San Francisco’s Work Population Is Growing, But Office Occupancy Remains Low

After the pandemic caused millions of workers to flock from San Francisco due to its high cost of living, new LinkedIn research suggests that the city could finally be on the road to recovery.  

According to the new data, San Francisco had the second-biggest worker population gain over the last 12 months, just after Austin, Texas. In fact, for every 100,000 LinkedIn users, 83 of them recently moved to the city.  

As a result, the city could be on track to recover from its pandemic-riddled economic slump.   

Because the region is rich with remote-friendly technology companies, many workers chose to live in more spacious, cheaper cities during the pandemic. But for the first time since 2017, San Francisco’s population has trended upwards, suggesting that professionals are returning to the city as the threat of the pandemic settles. 

So what is leading people back to the city? The most likely reason is why cities have always been popular: more job opportunities and culture.  

However, returning to the city also indicates that companies are relying more on hybrid work policies, rather than full-time work. This means that workers must be in the office at least some of the time and restricting their autonomy. 

Despite workers reentering the San Francisco market, office occupancy in the city still falls well-below the national average. In fact, the city has among the lowest occupancy rates according to Kastle Systems.