New York City's office foot traffic was stronger in September than in any other large US gateway city, according to an analysis by Placer.ai.

Foot traffic to NYC offices has outpaced the national average and that of other major cities in both the year-over-three-years and year-over-year monthly office foot traffic metrics. In September, Manhattan offices saw a visit gap of 37.1% compared to 2019, and a 31.1% year-over-year-increase. Nationally, foot traffic is down 41.2% year-over-three-years and up 11.4% year over year.

"Notably, New York City is beating the curve despite being consistently ranked as having one of the highest commute times in the nation – but the city also has a larger than usual share of workers commuting to work via transit (as opposed to driving to work)," writes Placer.ai's Shira Petrack. "This may indicate that the fear of sitting in traffic or spending too long behind the wheel area is keeping some workers in other major cities from emulating New York's return to office rates."