New York City may be coming back to life, but midtown remains relatively sleepy. Estimates from Kastle suggest that office occupancy in the New York metro area is at 40 percent of pre-pandemic levels. Only 8 percent of Manhattan office workers come in five days a week, while 28 percent work remotely full-time, and still more follow a hybrid remote schedule. Similar patterns hold nationwide: 30 percent of paid work days are done remotely, estimates remote-work expert Nick Bloom, a figure that includes in-person jobs for which no remote option exists. For jobs that can be done remotely, only about half of the hours happen in the office.

Remote work, then, is clearly here to stay. Firms and workers have invested heavily in the technology and living space that make it possible. Workers report very strong desire to work remotely in the future, and firms are increasingly accommodating these demands to attract and retain the best talent. Many other aspects of society have fully recovered from the pandemic, but remote work persists. That carries major implications for the functioning of commercial real estate and urban space—and calls for a drastic rethink of how cities operate.