New York tops U.S. cities in walkability

New walkability rankings by Walk Score show that New York, the nation’s most walkable city, has increased its lead over runner-up San Francisco.

New York’s Times Square, which has been transformed from a gridlocked road to a park for pedestrians, demonstrates the city’s commitment to improving walkability, Walk Score, a company owned by real estate firm Redfin, says. Miami, with increased commercial development boosting urban density, Detroit, and New Orleans showed notable improvement in the report.

“Downtown Detroit has become noticeably more walkable over the past few years thanks to Dan Gilbert’s initiative to move his company, Quicken Loans, and others from the suburbs back to the heart of the city,” said Lauren Buttazzoni, Redfin market manager in Detroit. New Orleans has rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina with walkability in mind as it develops affordable housing and revitalizes commercial districts.

To calculate the rankings, Walk Score analyzed over 10 million locations and computed more than 2 billion walking routes for 2,500 U.S. cities.