I’m a huge fan of walking. I wrote about why I love it here. I take a walk at least once a day, rain or shine. And every time I wheel my son’s stroller out to the sidewalk in front of our house, I am grateful that we live in a walkable neighborhood.
So what makes a neighborhood walkable? This is how the folks at Walkscore.com define it:
- A center: Walkable neighborhoods have a center, whether it’s a main street or a public space.
- People: Enough people for businesses to flourish and for public transit to run frequently.
- Mixed income, mixed use: Affordable housing located near businesses.
- Parks and public space: Plenty of public places to gather and play.
- Pedestrian design: Buildings are close to the street, parking lots are relegated to the back.
- Schools and workplaces: Close enough that most residents can walk from their homes.
- Complete streets: Streets designed for bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit.
My neighborhood only scores 63 out of 100 according to Walkscore’s criteria and earns their rank of “Somewhat Walkable”. I checked some of the other addresses I’ve lived at in the last six years. Most of them earn a higher score, because they were closer to downtown, which means they were closer to bookstores, restaurants, and other amenities.
But I think my neighborhood has something going for it that can’t be easily quantified – a culture of walking. Many of my neighbors are home during the day, many of them have young children, and they are often outside and out walking themselves. So my son and I invariably run into people we know when we’re on a walk. Occasionally we even go on walks with our neighbors. So we’re getting to know each other in a way that I’ve never experienced in a neighborhood, even those closer to more amenities.
My neighborhood is also safe, which I think makes a big difference to walkability. Sadly in a few of the other neighborhoods I’ve lived in, including a few that Walkscore deems more walkable, I didn’t feel comfortable walking alone at night. Especially when I lived alone, that meant the neighborhood was only walkable during daylight hours. And there just aren’t many of those in the winter.
So while I love Walkscore’s ranking system and would like to see urban planners put walkability first when designing or retrofitting cities, I’ve discovered that some of what makes a neighborhood walkable just can’t be easily measured.
If you’re curious, here are Walkscore.com’s most walkable cities:
- San Francisco, Walk Score 86
- New York, Walk Score 83
- Boston, Walk Score 79
And here are the ones they rank as least walkable:
- Charlotte, Walk Score 39
- Nashville, Walk Score 39
- Jacksonville, Walk Score 36
You can find out how your neighborhood scores here.
How walkable is your neighborhood? Do you agree with Walkscore’s rating?
I LOVE this! My current address had a score of 34. My new home (as of next month) has a score of 74! Confirmed what I’d been hoping for!
I love walkscore. My current neighborhood has a score of 97, and it’s really true – I could absolutely live without a car. I can walk to the grocery store, movie theater, library, post office, bank, many coffee shops & restaurants, and I’m under 2 miles from two year-round farmer’s markets. I live in the Bay Area (Oakland) and am impressed at the quality of life, despite all the people and the cost of living!
My address scores a 43, which is low for our town. However, I think my neighborhood is a little better than the score shows because there are shortcuts through a school to a shopping area, which doesn’t show as a walking route on the map. This is a fun way to check out a neighborhood before you even look at a house there! Is there a comparable “bikeable” website? I think our neighborhood is pretty good for bike commuting.
I don’t know of one for bike commuting. Maybe someone else does?
Very cool! I got an 83 – and I realized there were some things in my neighborhood I didn’t even know about! Sharing that site!
Very cool site. I really like the demonstration of how far you can walk in a mile in a compact, grid-based neighborhood compared to one with winding roads and cul-de-sacs. My neighborhood has a walkscore of 85. We rarely use our car and I love being able to go shopping, out to eat, to the park, and run almost all of our errands by foot. I grew up in a house on a cul-de-sac in the suburbs and the walkscore for that neighborhood is 15! While the suburban neighborhood was nice and safe for kids to walk and bike in, we were very dependent on the car for anything outside of our immediate neighborhood. I definitely prefer the more urban and walkable area that I live in now.
Also, if you haven’t seen it, here’s some really interesting thoughts and research on how living close to where we work (and play) can affect our happiness:
http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2010/03/commuting.php
Thanks for the link! Very interesting. Wow, a 15! That’s a low score, alright. I agree, the urban, walkable life is the best, although I’ve never actually lived in the suburbs or had to commute by car. I’ve been fortunate to have a very walkable life thus far.
That was cool, thanks for the link. 88 for me!
Mine scored 54 – somewhat walkable. That doesn’t keep me from walking, I get out with my daughter quite a bit. We usually don’t go anywhere, we just walk. It is a nice neighborhood to walk in! And that’s what counts for me!
cool site but its a little off. says my neighborhood is a 74. first the bookstore it has listed as close is a religious – catholic store. great thing but not a “bookstore” in my mind. plus several of the other locations it has listed are stores with foreign names and I think it is confused, most are pawn shops. the drug store – para quad mobility – I don’t think that is a drug store. and then there’s the whole “kids driving around randomly shooting people with bb guns incidents” 60some in the last few months so no…I don’t consider my neighborhood walkable.
Yeah, I agree. Although it’s a cool site, it just doesn’t measure some fairly important aspects of walkability (like bb gun incidents for instance). I also noticed discrepancies about a few of the businesses around my house. It lists a bookstore, which is actually a private appointment-only rare book dealer. But I still love that the site encourages city planners and others to think about the importance of walkability in our neighborhoods – definitely a step in the right direction.
Brilliant site! I like that you can provide feedback to tell them what to include – I suggested Natural Wonders and Public Spaces. I also loved that you could add places that weren’t listed in your neighbourhood – I added around 15. OUr street got 85 out of 100 – walkability is a huge reason I chose to move here. I am thinking of going car free too.