably in New York City and Chicago, this period saw new office demand begin to recover, foreshadowing the phase that was to follow.
The Trough
After vaccines were introduced in early 2021 a sense of return-to-normalcy pervaded. Nationally, the VODI rose from 33 in January 2021 to 85 in June 2021, as demand that had been waiting on the sidelines during The Trough entered the market all at once in a short period. Once that pent-up demand was spent, the VODI quickly subsided from 87 in August 2021 to 61 in October 2021. Although cities whose economies are more remote work-friendly exhibited substantially lower levels of new office demand, all cities experienced a reset.
The Reset
Since October 2021 the VODI has been seemingly stagnant. It trended downward slightly in the earlier part of the period, and bottomed out in late-2022 and early-2023. Since then, it has slowly begun gaining new momentum.
The Thawing
Read VODI impacts on local markets
5 of the 7 cities tracked saw year-over-year increases in the VODI.
LOCAL
From the early stages of the post-pandemic recovery, demand for office space rebounded more quickly in cities with a stronger presence of FIRE and professional and business service industries. These sectors tend to support more traditional, in-person work cultures, and are especially concentrated in markets like New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
In contrast, more remote-friendly cities — including San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, and Washington, D.C. — have larger footprints in TAMI industries, where employer policies and worker preferences leaned more heavily toward remote work. As a result, these cities saw a slower rebound in office demand, widening the gap between the two groups.
By late 2023, that divergence peaked: the VODI gap between more and less remote-friendly cities exceeded 40 percent. But by early-2025, the gap had narrowed to less than half its peak level, marking the closest alignment in demand since before the pandemic.
Read more local VODI trends
The office demand gap between more remote-friendly cities (Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) and less remote-friendly ones (Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City) has narrowed to less than half its peak of over 40 percent in late-2023. This shift reflects earlier return-to-office recoveries in the less remote-friendly group, largely shaped by differences in sectoral makeup and office culture.
LOCAL
Get a pulse on what’s happening in the market today.
Copyright View the Space, Inc. 2025
BACK TO TOP
METHODOLOGY
National
Local
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS REPORT
5 of the 7 cities tracked saw year-over-year increases in the VODI.
NEXT
The office demand gap between more remote-friendly cities (Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) and less remote-friendly ones (Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City) has narrowed to less than half its peak of over 40 percent in late 2023. This shift reflects earlier return-to-office recoveries in the less remote-friendly group, largely shaped by differences in sectoral makeup and office culture.
The tech sector, which has been the most resistant to returning to the office, seems to be shifting towards a more favorable view of on-site work.
NEXT
The VODI softened in Q1 2025. Although the index ended the quarter at 68—up a modest 4.6% from a year earlier—that figure masks declines in January and February that ended a 20-month streak of year-over-year growth.
San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, and Seattle are finally beginning to thaw. New demand for office space remains the highest in Los Angeles and New York City, though after gaining significant momentum over the last two years, both cities have seen their VODI recede recently. The office market in Washington, D.C., the only city whose VODI declined year-over-year, may be paralyzed in anticipation of the presidential election.
• • •
Hiring activity has also weakened. The hire rate — the share of employed workers hired in the past month — hovered near 4.5 percent in early-2022 but has since slipped to around 3.4 percent as of early-2025, a level last seen in the early-2010s.
April 2025
Growing uncertainty around U.S. trade policy is compounding a slowdown in the labor market, marked by fewer job postings and a hiring rate now at early-2010s levels. The softening VODI points to weakening office demand, though this may be offset by employers regaining leverage in a cooler market and pushing for more on-site work. A recent drop in the share of demand from the FIRE sector, which is more sensitive to uncertainty and further along in returning to the office, underscores the trend.
Read more
Read more
Read more
Read more
Read more
Pre-Pandemic
The Reset
The Crash
The Recovery
The Trough
New Demand for Office Space Over the Pandemic: An Illustration
Is demand finally thawing?
From January 2018 to March 2020, new office demand fluctuated around a level of 100. In some cities, there was a noticeable downward trend in advance of the pandemic: Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle; in the other cities the VODI was more ambiguous as to whether it was flat or slightly upward trending.
Pre-Pandemic
In Spring 2020, new office demand fell sharply to the “pandemic low.” Nationally, the VODI fell from 102 in March 2020 to 16 in June 2020, a decline of 84 percent. In some cities the sharp fall was followed by a quick v-shaped rise (New York City and Los Angeles); In others, there was a prolonged u-shaped trough (Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, and Seattle).
