Downtown Seattle sees visitors and worker numbers rise

By the numbers: October saw 2.9 million local visits — the highest foot traffic downtown since March 2020 — from people who live within 10 miles of the downtown.

• Downtown averaged 93,000 weekday workers in October, up 8% from last year but still just 56% of pre-pandemic levels during the same month in 2019.
• With nearly 380,000 rooms sold, hotel demand matched October 2019 levels, marking the sixth straight month of pre-pandemic-level bookings.

Plus: The number of occupied apartment units downtown continued growing, rising to nearly 59,000 in the 4th quarter of 2024, per DSA, a 4% increase compared with Q4 2023 and a 16% increase compared with Q4 2019.

The latest: New attractions, including the Overlook Walk and Ocean Pavilion, have helped bring more locals and visitors downtown, DSA president and CEO Jon Scholes told Axios in an email. 

What they did: To tally downtown foot traffic, DSA used Placer.ai cell phone data to count domestic visitors, residents and workers.

• For office worker numbers, weekday visits between 8am and 6pm on weekdays in the downtown neighborhoods with the heaviest concentration of office space were counted.

What they're saying: "All of October's downtown hotel performance metrics are signs of continued progress and something to celebrate during the shoulder season," said Visit Seattle senior vice president Michael Woody.

What we're watching: Amazon workers have been told to return to the office five days a week starting Jan. 2. 

• City and county employees also face stricter return-to-office policies in the new year.
• The incoming Trump administration is also likely to push the country's federal workforce back into the office.