How Walkable Is Your Neighborhood?

[catesta]

I thought this was interesting. I wouldn't exactly call it completely accurate, but it's still a decent guideline.

Story

In New York, I do good...

83 out of 100

The place I keep in Phoenix, ranked poor, scoring only 17 of 100. I can't imagine anyplace in Phoenix scoring high.

Walk Score

[7/4]

74, but it's a real blah sort of neighborhood.

Of course, the train station is a 10 min walk away. NYC to Philly and anywhere between is just a train ride away.

.

Edited September 12, 2008 by 7/4

[AmirBagachelles]

I'm a sherpa on workman's comp; I was recently injured in multi-wagon accident. Let me tell you, walking around the Himalayas for groceries and daily staples yes that is tough. And now I am learning that in my line of work, telecommuting from home is a real bitch.

[RDK]

Holy crap: 88 - that's gotta be good, especially for L.A.

[catesta]

I think they give L.A. a 50 point handicap.

[blajay]

82. Considering I don't own a car, that seems low.

[Patrick]

69 for Fairfax, Virginia (one of those car-dependent 'burbs).

I live within walking distance of Metro (public transit), but Northern Virginia, outside Arlington and Alexandria, doesn't have much in the way of sidewalks, so I think the 69 is a bit overstated.

[PHILLYQ]

Mine is 83, but they list the local library as being alomost half a mile away when it's about 5/6 blocks away.

[GregK]

Zero here. But I live in a new subdivision in the country, with about 3 miles of sidewalk, which is perfect for walking with my iPod. I walk it every day before I go to work (my only chance to actually listen to music!).

[Joe G]

23 here. The good news is that I'm very close to the Riverwalk trail system. By bike, I can be in downtown Lansing or East Lansing in about 20 minutes.

[kh1958]

51

[Christiern]

Guess I'm okay...

[BeBop]

My current neighborhood isn't listed. But I don't think there's a sidewlk in th whole country. (Certainly no bars.) Still, I walk quite a bit. As long as I stick to the areas that aren't marked with the stakes, I'm pretty safe from leftover land mines and unexploded ordnance.

Just for kicks, I ran my last two US addresses, from back in the 90s. One was an '8' and one was a zero (6 miles to the nearest ANYTHING). Yet I never had a car in either.

[catesta]

Mine is 83, but they list the local library as being alomost half a mile away when it's about 5/6 blocks away.

That's some of the things I noticed. In my case they listed a grocery store practically a mile away, but there is a lot of small markets very close and that is where I do most of the shopping.

I'm also within walking distance of the train, but they factor public transit convenience in.

[kinuta]

The software gives a general rating for Tokyo which is meaningless. I'd rate my neighbourhood as quite high. I can find almost anything I want within walking distance. If I want to buy say a new hard disc drive then I need to venture slightly further, say 30 minutes walk. There are lots of shops, several 24 hour stores, more barbers and hairdressers than you can imagine and dozens of restaurants, pharmacies, clinics, dentists, acupuncture , massage, dvd stores, clothes stores. There's also quite a lot of greenery, parks, two rivers, maze like back streets and temples. Also good for cycling and walking.

Edited September 12, 2008 by kinuta

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

My place in Northern Minnesota gets a 3.

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

and one was a zero (6 miles to the nearest ANYTHING).

Where was that...Beaver Island on Lake Michigan?

[jazzbo]

78

I walk the HELL out of my neighborhood.

[Peter Johnson]

98 for me...but when you live smack dab in the middle of downtown Philadelphia, it's not too hard! Some property my family has in Oregon gets a 6 (but I learned about a restaurant I didn't know existed)!

[Jim Alfredson]

45. I think it should be less than that considering the "business" they cite close to me are pretty shoddy and I would not go to most of them.

[Tom Storer]

The site doesn't cover Paris, but my neighborhood would have to be 100. If I didn't have to go to work in the morning (via metro station two minutes from my house) I wouldn't have to ever leave the neighborhood if I didn't want to.

[sidewinder]

Scored 11 - car-dependent. Fair point ! :rsmile:

[king ubu]

That's pretty pathetic... I guess everything over half a mile is beyond walkability in the US or what?

My place gets a 40 only, but I consider everything I need within walking distance - at least three grocery stores, farmacies, drug stores, coffeess, one of the pizza restaurants in town, fancy bars (which I don't visit), sushi and mexican places (which I don't visit, either), etc etc. The site does contain some relevant hits for my neighbourhood, but it misses at least half of them... anyway, depends how you define "walkable", really... sometimes I prefer walking home on weekends or evenings, even if that means I'm walking for 40 or 45 minutes. So with that range and the neatness of Zurich, I'm easily in walking distance from the town centre

[king ubu]

on a closer look, I see I'm surrounded by yoga schools... ouch! looks like a promotion map where those who care enter their details... almost everything of any relevance is not listed - thank you google, you do a great job, very reliable! too bad so many people are so dumb and actually do rely on google (and wiki).

[Niko]

also only a 40 for me; but they list the nearest grocery store at 30 km when it's in fact 50 meters; similarly the japanese bookstore 60 km from here in Düsseldorf is not the best option for books (meaning the miss all the bookstores here as well as in Cologne ?!)