75°
70º | 76°
The Houston metro area’s business occupancy rate for the week ending July 7 was 47.6%, a drop of 1.4% over the previous week, according to an analysis of employee entry data by the security firm Kastle Systems.
The study is based on data from Kastle’s business partners in metro areas and is not meant to be a statistical sample. The entry-access data came from 2,600 buildings and 41,000 companies in 47 states, Kastle reports.
Houston has the highest commercial occupancy rank among the 10 large metro areas covered in the analysis. In the week ending June 30, the metro area’s occupancy rate was 49%.
The 10-city average commercial building occupancy rate was 31%, a drop of 1.7 percentage points from the previous week, according to Kastle. Austin recorded the biggest week-to-week drop in occupancy, the study said.
Law firms experienced a sharper decline in business occupancy over the same period, but their occupancy rates are generally higher than businesses, the analysis said. Occupancy rates overall are expected to rise in the months to come, Kastle reported.
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Kastle’s Back-to-Work Ranking for 10 Metro Areas
| Building Occupancy Rank (Highest to Lowest) | Metro Area | June 30 Occupancy Rate | July 7 Occupancy Rate | % Change |
| 1 | Houston | 49.0% | 47.6% | -1.4% |
| 2 | Austin | 51.2% | 47.5% | -3.7% |
| 3 | Dallas | 50.1% | 47.3% | -2.8% |
| 4 | Philadelphia | 29.7% | 29.3% | -0.4% |
| 5 | Los Angeles | 28.4% | 27.2% | -1.1% |
| 6 | Chicago | 27.9% | 26.3% | -1.6% |
| 7 | Washington, D.C. | 27.4% | 25.6% | -1.9% |
| 8 | San Jose | 22.0% | 21.0% | -1.0% |
| 9 | New York | 21.9% | 20.2% | -1.7% |
| 10 | San Francisco | 19.3% | 18.1% | -1.2% |