Measure Walkability with Walk Score
Friday, July 27th, 2007 at 4:38 pm 
By Ryan BrownThere are many benefits of living in an area where you can walk to restaurants, shopping, parks, and other amenities. Walking not only improves your heath but also reduces your transportation expenses (all you need is a decent pair of shoes).
How can you measure the walkable amenities of an area? First hand experience will provide the most information - simply walk around the area. Second to that - talking to area residents can provide great insights. Third - Check out this new website: Walkscore.com.
Here’s an example Walk Score map of downtown Austin:
- Other scores: (0-100)
- 7th & Congress (Downtown) = 95
- 43rd & Avenue F (Hyde Park) = 71
- 1200 Old Mill (Cedar Park) = 23
Walk Score works by looking at the distances from an address to the nearest restaurants, parks, grocery stores, schools, etc. Locations with many nearby amenities will have high walk scores (like downtown Austin). Locations that require cars to get to any amenities will have low walk scores (like some suburban neighborhoods).
It is important to note that today Walk Score only considers distances. Other Walkability factors include the presence of sidewalks, street lights, public transit options, and natural barriers like highways or rivers.
Even so, it’s a good tool which allows quick evaluation and comparison of different areas.
What’s your Walk Score? Find out here.
