SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — San Francisco is finally seeing some progress getting people back in the office after the pandemic.
Five o’clock in the city of San Francisco means what else? Happy hour — at least for those who go into the office.
“When it’s 5 o’clock here, we like to have fun,” said engineer Joseph Camajini and his colleagues. “We’re in the office at least three days a week. We’re looking to up that to four to support the community and be part of the downtown scene.”
People who work in downtown San Francisco say it’s a little more happening at their happy hour spot.
“You can tell a big difference from a year ago,” said Brandon Boyle. “There’s a good energy and vibe in Downtown SF.”
MORE: Gov. Newsom orders state workers to return to office 4 days a week
Boyle does international tax and goes into the office one to two days a week.
“We are a progressive office. There is no mandatory return to office,” Boyle said.
According to new cellphone data released from location tracking firm Placer.ai, San Francisco office visits were down 34.2% in July compared to 2019. SF’s gains slightly surpassed Los Angeles and Denver in July. The city is now third from the bottom of the list of employees returning to work.
“It’s not a huge bump, but it’s continued progress,” said Jeff Bellisario, executive director of Bay Area Council Economic Institute.
The good news is San Francisco posted a 21.6% year-over-year increase in office foot traffic for July 2025 — the strongest performance of any city tracked by Placer.ai.
MORE: SF Mayor Daniel Lurie orders city workers to come back to office 4 days a week: ‘A new era’
“You do hear more and more every day. More employers going two to three days in the office. More and more asking and requiring employees to be there,” Bellisario said.
“I’m in the office three days a week,” said Emma Boyle who works for a tech company in Downtown SF. “I’m a designer. I really like collaboration. So, I think it’s good to work in the office.”
“I’m on a four-day, one-day at home,” said Danielle Frances who works for a law firm downtown. She prefers to have at least one day working remotely. “If I could work from home five days a week, I would.”
ABC7 News asked her if she’d be willing to return to the office five days a week.
“I don’t know how I ever did this back then 20 years ago with three kids, trying to get to work on time,” Frances said.
MORE: SF Mayor Daniel Lurie speaks on how SF is doing after 6 months in office
Meanwhile, some say the artificial intelligence boom is bolstering the return to office.
“Many of those large players are signaling they want to be in San Francisco. They want to have an in-person experience in San Francisco,” Bellisario said.
Next week, Mayor Daniel Lurie’s return-to-office directive is expected to kick in. The plan to bring city workers back to the office four days a week was supposed to begin in April, but was postponed after reaching a deal with two major unions.
“I think it would be nice if people showed up to work more,” said Emma Boyle. “I love the city. I’d love to see more people downtown interacting with each other during work and after work.”
San Francisco’s recovery is coming along and the future is still wide open.
“The question now is ‘Do we get back to 2019 to 2020 levels of office usage?’ Is that normal? Is that where we going? Or should we be thinking of converting spaces into other uses?” Belllisario said.
“San Francisco, we’re doing great. We’re going to get there,” said Jonathan Mulat.
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