We are
As anyone who has walked along Broadway on a summer afternoon can attest, pedestrians have returned to SoHo en masse at levels even greater than before the pandemic temporarily transformed the district into an eerily quiet place in early 2020.
As reported by Gothamist in August, data company Placer announced that in July 2025, foot traffic in Manhattan surpassed pre-pandemic levels for the first time since the city shut down more than five years ago. SoHo Broadway Initiative Deputy Director Brandon Zwagerman noted in the article that our organization did not measure pedestrian traffic prior to the pandemic, but that foot traffic had gone up nearly 15% since 2023 at the corner of Broadway and Prince Street based on counting device technology sited at that location. Sarah Schiller, the co-founder of district business Sloomoo Institute, was also interviewed by Gothamist, sharing that for her location “‘visitorship has stayed strong,’ especially on weekends, but felt that weekday foot traffic wasn’t quite up to its pre-pandemic levels.”
Since this article was published, the SoHo Broadway Initiative has gained access to data from Placer data for our district, which shows the SoHo Broadway corridor is well ahead of the positive recovery trend for Manhattan as a whole. According to Placer data, July 2019 saw a daily average district population (consisting of residents, inbound commuters, and out-of-market visitors) of 49.9 thousand persons. This figure dropped as low as 2.6 thousand in April 2020. By Summer 2023, SoHo Broadway had already recovered above pre-pandemic levels, with a 54.2 thousand daily average population. Growth has continued since that time with a daily average district population of 66.9 thousand logged in July of 2025.
The Initiative is glad to have numbers to support what we all observe: that visitors and workers are thronging to the SoHo Broadway District on a daily basis. The Initiative will continue work to maintain a clean, safe, and functional district as the numbers of pedestrians continues to trend upward while thinking long term about needs for maintaining and improving pedestrian flow and amenities for those using our sidewalks.
