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Eh. It really depends. Walkscore is imperfect so I wouldn't rely on any hard cutoff, just use their numbers as gauge. But neighborhoods around 80 often have pedestrian friendly commercial districts with lots of residents nearby. And than other parts of the neighborhood a rather long walk. Likely the long walk would get most amenities in one places, rather than scattered everywhere. If you pick the right part, it could as walkable as another neighborhood, it's just not consistent.
My walk score is over 90 —*but the overall neighborhood walk score is dragged down by those further away.
I'm not sure how they calculate walkscore, I never looked into it. I have a sneaking suspicious that for neighborhoods they only consider the amenities in your neighborhood's boundaries and not immediately adjacent to it. Whereas entering an address computes the amenities radially from your address. Making an address a better gauge.
But like I said I didn't look into it. Ideally, they would integrate every single residential address in the neighborhood for mean walkability of a neighborhood or city.
I generally consider 80 to be the cut off for a walkable neighborhood based on walkscore and from experiences. 75 in some uncommon cases.
I would say you should always base it on your address versus neighborhood. Since it seems Walk Score only considers the amenities inside the neighborhood boundaries and then computes walking time to those within the bounds of the neighborhood. However, those people on the edges might have amenities in adjacent neighborhoods that they'd normally walk to instead.
What that being said,
>90 no need for a car in most cases. I live with a walking score of 96, and for most part never drive.
> 80 can walk to many things, but still may need a car for some errands.
> 70 highly walkable but will rely on either a car or PT.
As I said earlier, I don't really put much emphasis on PT except for the availability of cabs. I hate taking buses or the metro. Inside Miami, if I won't walk, I'll either get in my car or call a cab. And while PT here needs to catch up some, even if it was excellent, this is what I'd still do.
To me, what's important is to have an immediate highly walkable area, but after that, driving is fine. Even if all of Miami was walkable to scores above 90, I would never walk to them since I won't walk over 1 mile, for sure not over 2 miles, that's cab time.
I would say you should always base it on your address versus neighborhood.
Walk scores for addresses can be highly variable even if you're talking about two locations that are only a few blocks away. Walk scores for entire neighborhoods give you a much better idea as to how easy it is to accomplish errands on foot.
Walk scores for addresses can be highly variable even if you're talking about two locations that are only a few blocks away. Walk scores for entire neighborhoods give you a much better idea as to how easy it is to accomplish errands on foot.
Not really, the major flaw I outlined above. But to repeat it again, if you just enter in your neighborhood you just get the amenities in your neighborhood. And they compute for everyone likewise if they would be walking to those amenities. Whereas, a person on the edge of the neighborhood would simply walk to another neighborhood for his amenities if they exist.
Another flaw is irregular neighborhood shapes, my zip is an example. We include a concentrated core of amenities, but also a bunch of islands of residential mansions. I mean, unless you live on one of those islands, you don't want them to factor into your walk score. When you include them, it drags my 96 down to an 87.
Anyways, the more specific the info, the more accurate it is.
Probably what makes most sense is to take a look at walkscore heatmaps of different cities/metros put on the same scale. If you see large, dark green blobs, then things are pretty good.
Miami has some pretty walkable parts. It's not the norm, but it exists, though definitely not the extent in a lot of the old northeastern big cities or SF. Meh
Last edited by OyCrumbler; 04-16-2015 at 01:44 PM..
When I lived in the overlook area in Portland (walk score: 69) it was okay for walking. Would have been a pain if it hadn't been for the light rail though.
I have had the very good fortune to travel all over the country, and I walk as a leading form of exercise. Love walking in cities because the energy of the surroundings will keep me going when my feet are blistered up, and my wife (who's 15 years younger) is ready to stop. So I've found there are tiers like this:
Tier 1 - Can walk 3+ miles without retracing steps - NY, Chi, SF, Bos, DC
These five cities are elite for walking. Why? The walkable neighborhoods connect to each other to form a long area over which you can walk. In Boston and DC, you can even walk into suburban areas like Brookline or Chevy Chase. Chicago you can start south of the AIC and walk 4-5 miles up to Wrigleyville. SF you can go AT&T Park, curve around the Embarcadero all the way to Crissy Field..or cut into the neighborhoods along the way. Having traveled to nearly every top 40 city in this country, these five have noticeably better walking than any other, and it can feel endless.
Tier 2 - Can Walk 1-3 miles without retracing steps - Seattle, Philly
Both are close to Tier 1, but you're boxed in. Philly's great for walking around Center City, and Society Hill --> Rittenhouse Sq is a favorite. But not great to walk below South St, West of 30th St, or North of the Art Museum. Seattle is outstanding DT, Belltown, Capitol Hill, but Queen Anne Hill makes walking over to Fremont and then Ballard impractical.
Tier 3 - Can Walk 1 mile without retracing steps - Denver, Portland, Minneapolis, San Diego
These four have solid downtowns, and Portland in particular has great urban energy and narrow streets. Problem is you're limited to an even smaller area than the Tier 2's simply because these are smaller metro areas and don't have the volume of offices and apartments in top 10 MSAs.
Tier 3 1/2 - Can Walk just under 1 mile but see how that could be longer in 5 years - Austin
DT growth keeps pushing it up, and the best in its state. But wide streets (very much unlike PDX to which it's often compared) don't help.
Tier 4 - You can walk a mile or less around campus - Madison, Missoula, Athens, GA, New Haven, Ithaca, Davis, CA, Charlottesville, Chapel Hill, Lawrence, KS, Boulder, Lincoln, NE, others
Walkability driven by the fact that there's college kids nearby, many of whom have no cars.
