Least Walkable Cities

When Walk Score recently released their ranking of the ten most walkable U.S. cities there was no doubt that folks in places like San Francisco, Boston and New York City could look with satisfaction upon their city as a paradise for bipedalism. But when we took a look at the rankings it became clear that there was quite a spread between some of the most and least friendly areas for walking in which to live. In fact, it's not so improbable to imagine that some citizens of major U.S. cities often feel like the person pictured here when compared to their counterparts in those where walking is a way of life.

But the question is, does your city make the list of our least walkable U.S. cities?

Following is the list, created by Walk Score, of the least walkable major cities in the U.S.

Top 10 Least Walkable U.S. Cities

1. Jacksonville
2. Nashville
3. Charlotte
4. Indianapolis
5. Oklahoma City
6. Memphis
7. Kansas City
8. Fort Worth
9. El Paso
10. Mesa

via: Walk Score

More on Walkable U.S. Cities
Walk Score Ranks Top 10 Most Walkable U.S. Cities
Walk Score: Cool Green Google Map Mashup

Comments

[KeithMoon24]

I live in a suburb of the city that came in fifth, Oklahoma City, and I'm not surprised at all that it's on this list. OKC is anything but pedestrian friendly. The downtown area and surrounding neighborhoods, which were built in the early 20th century, are for the most part, walkable. Outside the relatively small inner core of the city is a different matter. It's almost impossible to live car-free here. Mass transit is pathetic. The city sprawls for hundreds of square miles. If you do decide to walk somewhere, you'll probably do so without sidewalks. Those are very rare. (In fact, on several occasions, I've seen elderly people using their scooters and wheelchairs on busy streets, alongside zooming cars and trucks.) If you do walk, you'll probably strange looks from all the drivers and possibly run over by some idiot soccer mom on a cellphone.

Good mass transit and things like sidewalks and bike trails just aren't too important to people here in Oklahoma. They'd rather pay taxes to build stadiums and expand our already brand new sports arena to house a certain stolen basketball team from the Pacific Northwest.

All that, plus the ridiculously conservati­ve/religio­us fanatic culture here makes it a pretty awful place to live. I hope to move someday.

[sparkandy]

Isn't OKC one of the largest cities in the world as far as square mileage goes? Tulsa's not much better as far a walking goes.
Hope you get to move soon. I love it here, but the wide open spaces and clean air are more important to me than getting away from the small fraction of weirdos.

[Vern58]

Having lived in 2 of the 10 cities mentioned, i can tell you in Kansas City and Mesa both, cars actually speed up when they see a pedestrian at a crosswalk.

[kevang711]

houston is not mentioned, its one of the large metropolitan cities with the highest amount of cars per capita of residents. you cannot get anywhere in the city without driving. even to use the bus or the rail you have to drive to it. this article is missed many points.

[BernieKeating]

Here's the reason those ten cities are the least walkable: in order to walk them, you have to be in them.

[EarthToZoey]

HA! That photo is hilarious. Poor dog has to live with a lazy bum!

[SeaBoatbuilder]

It would be interesting to see the Most & Least Walkable cities charts compared to the obesity rates in those cities. I suspect there may be a correlation.

[EarthToZoey]

Without a doubt.

[lezlib]

duh

[Schallvain]

Philadelphia is rated the 5th most walkable city and also is always in the top 5 for the MOST obese cities. This may be a wrinkle in your comparison.

[cplKlyde]

The ratings are a joke. I live in east Columbus but my neighborhood got a higher rating than Bexley, the upper middle class exurb that borders Columbus.

[jeremydbrooks]

Vegas should be higher (lower?) on this list; lots of sprawl, plenty of street crime, and our pedestrian fatality rate is second to none! Even the resort corridor is hard to walk, but that's intentional, so you'll stay indoors and play blackjack until you forget what time it is.

[mathme]

Cool! Lincoln gets a 97! http://www.walkscore.com/get-score.php?street=lincoln%2C+NE&go=Go

My neighborhood specifically is an 80 :) That's actually sort of weird since I live just a few blocks away from where "Lincoln" is centered.

[TheBlackCat]

That tagline photo is hilarious!!

[mathme]

at least it wasn't tied to the bumper! O.o

[Rafferty]

That photo is great -- it ran last year in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and probably others. The caption read:

[Rafferty]

(person's-­name-here) takes his dog, Armani, an Italian Cane Corso, out for a morning jog Monday in Akron, Ohio. "I was lazy this morning," said (person). "I'm on the way to the gym myself. I wanted to make sure he got in a workout before I left," he said.
I'm sure he got lots of calls and letters, so I left his name out.

[PorkBelly]

I was really suprised that St. Louis wasn't on the list.

I lived there for 5 years. It is a bunch of residential and commercial districts that are strung together by interstate highways.

I moved there from Seattle and it was a rude awakening.

[mathme]

Dear god, why did you move??

[nomorebombs]

the photo is a sign of your emptyness in the mind

[doodlefarbe]

Wonder what all went into their decision-making process? I have walked in Nashville, Charlotte, El Paso (although 20+years ago for EP), and Indianapolis.

While none of them is great, they're not that bad for walking (particularly Indianapolis isn't bad).

Atlanta - now THERE'S a pedestrian nightmare. Wonder why it didn't make the list?

[SeaBoatbuilder]

Agreed on Atlanta and would like to add Dallas. I was staying in a hotel just outside the downtown core and tried to go for a walk. I was hemmed in by freeways and walls, and literally could walk no further than a two block radius of the hotel. Twice I was almost run over in driveways by drivers who were clearly shocked to find a pedestrian where there wasn't supposed to be one.

I mentioned it to the client I was seeing on the trip, who wasn't suprised: "People in Dallas get in their cars and drive two blocks."

[EarthToZoey]

I was born in Dallas and moved back there after high school for a couple of years. It is absolutely impossible to walk to work or to just about anywhere unless you live a couple blocks away. Drivers are rude and treat pedestrians as annoying obstacles.

[BlueBerryPickN]

BRILLIANT PHOTO.

Might I recommend the documentary, "The End of Suburbia"?
http://www.endofsuburbia.com/

Full Documentary: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4862673521005190888

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BlueBerry Pick'n
ThisCanadian.com
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[TheJibreelaMonsters]

if you move to tha hood, then I'll follow you

[taoist]

I just watched it last week. Really good and very timely. I live near San Fran and could not believe how affordable it is to use public transit in the city. For a 1.50 you can ride the bus almost anywhere in town, depending on transfers. Having lived in Orange County Ca. all my life , i told my wife if i lived there the car wouldbe gone.

[ResistanceisFutile]

I have walked in many cities, including Nashville.

Nashville is plenty walkable. My complaint with walking in Nashville is that it is treeless in many of the commercial areas one would walk in.