Washington has one of the highest work-from-home rates

The Evergreen State is home to more than a million remote workers , leading some businesses that relied on a now-dwindling weekday downtown presence to pivot to the suburbs.

Why it matters: The presence of high-paying tech jobs has long been a boon to Washington's economy , but this new era of remote and hybrid work is reshaping downtowns, office parks and the suburbs .

By the numbers: About 37% of the state's nearly 4 million working people do so from home at least one day per week, according to a recent Federal Reserve article .

• Nationwide, just over 15% of workers do so primarily from home, per the federal report.
• Other states with high percentages of work-from-home employees, according to the Fed, are Maryland (40%), Colorado (39%), Massachusetts (38%), Oregon (35%) and Minnesota (34%).

State of play: While there are signs that in-office work is increasing locally and nationally, it remains something of a tug-of-war between employers and employees .

• Amazon began to require employees to return to the office at least three days a week last year, while Microsoft has adopted a flexible policy that includes on-site, hybrid and remote work.
• City of Seattle workers in the executive branch have been required to work on site at least two days a week since November 2022, but other departments set their own expectations, spokesperson Callie Craighead told Axios.
• Workers who support the City Council were told last month they would soon be required to return to the office four out of five days per week.

Case in point: Amazon said there were 2.4 million more visits to Denny Regrade between May 2023 and April 2024 compared to the same period before it implemented its return-to-office policy.

Between the lines: The trend is bad news for the owners of Seattle office towers with vacancy rates that keep rising , the banks that lent them money and the businesses that catered to those workers .

• Seattle policy and business leaders say there is opportunity to move from a worker-based economy to one that serves the city's growing population , with more late-night shopping, eating and drinking options.
• There have also been conversations around converting office buildings to badly needed housing, but the task has proved more difficult and expensive than first imagined.
• A Moody's Analytics report released in April determined that only about 14% of Seattle's office properties are suitable for conversion to housing.

What we're watching: Some businesses and restaurant operators are chasing remote workers to the neighborhoods and suburbs where they live .