City Downtowns Least Affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic (state, compared, population)

[jjbradleynyc]

Which cities in the US (let's say over 100,000) were least impacted and affected by the COVID-19 pandemic?

In other words, which cities in present day have robust foot traffic, residents who have mostly all returned, stores that are no longer vacant, and a return of office-white collar related workers (although the remote factor is still largely a consideration)?

I've not been able to travel around as I used to, in order to visit a lot of cities after the pandemic.

But I have been to these, and I'll separate them out based on my visits:

Seems to have mostly bounced back:

Miami
Nashville
downtown Brooklyn

Some areas good, some struggling:

Manhattan
Austin
Los Angeles

Slower to come back, still struggling a bit:

Minneapolis
Charlotte


What other cities would you include in these above categories?

[Guineas]

SF and Portland are definitely in the struggling column.

[dallasboi]

Downtown Dallas.

[waronxmas]

Can't speak for Brooklyn, but it's pretty clear the reason Miami and Nashville has "bounced back" is solely due to tourism. I guess that's a good thing, but it shouldn't be used to compare against cities where their downtown is all about business for the most part.

[elchevere]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

Can't speak for Brooklyn, but it's pretty clear the reason Miami and Nashville has "bounced back" is solely due to tourism. I guess both that's a good thing, but it shouldn't be used to compare against cities where their downtown is all about business for the most part.

I can speak for Miami and tourism is not the only reason. You had a bunch of people relocate here for WFH during the pandemic since Miami and the state had less Covid restrictions than many other cities. A number of businesses and restaurants followed suit.

[CXT2000]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

Can't speak for Brooklyn, but it's pretty clear the reason Miami and Nashville has "bounced back" is solely due to tourism. I guess that's a good thing, but it shouldn't be used to compare against cities where their downtown is all about business for the most part.

To be honest, even with the lack of restrictions, Miami is still below post-pandemic levels in terms of people at the office and daytime population. It may have had more tourists, new restaurants and was the talk of the town for two years (long and painful at that) but even the city that considerers themselves as the new centre of the universe is still roughly 30% below pre-pandemic levels.

[elchevere]

Originally Posted by CXT2000

To be honest, even with the lack of restrictions, Miami is still below post-pandemic levels in terms of people at the office and daytime population. It may have had more tourists, new restaurants and was the talk of the town for two years (long and painful at that) but even the city that considerers themselves as the new centre of the universe is still roughly 30% below pre-pandemic levels.

I would love to see actual stats from you, Djesus, on this one. Not just restaurants—hedge funds, private equity, law firms, etc have relocated and/or opened here. Pre pandemic Brickell as well as Gables, Grove, etc were never as crowded—including the summer—as they are now. Granted, I cannot speak for Homestead or other remote areas of the county but can for Brickell/downtown and immediate surrounding areas as a full time resident. Bottom line, Miami shut down for maybe 2 - 3 months of the pandemic (same with other parts of the MSA). It has since leveled off from its peak with some WFH types moving back—but far from an exodus or 30% below pre-pandemic levels.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by CXT2000

To be honest, even with the lack of restrictions, Miami is still below post-pandemic levels in terms of people at the office and daytime population. It may have had more tourists, new restaurants and was the talk of the town for two years (long and painful at that) but even the city that considerers themselves as the new centre of the universe is still roughly 30% below pre-pandemic levels.

Yeah, that tracks. I've been getting back to business travel and it seems to be the case everywhere. Except for Las Vegas. I was just there a few weeks ago and you'd hard pressed not to think it was 2019. Everything was packed, nary a mask in sight.

[CXT2000]

Originally Posted by elchevere

I would love to see actual stats from you, Djesus, on this one.

Please do not use a former name

https://www.avisonyoung.com/return-t...vitality-index

https://www.avisonyoung.com/return-t...vitality-index

Return to office for Miami is down 90.1% avg weekday, compared to February 28th,2020. This is strictly office stats, but is a good indicator. Daytime population has also not matched or surpassed the all time high of only 250,000.

Originally Posted by waronxmas

Yeah, that tracks. I've been getting back to business travel and it seems to be the case everywhere. Except for Las Vegas. I was just there a few weeks ago and you'd hard pressed not to think it was 2019. Everything was packed, nary a mask in sight.

Yeah all downtowns are still facing this, in my current city (Montreal) we're still not at pre-covid levels when it comes to daytime population (our downtown used to be about 800,000 a day average). Right now we're at about 600,000 daily (during the summer it goes beyond 1M a day though). The biggest factor is return to office has been abysmal.

Vegas does not surprise me though, I have no idea what their downtown population is/daytime population but I'm sure the tourists have kept things going regardless of covid.

[1200RT]

Originally Posted by jjbradleynyc

downtown Brooklyn

I actually disagree with this, but from an alternative perspective.

Street dining enclosures, etc have been positive (for the most part). More of an influx than normal of ppl moving from Manhattan.