The Crash
From June 2020 through the end of that year, new office demand generally remained very low. In some cities, such as Boston, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., the VODI remained more or less flat during this period. In others, such as San Francisco and Seattle, and most notably in New York City and Chicago, this period saw new office demand begin to recover, foreshadowing the phase that was to follow.
The Trough
After vaccines were introduced in early 2021 a sense of return-to-normalcy pervaded. Nationally, the VODI rose from 33 in January 2021 to 85 in June 2021, as demand that had been waiting on the sidelines during The Trough entered the market all at once in a short period. Once that pent-up demand was spent, the VODI quickly subsided.
The Reset
After October 2021, the VODI seemed almost stagnant. It eventually bottomed out at the end of 2022 and has been gradually recovering since then.
The Recovery
Dec 2022
VODI
46
Dec 2023
55
Dec 2024
64
VODI has risen substantially during the last two years
What the VODI reflects:
The VODI measures the pace at which new office space requirements, adjusted for market size, enter the pool of active demand. A reading of 100 indicates that new requirements are flowing in at the same average pace as during 2018-2019. The VODI reflects only the rate at which office space is likely to fill—not how it may empty out or change due to supply fluctuations.
While the VODI tracks growth in new demand, office occupancy reflects the proportion of office space currently in use. Even if the VODI reaches 100 and soon after active demand quickly recovers to pre-pandemic levels, this simply means that offices will likely fill at the same pace as before the pandemic—but it could still take a long time for occupancy to return to pre-pandemic levels. The pandemic caused a sharp decline in occupancy, and recovery of the VODI does not mean that the gap left by that drop has been filled—only that the pace of filling has recovered.
How the VODI differs from occupancy:
Occupancy is further shaped by the overall supply of office space, which fluctuates as buildings are constructed, demolished, or repurposed. Currently, minimal new office construction and modest conversions of office buildings to residential or other uses are slightly helping to boost occupancy rates.
The role of office supply:
The increase in new demand for office space – even amid a cooling labor market – reflects growing clarity around hybrid and remote work norms, giving employers more confidence to pursue their office space needs.
However, the TAMI sector continues to defy this trend, maintaining a stronger aversion to in-person work than other office-using industries.
•
•
In addition, recent gyrations in new U.S. trade policy have heightened economic uncertainty. Uncertainty typically prompts caution, leading employers to delay hiring and related commitments, such as signing new office leases.
While a cooling labor market normally weakens office demand, the current situation is more complex. We’re still in the midst of a broad return-to-office trend following the COVID-19 pandemic. As the labor market cools, employers gain bargaining power, enabling them to push for more on-site work, which helps offset the drag on office demand.
The sectoral mix of new office demand highlights this offsetting effect. The FIRE sector’s share of new office demand dropped sharply in Q1, falling from 31.9 percent of square footage in November 2024 to just 20.8 percent in March 2025. This sector tends to be more sensitive to shifts in financial conditions and was already among the most advanced in returning to the office, leaving less room for further on-site gains to counterbalance labor market weakness.
Together, these trends reflect a labor market losing momentum - something that would typically reduce office demand - but it’s being partially offset by employers’ increased ability to require in-person work. The FIRE sector’s retreat underscores this dynamic: a group that’s both economically exposed and already mostly back in-office, now scaling back as other sectors lag behind.
View impact on VODI
Read VODI impacts on local markets
Learn more about VTS Data
See VODI Methodology
5 of the 7 cities tracked saw year-over-year increases in the VODI.
Growing uncertainty around U.S. trade policy is compounding a slowdown in the labor market, marked by fewer job postings and a hiring rate now at early-2010s levels. The softening VODI points to weakening office demand, though this may be offset by employers regaining leverage in a cooler market and pushing for more on-site work. A recent drop in the share of demand from the FIRE sector, which is more sensitive to uncertainty and further along in returning to the office, underscores the trend.
Explore nationwide trends
The national VODI closed the year 16.4 percent higher than a year ago and 39.1 percent higher than two years ago.
At this pace of growth, it would take approximately four more years for the VODI to reach a level of 100 in December.
•
•
We focus on year-over-year comparisons because they help smooth out the seasonal effects that tend to influence office demand at the same time each year, such as the typical lull in January. January typically sees very little change in the VODI. From 2018 to 2024, the national VODI’s January movement ranged from down 2.5 percent (2019) to 3.2 percent up (2020). This year’s 18.8 percent January decline in the VODI breaks sharply from the seasonal norm.
