Poll, Walk Score Where You Live

[38Chevy454]

Interesting statistics, out of currently 76 votes, 40 are in the 0-9 category. 52.6% of all are in the lowest score category. The remaining are approximately equally divided between remaining scores, no one score level is above 8%. Kind of surprising, I would have thought that the lowest score would not be so common among the replies.



I do agree that the walk score probably means access to stores, grocery, restaurants and other types of business. Not for walking trails.

 

[MichaelB]

The way I see it, a high walk-ability score (top quartile or higher) means mid to big city life and probably a condo. High density urban living for sure. Lots of local business within walking distance. That’s also expensive real estate. Our members here may be well off but they are thrifty. Lower costing housing usually means low density, suburban or rural, which means low walk-ability.

 

[W2R]

Interesting statistics, out of currently 76 votes, 40 are in the 0-9 category. 52.6% of all are in the lowest score category. The remaining are approximately equally divided between remaining scores, no one score level is above 8%. Kind of surprising, I would have thought that the lowest score would not be so common among the replies.

I think that possibly one reason for this, is abysmally poor data collection. For example, my walkability score included zero points for grocery stores in the area, as though there were none near my house.

Yet, within a 1.5 mile radius of my home, there is a Trader Joes, a Whole Foods, two large standard ("Safeway/Kroger type") grocery stores, a large Asian food market, and several convenience stores. And of course the usual bakeries, butchers, and such. All of these are on Google maps, so I think the program that scrapes the maps for info is not doing a very good job of it.

 

[anethum]

I think that possibly one reason for this, is abysmally poor data collection. For example, my walkability score included zero points for grocery stores in the area, as though there were none near my house.

Yet, within a 1.5 mile radius of my home, there is a Trader Joes, a Whole Foods, two large standard ("Safeway/Kroger type") grocery stores, a large Asian food market, and several convenience stores. And of course the usual bakeries, butchers, and such. All of these are on Google maps, so I think the program that scrapes the maps for info is not doing a very good job of it.

1.5 miles doesn't count for much in terms of walkability on the website, and frankly, that makes sense to me. It's not poor data collection. The site explains their methodology:

https://www.walkscore.com/methodology.shtml

"Points are awarded based on the distance to amenities in each category. Amenities within a 5 minute walk (.25 miles) are given maximum points. A decay function is used to give points to more distant amenities, with no points given after a 30 minute walk."

I've got a 95 walk score because nearly everything they're looking for is within 1/2 mile of my home. It truly is a very walkable location, and I take advantage of that every day.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

Looks like a few of my friends are driving to a brewery 5 blocks away this evening.... Guess I better put on my shoes! Never gets old. Realized when I was buying that I'd be driving into the downtown area all the time and glad I splurged when I did as I wouldn't buy at current prices.

 

[Andre1969]

I've got a 95 walk score because nearly everything they're looking for is within 1/2 mile of my home. It truly is a very walkable location, and I take advantage of that every day.

That definitely makes sense. At my old house, there's a small plaza that has a Giant grocery store, McDonalds, and other odds and ends, about 1.8 miles away. I could walk to it if I had to, but it's not something I'd want to make a habit out of. And definitely not with a full load of groceries!

A good deal of that walk was also along the shoulder of a fairly busy divided road, where I swear the sign that said "45 mph" was some kind of bare minimum!

 

[W2R]

1.5 miles doesn't count for much in terms of walkability on the website, and frankly, that makes sense to me. It's not poor data collection. The site explains their methodology:

https://www.walkscore.com/methodology.shtml

"Points are awarded based on the distance to amenities in each category. Amenities within a 5 minute walk (.25 miles) are given maximum points. A decay function is used to give points to more distant amenities, with no points given after a 30 minute walk."

I've got a 95 walk score because nearly everything they're looking for is within 1/2 mile of my home. It truly is a very walkable location, and I take advantage of that every day.

Wow, they are really tough, huh? The closest full sized supermarket ("Kroger type") is 0.33 miles from my house and much of that distance is their parking lot; I can read the store's sign from my front door. Yet, that counts for a grocery store total of ZERO. It has been there for at least 20 years that I know of.

Trader Joes is 0.27 miles from my house. Whole Foods is 0.67 miles. Once again, zero points for all of these and more. Interesting.

 

[Physics Guy]

All of the discussion is why I have mixed feelings about walk score. I would love to have a situation similar to Anethum. When I think about what I want to be able to reach on foot I'd say

Grocery
Farmer's Market
Specialty Groceries (butcher, Asian, bakery)
Multiple Restaurants
Liquor Store
Hardware Store (Ace or similar non-big box store is fine)
Library
Coffee Shop
Vet
Transit Stops if the transit is useful

But some of those I want very close. Others would be fine with a half hour / more than a mile walk if it was pleasant. Plus I'd like trails, nature, or simply nice streets for random walks and walk score ignores that.

