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Dust off your MetroCard and sharpen those sidewalk elbows. New York City streets are officially back to their pre-pandemic hustle. For the first time since COVID brought the city to a standstill, Manhattan foot traffic has not just matched but edged past 2019 levels, according to new data from analytics firm Placer.ai.
The report shows that visits to office buildings in commercial districts were up 1.3-percent last month compared to July 2019, putting New York City ahead of other major U.S. cities in the race back to normal. And while “normal” here still means dodging food carts and weaving around tourists, business leaders are celebrating the milestone.
“It feels GLORIOUS! My city is back!” gushed Midtown attorney and lifelong New Yorker Stuart Saft to Gothamist. Saft says the sidewalks around his Seventh Avenue office have gone from ghost town to gridlock since spring, crediting part of the bounce to return-to-office mandates—his own firm now requires employees to be in at least four days a week—plus a tourism surge and new tenants moving into Manhattan’s office market.
That tourism boom, however, comes with a few caveats. SoHo’s Sloomoo Institute (yes, the slime museum) reports strong weekend numbers but softer weekday footfall, partly due to fewer international visitors. Neighborhood groups, like the SoHo Broadway Initiative, say they’re still seeing big gains—up nearly 15-percent from 2023—and that formerly empty storefronts are filling up again, making the area feel safer and livelier.
Midtown’s Flatiron NoMad Partnership says it’s still 5-percent shy of 2019 foot traffic, but is making up for it with packed events like its inaugural NoMad Jazz Festival, which drew “record-breaking crowds” to Madison Square Park.
The ripple effects are citywide: Subway ridership is up 7-percent, bus ridership is up 12-percent, and Long Island Rail Road traffic is up 8-percent year-over-year, according to the Partnership for New York City. Retail sales are also expected to top last year’s haul by nearly $1 billion.
Still, some worry about how long the good vibes will last. Rising tariffs and uncertainty around federal funding could stall momentum, and leaders caution that NYC will need to stay competitive to keep attracting both tourists and talent.
But for now, the sidewalks are buzzing, the shops are humming, and even the most jaded locals are feeling a little misty-eyed. As Saft put it: “A true New Yorker complains endlessly, but, like Pandora, always has hope.”