At a level of 68, the VODI indicates that new demand for office space flowed in at just over two-thirds of its pre-pandemic pace. The VODI remains well above its post-pandemic low of late-2022 (46), and the rise since then loosely corresponds to the trend of returning to the office. Still, it is far from its pre-COVID average, which hovered near 100 during 2018–2019.
In other words, demand has come a long way, but momentum appears to be cooling. Whether this signals a temporary pause or a more durable shift remains to be seen, and may be closely tied to the newly heightened economic uncertainty that has emerged in the early days of Q2 2025.
January saw a sharp 18.8 percent drop, wiping out previous year-over-year gains and leaving the VODI 7.1 percent below its level a year earlier.
A modest rebound in February brought the index to just 3.4 percent below its year-ago level, followed by a more pronounced recovery in March, ending the quarter up 4.6 percent year-over-year.
The January and February declines broke a nearly two-year streak of consistent year-over-year growth that had persisted since mid-2023.
•
•
•
Read more
Pre-Pandemic
Read more
The Crash
Read more
The Trough
Read more
The Reset
Read more
The Thawing
Could we be at
inflection point?
Jan '18
Mar '20
Jun '20
Oct '21
Jan '23
Jan '21
Mar '25
New Demand for Office Space Over the Pandemic: An Illustration
From January 2018 to March 2020, new office demand fluctuated around a level of 100. In some cities, there was a noticeable downward trend in advance of the pandemic: Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle; in the other cities the VODI was more ambiguous as to whether it was flat or slightly upward trending.
Pre-Pandemic
In Spring 2020 new office demand fell sharply to the “pandemic low.” Nationally, the VODI fell from 102 in March 2020 to 16 in June 2020, a decline of 84 percent. In some cities the sharp fall was followed by a quick v-shaped rise (New York City and Los Angeles); In others, there was a prolonged u-shaped trough (Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, and Seattle).
The Crash
From June 2020 through the end of that year, new office demand generally remained very low. In some cities, such as Boston, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., the VODI remained more or less flat during this period. In others, such as San Francisco and Seattle, and most notably in New York City and Chicago, this period saw new office demand begin to recover, foreshadowing the phase that was to follow.
The Trough
After vaccines were introduced in early 2021 a sense of return-to-normalcy pervaded. Nationally, the VODI rose from 33 in January 2021 to 85 in June 2021, as demand that had been waiting on the sidelines during The Trough entered the market all at once in a short period. Once that pent-up demand was spent, the VODI quickly subsided from 87 in August 2021 to 61 in October 2021. Although cities whose economies are more remote work-friendly exhibited substantially lower levels of new office demand, all cities experienced a reset.
The Reset
Since October 2021 the VODI has been seemingly stagnant. It trended downward slightly in the earlier part of the period, and bottomed out in late-2022 and early-2023. Since then, it has slowly begun gaining new momentum.
The Thawing
The national VODI closed the year 16.4 percent higher than a year ago and 39.1 percent higher than two years ago.
At this pace of growth, it would take approximately four more years for the VODI to reach a level of 100 in December.
•
•
Explore nationwide trends
Hiring activity has also weakened. The hire rate — the share of employed workers hired in the past month — hovered near 4.5 percent in early-2022 but has since slipped to around 3.4 percent as of early-2025, a level last seen in the early-2010s.
In addition, recent gyrations in new U.S. trade policy have heightened economic uncertainty. Uncertainty typically prompts caution, leading employers to delay hiring and related commitments, such as signing new office leases.
While a cooling labor market normally weakens office demand, the current situation is more complex. We’re still in the midst of a broad return-to-office trend following the COVID-19 pandemic. As the labor market cools, employers gain bargaining power, enabling them to push for more on-site work, which helps offset the drag on office demand.
The sectoral mix of new office demand highlights this offsetting effect. The FIRE sector’s share of new office demand dropped sharply in Q1, falling from 31.9 percent of square footage in November 2024 to just 20.8 percent in March 2025. This sector tends to be more sensitive to shifts in financial conditions and was already among the most advanced in returning to the office, leaving less room for further on-site gains to counterbalance labor market weakness.
Together, these trends reflect a labor market losing momentum - something that would typically reduce office demand - but it’s being partially offset by employers’ increased ability to require in-person work. The FIRE sector’s retreat underscores this dynamic: a group that’s both economically exposed and already mostly back in-office, now scaling back as other sectors lag behind.
Explore nationwide trends
Together, these patterns point to a shifting geography of demand. While early return-to-office markets like New York City and Los Angeles appear to be plateauing, others — especially those with heavier TAMI exposure — may just now be experiencing a later wave of return-to-office activity, driven by labor market softness and increasing employer leverage.