Tier 5 - If You Walk More than 1 mile you might get shot - Baltimore, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Detroit, St.Louis
Rust belt cities that have lost a lot of population, density, and urban neighborhoods due to slow growth regional economies. Loss of nearby manufacturing jobs has taken DT energy with them. Have walkable pockets, but it's usually a small area with rough neighborhoods very close by. Few blocks of DT with reasonable energy, but it's really just a few blocks.
Tier 6 - You can walk 1/2 mile, get back in your car, and walk 1/2 a mile again - LA, Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, Houston
These cities increasingly have walkable pockets, but they're isolated from one another. DTLA is coming back, but Wilshire immediately west of DT begins to get very car friendly. Santa Monica has more good walks, and you'll feel like getting out of your car as you go 7 mph along I-10 to get there from DT. (I know Expo Line is changing everything) Uptown Dallas/McKinney Ave is solid, but more walking requires driving over to Deep Ellum. Atlanta DT-Midtown-Buckhead have pedestrian areas within, but trust me, you don't want to walk between them unless you like seeing your kneecaps within an inch of a car's front bumper.
Tier 7 - You can walk 1/2 miles, get back in your car and go back home - Cincinnati, KC, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Charlotte, Salt Lake
A walkable going out neighborhood like KC/Westport, Charlotte/Uptown, or OKC/Bricktown, but often the only place to walk more than a few blocks in the entire region. Good bars/restaurants in these neighborhoods, but short walks only.
Tier 8 - You can walk 1 mile with other tourists - Charleston, South Beach, San Antonio, Savannah, New Orleans, Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, Santa Fe, Hyannis, The Magic Kingdom
Walkability created by history, geography, or a corporation, now used mostly by tourists. Lacks offices like the high energy DTs in Tier 1.
I have had the very good fortune to travel all over the country, and I walk as a leading form of exercise. Love walking in cities because the energy of the surroundings will keep me going when my feet are blistered up, and my wife (who's 15 years younger) is ready to stop. So I've found there are tiers like this:
Tier 1 - Can walk 3+ miles without retracing steps - NY, Chi, SF, Bos, DC
These five cities are elite for walking. Why? The walkable neighborhoods connect to each other to form a long area over which you can walk. In Boston and DC, you can even walk into suburban areas like Brookline or Chevy Chase. Chicago you can start south of the AIC and walk 4-5 miles up to Wrigleyville. SF you can go AT&T Park, curve around the Embarcadero all the way to Crissy Field..or cut into the neighborhoods along the way. Having traveled to nearly every top 40 city in this country, these five have noticeably better walking than any other, and it can feel endless.
Tier 2 - Can Walk 1-3 miles without retracing steps - Seattle, Philly
Both are close to Tier 1, but you're boxed in. Philly's great for walking around Center City, and Society Hill --> Rittenhouse Sq is a favorite. But not great to walk below South St, West of 30th St, or North of the Art Museum. Seattle is outstanding DT, Belltown, Capitol Hill, but Queen Anne Hill makes walking over to Fremont and then Ballard impractical.
Tier 3 - Can Walk 1 mile without retracing steps - Denver, Portland, Minneapolis, San Diego
These four have solid downtowns, and Portland in particular has great urban energy and narrow streets. Problem is you're limited to an even smaller area than the Tier 2's simply because these are smaller metro areas and don't have the volume of offices and apartments in top 10 MSAs.
Tier 3 1/2 - Can Walk just under 1 mile but see how that could be longer in 5 years - Austin
DT growth keeps pushing it up, and the best in its state. But wide streets (very much unlike PDX to which it's often compared) don't help.
Tier 4 - You can walk a mile or less around campus - Madison, Missoula, Athens, GA, New Haven, Ithaca, Davis, CA, Charlottesville, Chapel Hill, Lawrence, KS, Boulder, Lincoln, NE, others
Walkability driven by the fact that there's college kids nearby, many of whom have no cars.
Tier 5 - If You Walk More than 1 mile you might get shot - Baltimore, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Detroit, St.Louis
Rust belt cities that have lost a lot of population, density, and urban neighborhoods due to slow growth regional economies. Loss of nearby manufacturing jobs has taken DT energy with them. Have walkable pockets, but it's usually a small area with rough neighborhoods very close by. Few blocks of DT with reasonable energy, but it's really just a few blocks.
Tier 6 - You can walk 1/2 mile, get back in your car, and walk 1/2 a mile again - LA, Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, Houston
These cities increasingly have walkable pockets, but they're isolated from one another. DTLA is coming back, but Wilshire immediately west of DT begins to get very car friendly. Santa Monica has more good walks, and you'll feel like getting out of your car as you go 7 mph along I-10 to get there from DT. (I know Expo Line is changing everything) Uptown Dallas/McKinney Ave is solid, but more walking requires driving over to Deep Ellum. Atlanta DT-Midtown-Buckhead have pedestrian areas within, but trust me, you don't want to walk between them unless you like seeing your kneecaps within an inch of a car's front bumper.
Tier 7 - You can walk 1/2 miles, get back in your car and go back home - Cincinnati, KC, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Charlotte, Salt Lake
A walkable going out neighborhood like KC/Westport, Charlotte/Uptown, or OKC/Bricktown, but often the only place to walk more than a few blocks in the entire region. Good bars/restaurants in these neighborhoods, but short walks only.
Tier 8 - You can walk 1 mile with other tourists - Charleston, South Beach, San Antonio, Savannah, New Orleans, Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, Santa Fe, Hyannis, The Magic Kingdom
Walkability created by history, geography, or a corporation, now used mostly by tourists. Lacks offices like the high energy DTs in Tier 1.
Except the Magic Kingdom isn't a city.
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Tiers of Walkability in U.S. Cities
