May 4, 2023 - Business

Charted: Denver's slow downtown recovery

Data: University of Toronto; Chart: Alice Feng/Axios

Downtown Denver may be seeing a drop in crime, but new data shows the area is still struggling to attract the foot traffic it did pre-pandemic, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick and Alice Feng report.

By the numbers: From December 2022 to February 2023, cell phone activity around downtown was 62% of what it was during the same time period in 2019-2020, ranking 34th out of 63 cities measured by researchers.

  • That's according to anonymized mobile device connectivity data analyzed by researchers at the University of Toronto's School of Cities.

The big picture: Denver isn't the only city struggling to regain activity. It's a similar story in most other U.S. cities, including New York (75%), Portland, Oregon (40%), St. Louis (38%) and San Francisco (32%).

ICYMI: 16th Street Mall exemplifies downtown Denver's struggles

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