Does California have enough office space for returning state workers?

One of the biggest unknowns the state is facing this July, when four out of ten state employees begin working primarily in person again, is how departments will navigate office space issues. Some workers worry about where they and their colleagues will sit.

Since California decreased its footprint of rented square footage in Sacramento during and after the pandemic the Department of General Services, the state’s property manager, hasn’t shared how agencies plan to accommodate workers in offices four days a week.

But while the amount of square footage leased by DGS has decreased in recent years, the state has built several new offices that have increased the amount of real estate it owns in and around Sacramento by nearly 30%. In total, DGS owned or leased over 21 million square feet of office space in the Sacramento area at the beginning of 2025.

The increase in state-owned property is a result of a 2016 plan to renovate and construct new buildings in California’s Sacramento-area portfolio, DGS spokesperson Fallon Okwuosa said in an email.

As part of this process, tenants were relocated from DGS’ most deficient buildings as those were renovated, Okwuosa said, which contributed to the decrease in leased square footage.

Since the pandemic first sent state workers home, the state has decreased the amount of Sacramento-area office space leased by the Department of General Service by 1.2 million square feet, which was nearly 14% of the total area the department leased in 2020.

But the state also built 3.1 million square feet of new office space over the last five years. Much of that increase can be attributed to new buildings the state opened: the Allenby and Natural Resources buildings in 2021 and the May Lee State Office Complex in 2024.

The downsizing of leased properties has prompted state workers, unions and even lawmakers to ask questions about potential space issues.

“Will there be any need to increase space and or lease new spaces to accommodate the number of public employees that are expected to return?” read one of the proposed questions posed ahead of a Tuesday Assembly Budget Subcommittee meeting on the governor’s executive order.

On the question of whether the state has enough room for office workers to return to office in July, DGS has kept its cards close to the chest since Newsom issued his order early last month.

After departments were required to submit reports earlier this month to DGS on how each planned to accommodate workers in offices four days a week, the state’s property manager declined to release those documents to The Bee, citing exceptions to the California Public Records Act.

“DGS will review each department’s submission of their space needs and preferences and will inform the Governor’s Office by May 1 of any department without an adequate plan,” Okwuosa said in an email response to questions about the amount of space available to state workers.

While it appears that DGS has more office space available to state employees in Sacramento than before the pandemic, it remains to be seen where or how departments plan to use that square footage for returning teleworkers.