New data reveals that vacant offices in Phoenix and Tucson have led to more than $800 million in lost rent.

MORE NEWS: Metro Phoenix sees 1st office vacancy rates decrease in 5 years

That’s according to a new study from Switch On Business that analyzed office vacancy rates across America to reveal the true cost of vacant office buildings in major U.S. cities.

The study found that:

  • Phoenix currently has 25,392,476 sq. ft. of unused office space in the city – equating to $756,441,854 in lost revenue. 
  • Tucson has 2,899,238 sq. ft. of vacant offices ($68,248,064)

Office space vacancy is at its highest since 1979, and analysts predict that nearly one-quarter of U.S. offices will be vacant by early 2026. For their new report, Switch On Business has calculated that $7.61 billion in annual rent is lost in New York City alone, while in terms of square footage, Chicago has the second most vacant space — around 58.1 million square feet.

Around 28.6 million, or 20% of U.S. workers aged 18-24, now work on a hybrid or fully remote basis, and occupancy rates in U.S. cities are now only half what they were

pre-pandemic. But the WFH revolution has only aggravated the issue of excess office space, which has threatened to reemerge after decades of over-building led to previous peaks in vacancies in the late ‘70s and ‘80s.

City officials are pushing for the conversion of some of these spaces to help counter the housing crisis. But converting modern office buildings into homes is difficult, partly for one of the reasons a return to the office is unappealing: these buildings exist on an inhuman scale, with much of the space starved of natural daylight.

Meanwhile, up to $250 billion may be lost due to plummeting commercial property values, which have knock-on effects on the broader economy. And declining property tax hauls and abandoned neighborhoods add to the sense of an “urban doom loop” that impacts local quality of life, business opportunities and growth outlook.

Switch On Business compared the total office space inventory with the vacancy rates across the U.S. to calculate the total square footage of empty office space. Then, they multiplied the empty office space figures by the rental cost (annual price in USD per square foot) to calculate the lost value in each city.

Key Findings

  • New York City has the highest value of vacant office space in the U.S., equating to $7,610,663,156 ($7.61 billion) in lost rent per year.

  • The second highest value of vacant office space is in Los Angeles – $2.1 billion per year.
  • New York City also has the most vacant square footage: 105.8 million sq. ft.
  • Chicago is the city with the second most vacant space: 58.1 million sq. ft.