Los Angeles Downtown Lacks Vibrancy, Ranks Low in Global Survey

The City of Angels has one of the deadest downtowns in the world, according to a new report.

Compared with 75 major cities worldwide, Los Angeles ranked among the lowest in vibrancy in Gensler’s 2026 City Pulse report.

About 65 percent of those surveyed said they found downtown Los Angeles to be vibrant — whereas over 80 percent of respondents found other major U.S. cities like New York, Chicago and Boston to be vibrant.

The survey, which polled 35,000 city residents on how they ranked their city on a variety of traits, had Los Angeles ranked 20th lowest globally and 11th lowest among 34 U.S. cities for vibrancy.

LA drew even lower marks for its looks, with only 58 percent of respondents finding beauty in the city’s downtown, according to the survey.

The city, which received a dismal 60 percent welcoming score, needs people and businesses to return to downtown after leaving post-pandemic to regain its identity and vibrancy, Kelly Farrell, the managing director of Gensler’s LA office, told the Los Angeles Times.

“LA’s kind of central problem is that businesses have left LA. We need them to bring the offices back in,” she said. “Bring the people back in so they’re staying after work and interacting with those businesses that are in the area.”

Downtown Los Angeles regularly accounts for the largest number of closing businesses, with the neighborhoods experiencing the most closures including South Park, the Fashion District, Central City and Pico-Union, according to Times data.

Additionally, about 40 percent of office space in the city’s financial district, and about 30 percent of rental space, are currently sitting vacant, according to the report.

Perceived crime issues downtown are also partially to blame for businesses leaving and locals avoiding downtown.

However, Los Angeles Police Department Captain Kelly Muniz told the Times in April that crime was down 10 percent from last year.

Farrell, who directs Gensler’s LA office, said that getting more people back downtown will help decrease crime.

“One of the best things we can do for safety is have an abundance of population,” Farrell said. “You will see right now that we have a lot of great ground-floor retail that’s empty. As that gets fuller, we typically see that crime starts to go down with it.”