On the other hand it is good at filtering out exactly the places I do not want. I've done my time in suburbia and I'm ready to get out. It was good but as an empty nester soon to be retired it no longer fits my needs.

 

[Ronstar]

This site is a bigger joke than I originally figured. Drilling down to the distances that the site shows to nearby grocery stores, etc, - the distances per the walk score site are straight line distances between your address and the address of the destination. How many people can walk a direct straight line from their house to the grocery store? I would need to bring a snorkel to do that.

Distance per walk score site from my house to the nearest grocery store is 3.1 miles. My measured distance along roadways is 4.4 miles.

I can't believe that people publish (and others believe) this stuff. Just something to generate ad revenue I guess.

 

[rk911]

our address is a '30' but there is a Super Target, a Walgreen's and a strip mall within 1.5- miles...an EZ walk or bike ride in nice weather. going the other way there is a comvenience store less than .5-mi away.

 

[disneysteve]

This site is a bigger joke than I originally figured. Drilling down to the distances that the site shows to nearby grocery stores, etc, - the distances per the walk score site are straight line distances between your address and the address of the destination. How many people can walk a direct straight line from their house to the grocery store? I would need to bring a snorkel to do that.

Distance per walk score site from my house to the nearest grocery store is 3.1 miles. My measured distance along roadways is 4.4 miles.

I wondered how accurate the numbers were.


Also, what good is having a supermarket in walking distance. I'm not going to walk there to buy our weekly groceries because I also have to get them home. Maybe if I just needed an item or two, but not a full shopping trip. Especially when the weather is warm, I wouldn't want to be walking 20 minutes or more outside with frozen and perishable items.

 

[Physics Guy]

This site is a bigger joke than I originally figured. ...
I can't believe that people publish (and others believe) this stuff. Just something to generate ad revenue I guess.

While I'm sure it does generate ad revenue and promote traffic on Redfin as opposed to other online realtors I don't think it is as bad as you claim.

Yes it is automated so there are lots of issues with straight lines distances and walking unfriendly roads/parking lots but it has some value. Like a lot of things it is reported as much more granular than their data and methods support. Stay with the big picture, I like quintiles, and it has some useful information.

 

[cathy63]

I wondered how accurate the numbers were.


Also, what good is having a supermarket in walking distance. I'm not going to walk there to buy our weekly groceries because I also have to get them home. Maybe if I just needed an item or two, but not a full shopping trip. Especially when the weather is warm, I wouldn't want to be walking 20 minutes or more outside with frozen and perishable items.

We both walk to our closest grocery store all the time! It's very easy to get in the habit of "what do I want to make for dinner, let me go get the ingredients" when it's only going to take 15 minutes to get there and back. I can easily get the ice cream home before it thaws, even on foot. One of the hardest pandemic changes for us was the switch to planning the grocery shopping/delivery ahead of time. We have back-slid during the last few months and are pretty much back to the just-in-time model of grocery shopping.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I have a walk score of 79, and a bike score of 88.

Like a few others, I am surprised that my walkscore is so LOW. I can very easily walk to 4 grocery stores, many bars and restaurants, whatever church you prefer, post office, paint stores, tailors, etc. There are three different biergartens within stumbling, ahhh, walking distance.

Our walkscore is much lower, yet we have most of those, too, within a mile from our house, in an area with sidewalks. Either their methodology is flawed, or they don't consider businesses a mile away as walkable.

 

[MC Rider]

Here's mine.


62 Somewhat walkable. Some errands can be done on foot.

46 Some Transit. A few options nearby.

63 Bikeable. Some bike infrastructure.



Two 7-11's a short walk away plus various restaurants etc. A level 2 trauma center half a mile away. But no "Kroger type" grocery. Those are a couple miles or so away. For exercise recreation, the 'hood' streets work, but there is no park in walking distance from me. I wish.



Yep, bus stops are close by, but a car is still a much better faster solution. They have designated some bike lanes along major streets, too, but I see few people using them.


Bottom line. If I leave the house on foot or bicycle it is recreation / exercise.

 

[Physics Guy]

We both walk to our closest grocery store all the time! It's very easy to get in the habit of "what do I want to make for dinner, let me go get the ingredients" when it's only going to take 15 minutes to get there and back.

Exactly!

Somehow I find it much nicer to walk a 20 or 30 minute round trip to get a few things than get in the car and drive the same 20 or 30 minutes round trip. Plus, with a backpack those few things can include a fair amount. Using a bike with saddle bags, baskets or the like would be even better for big trips of course but to me the killer aspect is being able to grab a few things when desired.

 

[W2R]

Exactly!

Somehow I find it much nicer to walk a 20 or 30 minute round trip to get a few things than get in the car and drive the same 20 or 30 minutes round trip. Plus, with a backpack those few things can include a fair amount. Using a bike with saddle bags, baskets or the like would be even better for big trips of course but to me the killer aspect is being able to grab a few things when desired.

