San Francisco, Cleveland and Portland’s downtowns most deserted in US: study

Democratic cities San Francisco, Cleveland and Portland have the most deserted downtown areas in the US in the wake of the pandemic, which has driven away workers and tourists, according to a new study.

Researchers at the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California at Berkeley found that San Francisco’s downtown was only 31% active between March and May, compared to pre-pandemic levels.

That was followed by Cleveland, Ohio, with 36% of downtown recovery and Portland, Oregon, with 41%. Notably, all three cities are majority Democratic.

Researchers used GPS location data from 18 million smartphones to track how often their users visited various cities throughout the US and Canada, and then compared that activity to 2019 levels.

Detroit and Chicago’s downtown areas did not fare much better in terms of activity, with just 42% and 43%, respectively, followed by Indianapolis and Minneapolis with 44% each. Raleigh, North Carolina, with 45%, and New Orleans and Oakland, California, scored 46%.