Economic Revitalization
Tracking downtown revitalization
Since the onset of COVID-19, DSA has been tracking the impact on our local economy. As downtown bounces back, we continue to follow dozens of metrics to trace the path to full economic recovery. A few of these metrics are below.
Downtown Revitalization Dashboard
April 2026 (March data)
DSA publishes a monthly dashboard update examining key metrics that affect our urban core’s vitality and progress. The data sets provide a comparison point to the same period in 2019. Additionally, the dashboard will feature notable stories that provide context regarding downtown’s renewal and reemergence.
Please credit the Downtown Seattle Association Revitalization Dashboard for use of charts, data and images on this page.
Unique monthly visitors compared to 2019
More than 2.8 million unique visitors came downtown in March 2026. This represents 93% of the visitors seen in March 2019 and a 5% decrease from March 2025.
Average weekday worker foot traffic
In March, downtown’s worker foot traffic was 60% of March 2019’s daily average. Worker foot traffic in March saw a 6% decrease year over year.
Monthly hotel rooms sold compared to 2019
More than 320,000 downtown hotel rooms were sold in March 2026. This figure represents 91% of the demand in March 2019, but a 2% decrease in demand compared to March 2025.
Quarterly
In March, the number of occupied apartment units downtown continued growing, rising to nearly 61,500. This represents a 2% increase compared to Q1 2025 and a nearly 30% increase compared to Q1 2019.
Of Note in Downtown
12s provided a jolt to downtown. According to Datafy, the Feb. 11 Super Bowl parade generated an estimated economic impact of up to $16.6 million.
The March 28 opening of the Crosslake Connection was a huge draw. Sound Transit reports there were more than 205,000 riders that day, the second-largest ridership day in their history.
There was a lot of cleaning and painting in Q1 of 2026. The DSA/MID Clean Team removed 7,472 graffiti tags and/or stickers from public infrastructure and private property.
The Port of Seattle is gearing up for a record cruise season with 330 cruise calls, a 10% increase from 2025. The Port is estimating a $1.2 billion local economic impact this season, up from $900 million last year.
Coming Up in Downtown
Two Andrew Lloyd Webber productions are running at Historic Theatre District venues in May. Jesus Christ Superstar takes the stage at The 5th Avenue Theatre May 2–17. The Phantom of the Opera will grace the Paramount May 13–24.
Runners rejoice as the Unity Loop 5k on May 16 will mark 30 days until Seattle welcomes the world for the 2026 World Cup. The route will take runners from the countdown clock at Seattle Center, down Fourth Avenue, through Occidental Square to Lumen Field.
The 52nd annual Seattle International Film Festival takes place May 7–17. Three venues in greater downtown will feature films from more than 80 countries, with an opening-night event at the Paramount and an after party at Cannonball Arts on May 7.
Notes on Sources
Datafy measures consumer spending by analyzing a cross‑section of credit and debit card transactions and cell phone location data.
Downtown foot traffic data are provided by Placer.ai and are based on cell phone location data. Each person is counted once per day. International visitors are not included. Subsets of this data in the charts are as follows:
- Office worker presence is estimated based on visits by workers who were present between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays in downtown Seattle.*
- Hotel data are based on monthly reports from STR, provided by Visit Seattle.
- Apartment occupancy data are from CoStar. This is reported quarterly but the current quarter data are updated in real-time as new information is added to the database.
- Domestic visitors counts those who do not live or work downtown.
- Total foot traffic includes all visits to downtown by domestic visitors, residents and workers.
- Pike Place Market visitors includes domestic visitors who do not live or work at the Pike Place Market.
*Note that workers who have not visited their work site in the past 90 days are classified as “visitors” until they are regularly visiting their work site at least three times in a one-week period.