And for those of us who are older, well, remember when we were young? Little old Depression era ladies and gentlemen pulled carts like this behind them when bringing a lot of groceries home from the grocery store. This one is collapsible. I think the ones I recall from "the old days" were lighter than this one appears to be.

 

[MC Rider]

And for those of us who are older, well, remember when we were young? Little old Depression era ladies and gentlemen pulled carts like this behind them when bringing a lot of groceries home from the grocery store. This one is collapsible.

Yeah. When I was young and delivered newspapers for folding money, Grandma loaned / gave me her cart that looked a lot like that to use. I could haul all the papers with that in 1 trip. When I tried to use my bike it was 3 trips.



Remember when kids delivered the newspapers?

 

[audreyh1]

I wondered how accurate the numbers were.


Also, what good is having a supermarket in walking distance. I'm not going to walk there to buy our weekly groceries because I also have to get them home. Maybe if I just needed an item or two, but not a full shopping trip. Especially when the weather is warm, I wouldn't want to be walking 20 minutes or more outside with frozen and perishable items.

In Europe they use wheeled carts/sacks to bring groceries from the store, and they go far more often so don’t buy as much each time. It’s just a different way.

 

[W2R]

Yeah. When I was young and delivered newspapers for folding money, Grandma loaned / gave me her cart that looked a lot like that to use. I could haul all the papers with that in 1 trip. When I tried to use my bike it was 3 trips.

Remember when kids delivered the newspapers?

Those were the good old days! Bet you learned a lot about hard work and earning money for yourself. Tough on the kids, for sure, but great preparation for later life (in my opinion anyway).

I don't think we even *have* a paper newspaper here in New Orleans any more. Everything's online. I miss reading the Sunday (paper) newspaper.

 

[RetiredHappy]

The way I see it, a high walk-ability score (top quartile or higher) means mid to big city life and probably a condo. High density urban living for sure. Lots of local business within walking distance. That’s also expensive real estate. Our members here may be well off but they are thrifty. Lower costing housing usually means low density, suburban or rural, which means low walk-ability.

Or the well-off members live in mansions and castles away from the commoners.

 

[lucky penny]

I love this & the scores certainly seem accurate for me:

Walk score is 97, transit score is 100!

I can & do walk almost everywhere, though public transit options are plentiful & convenient (& I actually like taking the subway). This is a major reason why I love living in NYC. There's even a ferry on the East River, a few minutes from my door, which I can take to lower Manhattan; with the sun sparkling on the water & Manhattan floating by, it feels like a mini-vacation.

I couldn't find the biking score, but I'm sure it's much lower. Despite bike lanes, biking in NYC traffic feels hazardous. I enjoy taking my 3-speed Raleigh for 6-mile loops in Central Park, but only early when traffic to & from the park is light.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

This site is a bigger joke than I originally figured. Drilling down to the distances that the site shows to nearby grocery stores, etc, - the distances per the walk score site are straight line distances between your address and the address of the destination. How many people can walk a direct straight line from their house to the grocery store? I would need to bring a snorkel to do that.

Distance per walk score site from my house to the nearest grocery store is 3.1 miles. My measured distance along roadways is 4.4 miles.

I can't believe that people publish (and others believe) this stuff. Just something to generate ad revenue I guess.

There does seem to be a problem with the distances listed on a separate page, as you suggest. However, I do not believe that this problem is systemic in the site. The calculation of travel times clearly do NOT suffer from this problem. For example, check out this map of travel times for a locaton near me. It is obviously not based on straight-line distances:

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Also, what good is having a supermarket in walking distance. I'm not going to walk there to buy our weekly groceries because I also have to get them home. Maybe if I just needed an item or two, but not a full shopping trip. Especially when the weather is warm, I wouldn't want to be walking 20 minutes or more outside with frozen and perishable items.

I preface my comments by noting tht I enjoy shopping for food. It is one of my pleasures to obtain tasty victuals, but I understand that others do not feel the same way or have the same priorities.

I do not shop for my weekly groceries. I have the luxury of shopping far more often and obtaining fresh food frequently. So it becomes much less of a burden to get enough for a day or two or three on one trip, without the need to cover an entire week. Instead, a quick stroll, look for good things for dinner tonight or tomorrow, a nice walk back... do the same thing tomorrow or the next day.

So, I deeply treasure having a grocery store in walking distance. (In fact I have 5, but I only really use 2.)

 

[Rambler]

We aren’t really walking distance to anywhere. The supermarket is 1.5 miles away, roughly a half hour walk. But, this is the Phoenix area. When it is 115, your ice cream would be hot soup, and your milk would be cottage cheese by the time you got home…and your skin would be peeling off. This is our temporary home, while we are building a new one. The new home is 3 miles from anything…food, gas, doc, bank, vet. We do have a nice park a half mile from the new home, where we do intend to walk the dogs…at 5am, while it is still only 85.

So no, not walkable.