Sometimes Heather and I worry that we are making assumptions about our readers’ lifestyles that aren’t true. We assume everyone lives in a place like we live, where you can walk to a dry cleaner, corner markets, and to some pretty great destinations if you are willing to push a stroller for 15 or 20 minutes.
I’m guessing she thinks my location is better than hers (we live 1.6 miles apart), but this morning as my family and I had breakfast in Heather’s ‘hood, we were saying that they scored a pretty great location. And, according to WalkScore.com, her house is actually more walkable than ours.
Check out the site. It might make you appreciate some close by businesses you never thought to frequent. Or perhaps you’ll consider walking some places you usually drive.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
WalkScore is neat, but they don’t calculate by the actual distance. They think a business is half a mile away, but after getting out of my development, it’s well over a mile. I can’t bring a stroller through the woods to get there! I think this would be best for people that live in a city. But it is a great idea.
I just calculated my “walk score” and my score was pretty close to the “worst” end of the spectrum. I live in a quiet, family-friendly neighborhood in the suburbs that has sidewalks and a beautiful view so it’s actually a fantastic place to walk. But there aren’t very many places to walk TO.
I also typed in the address where I grew up and it received a much higher score. Although it’s true that there are more places to walk to, the neighborhood doesn’t have sidewalks and it’s in a not-so-safe part of town.
Conclusion: WalkScore is a fun resource that will tell you what restaurants, shops, and schools are in your area, but that won’t tell you about the walking “atmosphere” – safe versus scary, pretty versus ugly, busy highway versus dirt road, etc.
My score was only 26. It means that my neighborhood is not very walk able. But actually i go by car much more often than on foot. So at drivescore.fizber.com i ve found another service similar to this one. With drive score one can see how close establishments are by car.
First, let me say that I love any site that will score where I live and how much I walk. Brilliant, super awesome.
But there’s no way that my house is an 89 and yours is a 65. I think @Stephanie has it figured out that there’s no accounting for the brevity of the walk or the excellence of the destination.
I got a 6. That’s what I get for living out in the middle of the woods.
Ha ha! My neighborhood is a 20. Hello southern suburbs!
Ironically Cary NC consistently falls in the top 10 places to live in the country, but definitely not walkable. The closest thing within walking distance of my house is Starbucks 1 mile away.
My address received a 32. I find my neighborhood more bikeable than walkable.
I actually got a 0. True, there are no businesses within 10 min. drive time but our neighborhood is a constant hub of walkers and cyclists out enjoying nature and the scenery-that trumps a business any day in my book!
Good perspective @Rachel! That’s the danger of us assuming y’all live somewhere similar to where we live.
Well, that just confirmed what I already knew! I got a ZERO! There’s no place I can actually walk TO from my house, but I do feel blessed to have a wonderful network of hiking trails behind my house, as well as access to a large private arboretum. I was surprised that the neighborhood I moved from only scored a 63, but the website didn’t register the coffeeshop, the library, or the many wonderful restaurants that were easily accessible. I miss being able to walk from my house!
ha! I got a 2. I really already knew that. Live out in the country, no sidewalks. It’s sad and makes me really miss the Northeast where I grew up. THere are some day I think a walk with the stroller would solve a lot of my problems.
My house is a 20…I would have scored it lower than that. They called the gas station “groceries” LOL The other thing the website doesn’t take into account is heat. I live in Florida. Walking the mile and a half to the CVS in December is fine…but in June it would be a totally different story if I needed to make the trip in the middle of the day! I tried to walk with Baby Girl to the library a few times this summer for story time – it’s less than a mile. I gave up after the second trip and drove. We were both miserably hot by the time we got there! Great idea though!
I can walk to the mailboxes. That is all.
Got a 2. But, hey, still enjoy your website!
Walkability of my neighborhood (score = 77) is something I will NEVER take for granted. I live in a transit-oriented Chicago suburb. I can walk to just about anything I need, though it’s all around .5 miles…even a grocery store! Just today we walked to toddler storytime at the library, had lunch at a kid-friendly restaurant, got the little guy a haircut, picked up my contact lens order, and had a work meeting at a coffee shop. But it really isn’t the list of businesses that makes it great—it’s the overall “feel” of the place: safety, appearance, etc.
I got a 92! I love living in a walkable area. It was a major criteria for us when we bought our house (in the Boston suburb of Brookline). And I have the best of all worlds–I can walk to businesses as well as parks and trails, and in a very safe neighborhood with great schools.
I got a 5. Actually alot higher than I was guessing! Yeah, many of us can’t walk anywhere from our homes!
I like this website. I am new to my area and just found some places in my neighborhood that I didn’t even know were there. Once I see on the map exactly how far away some of these shops are, it seems silly to drive and miss out on the exercise.
I got an 83! Though I think a couple of the places they list are actually long gone … but we can walk to a lot, plus a regional rail line and a bus.
Our house got a 3. We can’t walk to anything other than family member’s houses that are on the same farm. That’s what happens when you live out in the country on a farm!