Read VODI impacts on local markets
See VODI Methodology
San Francisco’s VODI increased 31.7 percent annually, and Boston, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., all increased around 20 percent.
New York City and Los Angeles, the first cities to see their VODI indexes recover, saw a modest weakening of office demand compared to a year ago.
• •
The first quarter of 2025, however, showed uneven movement:
January saw a sharp 18.8 percent drop, wiping out previous year-over-year gains and leaving the VODI 7.1 percent below its level a year earlier.
A modest rebound in February brought the index to just 3.4 percent below its year-ago level, followed by a more pronounced recovery in March, ending the quarter up 4.6 percent year-over-year.
The January and February declines broke a nearly two-year streak of consistent year-over-year growth that had persisted since mid-2023.
•
•
•
We focus on year-over-year comparisons because they help smooth out the seasonal effects that tend to influence office demand at the same time each year, such as the typical lull in January. January typically sees very little change in the VODI. From 2018 to 2024, the national VODI’s January movement ranged from down 2.5 percent (2019) to 3.2 percent up (2020). This year’s 18.8 percent January decline in the VODI breaks sharply from the seasonal norm.
At a level of 68, the VODI indicates that new demand for office space flowed in at just over two-thirds of its pre-pandemic pace. The VODI remains well above its post-pandemic low of late-2022 (46), and the rise since then loosely corresponds to the trend of returning to the office. Still, it is far from its pre-COVID average, which hovered near 100 during 2018–2019.
In other words, demand has come a long way, but momentum appears to be cooling. Whether this signals a temporary pause or a more durable shift remains to be seen, and may be closely tied to the newly heightened economic uncertainty that has emerged in the early days of Q2 2025.
The national VODI closed the year 16.4 percent higher than a year ago and 39.1 percent higher than two years ago.
At this pace of growth, it would take approximately four more years for the VODI to reach a level of 100 in December.
•
•
Growing uncertainty around U.S. trade policy is compounding a slowdown in the labor market, marked by fewer job postings and a hiring rate now at early-2010s levels. The softening VODI points to weakening office demand, though this may be offset by employers regaining leverage in a cooler market and pushing for more on-site work. A recent drop in the share of demand from the FIRE sector, which is more sensitive to uncertainty and further along in returning to the office, underscores the trend.
San Francisco’s VODI increased 31.7 percent annually, and Boston, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., all increased around 20 percent.
New York City and Los Angeles, the first to see their VODI indexes recover, saw a modest weakening of office demand compared to a year ago.
•
•
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Washington, D.C.,showed signs of new momentum, with a 22.7 percent year-over-year increase — potentially reflecting office space adjustments following the installation of the new administration.
increase from a year ago
22.7%
Boston and Seattle also posted solid gains, with VODI increases of 21.6 percent and 19.1 percent, respectively — pushing demand in each city to its highest level since mid-2021 (August for Boston) and early-2022 (May for Seattle).
increase from a year ago
21.6%
BOSTON AND SEATTLE
increase from a year ago
19.1%
SEATTLE
BOSTON
SEATTLE
Chicago saw a more modest increase, up 11.5 percent year-over-year, signaling a slower but still positive recovery compared to the faster-growing coastal markets.
increase from a year ago
11.5%
CHICAGO
New York City and Los Angeles were the only markets to record annual declines. New York City’s VODI fell 4.7 percent, and Los Angeles dropped by 12.9 percent — the weakest performance among the tracked cities. New York City’s decline may reflect the dynamics of its FIRE-heavy office market, which returned to the office earlier than most and now has less remaining upside for renewed demand.
NEW YORK CITY AND LOS ANGELES
decline from a year ago
4.7%
NEW YORK CITY
decline from a year ago
12.9%
LOS ANGELES
Together, these patterns point to a shifting geography of demand. While early return-to-office markets like New York City and Los Angeles appear to be plateauing, others — especially those with heavier TAMI exposure — may just now be experiencing a later wave of return-to-office activity, driven by labor market softness and increasing employer leverage.
Read more local VODI trends
The shift reflects a rebalancing of office behavior across sectors. While FIRE-dominated markets returned to the office earlier, that momentum has since leveled off. Meanwhile, TAMI-heavy cities appear to be catching up, driven in part by weakening labor conditions and shifting employer expectations.
