A few years ago walkscore.com appeared and urban house hunters, apartment seekers, and walking aficionados rejoiced. Using Google maps to pinpoint locations of homes, condos, apartments, co-ops, and other housing options, the site assigns a numerical value (on a scale of 1-100) based on an address’ proximity to restaurants, entertainment, and other vital resources within walking distance. For the record, 2nd Green plugged in its two locations – in Washington D.C. and Denver, CO – and were pleased to see they got scores of 88 and 83 respectively, earning the moniker of “very walkable”. Walk Score’s breakdown of scoring categories can be seen at the bottom of this post.
The website “calculates the walkability of an address based on the distance from your house to nearby amenities. Walk Score measures how easy it is to live a car-lite lifestyle—not how pretty the area is for walking.” Walk Score, which uses an algorithm to determine the numerical score, provides information about their methodology for those interested in more information. Because they use an equation (algorithm), as more information becomes available, the numbers they produce gets more accurate.
Walk Score has ratings on the forty largest cities in the united states and 2,508 neighborhoods, to be exact. According to their rankings, San Francisco came in as the most walkable city (despite Lombard Street) and Jacksonville, Florida ranked 40th.
The following chart provides a break down of the scoring
| Walk Score | Description |
| 90–100 | Walker’s Paradise — Daily errands do not require a car. |
| 70–89 | Very Walkable — Most errands can be accomplished on foot. |
| 50–69 | Somewhat Walkable — Some amenities within walking distance. |
| 25–49 | Car-Dependent — A few amenities within walking distance. |
| 0–24 | Car-Dependent — Almost all errands require a car. |
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