Downtown KC is almost back to pre-pandemic foot traffic

By the numbers: According to the Downtown Council of Kansas City, downtown KC drew 7.2 million unique visitors in 2025.

• Those visitors made 40.1 million trips in total.

Flashback: Pandemic shutdowns in 2020 wiped out daily foot traffic tied to offices, events and tourism.

• By early 2023, activity had recovered to only 46% of 2019 levels.

Zoom out: Many downtowns are still lagging behind pre-pandemic activity.

• San Francisco has recovered to about 70% of 2019 visitor levels, Chicago to about 80% and Denver to about 82%, according to the same Downtown Council report.

State of play: Downtown's activity now comes from a mix of workers, residents and visitors at different times of day.

• Return-to-office numbers have recovered to about 76% of pre-pandemic levels, with higher return rates among workers who live closer to downtown.
• Downtown's residential population has grown to more than 33,000 as of early 2026, adding consistent daily foot traffic.
• Tourism, events and entertainment drive traffic beyond the workday.

The bottom line: KC's recovery is not just about getting people back. It is about who is coming back and why, and that shift is helping downtown recover faster than many others.