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Voted for 5 - NYC, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington DC.
^ Los Angeles is there because I believe the OP started the list in population order. Otherwise, it is a confusing list. LA of course has some walkability, just not as much percentage wise as some of the others.
A corner store isn't sexy for tourists, but if you are in a bind you can get milk, eggs, soda and snacks pretty much within a 15 minute walk.
That's a very low bar for walkability and many small towns in rural areas would do much better than this. To me amenities that should be available within a 15-minute walk would include: grocery store or multiple bodegas, drug stores, doctors, dentists, restaurants/dining, two or more transit stops, elementary school, etc.
San Francisco, where I live, surely belongs in the top few.
And remember that weather plays a role in walkability:
Who wants to walk anywhere if the temperature is in the teens
and there are patches of ice on the pavement?
That's a very low bar for walkability and many small towns in rural areas would do much better than this. To me amenities that should be available within a 15-minute walk would include: grocery store or multiple bodegas, drug stores, doctors, dentists, restaurants/dining, two or more transit stops, elementary school, etc.
That was just one example.
None of the things you added are particularly sexy. They would just be more examples of what I'm talking about.
San Francisco, where I live, surely belongs in the top few.
And remember that weather plays a role in walkability:
Who wants to walk anywhere if the temperature is in the teens
and there are patches of ice on the pavement?
Agreed but most wouldn't want to traverse large hills either. Aside from that and even accounting for that, SF is near the top.
If you do it a lot, you'll be in better shape in no time.
That said, I take a bus or an occasional Uber if I'm visiting a friend at the top of a big hill (vs. showing up sweaty), then walk back.
As for the ability to buy milk, in a truly walkable area a store is a few blocks at most.
Yeah and I'm sure that shoveling snow has exercise benefits as well. It's all personal preference to some extent but despite the health benefits most people prefer pleasant. It's not always snowy and icy in cold weather cities but the hills don't change in places that have them.
I agree about the milk/necessities. I'd expect them to be closer and more prevalent in general than dentists and movie theaters.
The 20 most walkable cities in the US according to CNTraveler:
1. New York
2. Boston
3. Washington, D.C.
4. Seattle
5. Portland
6. San Francisco
7. Chicago
8. Los Angeles
9. Pittsburgh
10.Philadelphia
11.Minneapolis-St. Paul
12. Miami
13. Charlotte
14. Austin
15. Atlanta
16. Denver
17. Cleveland
18. Houston
19. Columbus
20. Baltimore
Some very questionable rankings in there, and the criteria is pretty vague, but these lists are usually click-bait anyway
Philadelphia that low in particular is pretty striking.
I have seen this article shared a few times and just want to point out it's anti-intellectual nonsense. The "author" (click-bait producer) took the one graph in the attached report and repurposed it as a "10 most walkable cities" list.
The graph in question:
Now, let me ask you this: The CN Traveler article's subtitle is "lace up your sneakers for an adventure" which implies "fly to this city, and get ready to walk around!". Is that really what this chart is ranking? No. It's showing the RATIO of what % of a category is in a walkable environment. Philadelphia is multiple times bigger than Pittsburgh. It also has some of the world's highest business taxes. Does Pittsburgh become more "walkable" because 51% of area offices are downtown vs. 39% of Philadelphia? No, and frankly, it has nothing to do with actual "built walkable environments" which is what the term walkability actually means.
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