As D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser pushes for federal workers to return to the office and Metro leaders seek to entice riders back on their rails, U.S. Census data reveals just how tough a task that may be.
The D.C. area led the nation in working from home since the pandemic upended office culture, according to data from the one-year American Community Survey (ACS) taken in 2021.
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WATCH HEREOf the top 10 areas in the country where people worked from home during the height of the pandemic, six are in the DMV.
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SIGN UP According to an analysis by NBC4, Arlington County led the U.S. with 49% of people working from home. D.C. was close behind at 48%. Alexandria is at 41%, and Loudoun, Fairfax and Montgomery counties are around 37% and 38%.
Federal labor data suggests that could be more than half a million would-be commuters.
On Monday Bowser called for President Joe Biden to end telework policies for federal workers, as D.C. leaders grapple with vacant office buildings and seek to revitalize downtown.
“We need decisive action by the White House to either get most federal workers back to the office most of the time or to realign their vast property holdings,” Bowser said.
Metro also needs those workers to return to the office as it seeks to recover from the pandemic. Rail ridership fell to just 227,000 trips per day between January and November 2022, according to Metro, down from 626,000 trips per day in 2019.
D.C.’s deputy mayor for planning and economic development told News4 that, prior to the pandemic, federal workers accounted for the majority of Metro’s rail ridership.
