(The Center Square) – Last year’s improved return to office rates and more residents in downtown Seattle are leaving officials optimistic about the city’s ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic continuing through 2025 and beyond.
In 2024, there was an overage of more than 88,000 employees going to work downtown per day. That represents only 56% of the daily worker foot traffic rate in 2019, but 14% more than in all of 2023.
Despite return to office rates still nowhere near pre-pandemic levels after five years, the Downtown Seattle Association is optimistic that initial statistics for 2025 indicate continuing improvements.
According to the association’s preliminary data for the first two months of 2025, so far this year, three of the busiest weeks in downtown have taken place since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
The spike in worker foot traffic may be a result of Amazon requiring its workers to return to their offices five days a week starting at the beginning of next year.
Seattle is working to make downtown more residential by converting empty office space into housing.
In 2023, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell launched the Downtown Activation Plan, which seeks to make downtown safer and more welcoming. This includes filling vacant storefronts, converting office space to housing and creating what his office calls a “linear arts-entertainment-culture district.”
The city passed legislation to speed up the development of housing in key neighborhoods, including downtown Seattle last year. As a result, Seattle saw 8,580 multifamily units built in 2024, with downtown accounting for 35% of all units added citywide.
As of this month, there are nearly 4,600 residential units under construction in the downtown area, with more than 15,000 either proposed or in the final planning stages.
With an increasing number of housing units available, more residents are moving downtown. Since 2023, the downtown area’s residential population has grown by more than 2,300 people.
Data from the Downtown Seattle Association found that between 2023 and 2024, nearly 50% of new Seattle residents moved to the downtown neighborhood.
“From increased worker and visitor foot traffic and a surge in new residential construction to the exciting developments on our waterfront, we are seeing real momentum,” Downtown Seattle Association CEO Jon Scholes said during Tuesday’s State of Downtown event.
The city is preparing to host FIFA World Cup matches in 2026, which projections say could generate at least $929 million for King County between June and July of 2026. This includes more than $100 million in direct state and local tax revenue and anticipates 20,762 full- and part-time jobs will be supported.
The Downtown Seattle Association believes the international event will showcase the city’s capabilities as a major destination for international events, which would bring in more revenue to the region.