Data on fully on-site work by industry from WFH Research underscores this trend. In March 2023, the Information sector – a close proxy for TAMI – stood out as the most remote of the three, with just 23.4 percent of its workdays fully on-site. That level was well below Finance and Insurance (31.1 percent and Professional and Business Services, or PBS (39.3 percent). By March 2025, that gap had narrowed considerably. The share of fully on-site workdays in the Information sector rose to 35.3 percent, above Finance and Insurance (32.8 percent) and not far behind Professional and Business Services (40.0 percent).
This convergence in workplace behavior across sectors is a key factor driving the geographic narrowing in office demand: cities with large TAMI footprints, once outliers in remote work, are increasingly resembling FIRE- and PBS-heavy markets in their return-to-office patterns — helping to close the gap in demand between them.
San Francisco’s VODI increased 31.7 percent annually, and Boston, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., all increased around 20 percent.
New York City and Los Angeles, the first cities to see their VODI indexes recover, saw a modest weakening of office demand compared to a year ago.
•
•
5 of the 7 cities tracked saw year-over-year increases in the VODI.
The increase in new demand for office space – even amid a cooling labor market – reflects growing clarity around hybrid and remote work norms, giving employers more confidence to pursue their office space needs.
However, the TAMI sector continues to defy this trend, maintaining a stronger aversion to in-person work than other office-using industries.
•
•
Washington, D.C.,showed signs of new momentum, with a 22.7 percent year-over-year increase — potentially reflecting office space adjustments following the installation of the new administration.
increase from a year ago
22.7%
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Washington, D.C.,showed signs of new momentum, with a 22.7 percent year-over-year increase — potentially reflecting office space adjustments following the installation of the new administration.
increase from a year ago
22.7%
WASHINGTON, D.C.
BOSTON AND SEATTLE
increase from a year ago
22.7%
BOSTON
Washington, D.C.,showed signs of new momentum, with a 22.7 percent year-over-year increase — potentially reflecting office space adjustments following the installation of the new administration.
increase from a year ago
22.7%
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Boston and Seattle also posted solid gains, with VODI increases of 21.6 percent and 19.1 percent, respectively — pushing demand in each city to its highest level since mid-2021 (August for Boston) and early-2022 (May for Seattle).
increase from a year ago
21.6%
BOSTON
increase from a year ago
19.1%
seattle
BOSTON AND SEATTLE
Read VODI impacts on local markets
From the early stages of the post-pandemic recovery, demand for office space rebounded more quickly in cities with a stronger presence of FIRE and professional and business service industries. These sectors tend to support more traditional, in-person work cultures, and are especially concentrated in markets like New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
In contrast, more remote-friendly cities — including San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, and Washington, D.C. — have larger footprints in TAMI industries, where employer policies and worker preferences leaned more heavily toward remote work. As a result, these cities saw a slower rebound in office demand, widening the gap between the two groups.
By late 2023, that divergence peaked: the VODI gap between more and less remote-friendly cities exceeded 40 percent. But by early-2025, the gap had narrowed to less than half its peak level, marking the closest alignment in demand since before the pandemic.
The shift reflects a rebalancing of office behavior across sectors. While FIRE-dominated markets returned to the office earlier, that momentum has since leveled off. Meanwhile, TAMI-heavy cities appear to be catching up, driven in part by weakening labor conditions and shifting employer expectations.
Data on fully on-site work by industry from WFH Research underscores this trend. In March 2023, the Information sector – a close proxy for TAMI – stood out as the most remote of the three, with just 23.4 percent of its workdays fully on-site. That level was well below Finance and Insurance (31.1 percent and Professional and Business Services, or PBS (39.3 percent). By March 2025, that gap had narrowed considerably. The share of fully on-site workdays in the Information sector rose to 35.3 percent, above Finance and Insurance (32.8 percent) and not far behind Professional and Business Services (40.0 percent).
National
Explore nationwide trends
Among the markets tracked by the VODI, San Francisco posted the largest year-over-year gain, with demand rising 31.7 percent compared to March 2024. The surge may reflect a delayed shift back to the office in a region where the TAMI sector is heavily represented. With the TAMI labor market weakening significantly over the past year, more workers may be returning on-site under increased employer pressure.
increase from a year ago
31.7%
SAN FRANCISCO
Washington, D.C.,showed signs of new momentum, with a 22.7 percent year-over-year increase — potentially reflecting office space adjustments following the installation of the new administration.
increase from a year ago
22.7%
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Washington, D.C.,showed signs of new momentum, with a 22.7 percent year-over-year increase — potentially reflecting office space adjustments following the installation of the new administration.
increase from a year ago
22.7%
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Read VODI impacts on local markets
