New York, San Francisco and Boston Top Walk Score's Rankings of America's Most Walkable Cities and Neighborhoods

SEATTLE, July 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- New York has been named America's most walkable city by Seattle-based Walk Score®, in its list of America's Most Walkable Cities and Neighborhoods. Miami, Minneapolis and Oakland are new additions to the top ten. Walk Score also rates the walkability of 2,500 cities and 10,000 neighborhoods.

Walk Score's ten most walkable cities for 2011 include: 1) New York, 2) San Francisco, 3) Boston, 4) Chicago, 5) Philadelphia, 6) Seattle, 7) Washington, D.C., 8) Miami, 9) Minneapolis, and 10) Oakland.

This is Walk Score's first ranking since 2008, when San Francisco was the top-ranked city. The complete list of 2,500 cities and their neighborhoods is available at www.walkscore.com. Walk Score also announced today that over 10,000 websites now feature Walk Score's neighborhood data (see www.walkscore.com/press).

Walk Score's walkability ranking is the only national, quantitative ranking of walkability in the U.S. Cities and neighborhoods are ranked on a scale of 0-100, with locations receiving a score of 90-100 deemed a "Walkers' Paradise."

"With rising gas prices, Americans are looking for alternatives to long commutes and driving around town to complete their errands," said Walk Score CEO Josh Herst. "America's most walkable cities and neighborhoods make it easy for residents to leave their cars at home more often. The latest real estate trends show that homes and apartments in walkable areas are in higher demand and are worth more than their less-walkable counterparts."

People can find their city's Walk Score, find the Walk Score of their own address, and vote for the city they think is most walkable at www.walkscore.com.

Walkable neighborhoods offer a number of benefits:

• Homes in walkable neighborhoods, on average, are worth more than those in less walkable neighborhoods.(i)
• Homes with easy access to public transit and nearby amenities save more energy and money than an Energy Star home in a conventional suburban development.(ii)
• The average resident of a walkable neighborhood weighs eight pounds less than someone who lives in a sprawling neighborhood.(iii)

"With Millennials entering the marketplace, volatile gas prices, and fringe suburban home prices in decline, the demand for walkable neighborhoods has outstripped supply in most of the U.S.," says Christopher B. Leinberger, Non-resident Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution. "An American family living in a house that is accessible only by car is spending on average 25 percent of their income on cars. Households in walkable communities spend less than half that amount, putting more money in their pockets."

Walk Score is advised by an Advisory Board, which includes urban planning, environmental and technical experts from organizations such as Sightline Institute and The Brookings Institution. Detailed methodology information is available at www.walkscore.com/methodology.shtml

About Walk Score: Based in Seattle, WA, Walk Score rates any address based on its proximity to nearby amenities (grocery stores, restaurants, schools, parks, public transit, etc.) and promotes walkable neighborhoods for their economic, environmental and health benefits. Walk Score delivers four million scores per day across a network of over 10,000 websites. According to independent research conducted by CEOs for Cities, one point of Walk Score is worth as much as $3,000 in home value. Visit www.walkscore.com for more information.

(i) http://www.ceosforcities.org/pagefiles/WalkingTheWalk_CEOsforCities.pdf

(ii) http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/article.cfm/2011/2/25/Study-Homes-Save-Mor

(iii) http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kbenfield/utah_study_links_walkable_neig.html

SOURCE Walk Score