Activity in San Antonio's downtown district is seeing a rebound toward pre-pandemic levels, according to a new study.

San Antonio Express-News
Gabriella Ybarra
March 08, 2023 at 01:19PM

Downtown districts across the country saw their activity diminish as the pandemic forced people to stay home, but major Texas cities like San Antonio are leading the way toward the return of the downtown experience. 

Researchers with the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Toronto studied phone data and movement patterns to determine that 68 percent of San Antonio’s downtown activity had returned to pre-pandemic levels. It’s the 10th-best city among 62 of the largest North American cities. 

San Antonio is ahead of several major cities in the U.S., like Los Angeles (65 percent), Chicago (50 percent), Seattle (44 percent) and San Francisco (31 percent). 

As for Texas cities, the most-improved downtown activity was in Fort Worth (70 percent) while Houston (61 percent) lagged behind. Austin (58 percent) is struggling the most to rebound despite experiencing a period of rapid growth. 

Interestingly, the researchers also analyzed mid-sized cities and found that El Paso’s downtown activity had improved by an astounding 117 percent. It’s the only Texas city that is seeing more activity than before the pandemic. According to the researchers, this was a common trend among mid-sized cities, which generally recovered more quickly and are seeing more activity than they were pre-pandemic. 

Overall, downtowns in the Southern U.S. have recovered better than downtowns in the Northern U.S., according to the study.

Gabriella.Ybarra@mysa.com