You don’t have to actually walk it to find out. Input a street address and city, state, or ZIP code, and Walk Score will tell you how “walkable” the neighborhood is. Walk Score rates addresses using a scale of 1 to 100.
* A score of 90 and above indicates “Walkers’ Paradise,” an ideal location for the car-free.
* 70 to 90 is “Very Walkable … possible to get by without owning a car.”
* 0 to 25 means the area sucks for walkers. Or, as Walk Score puts it, “Driving Only. Virtually no neighborhood destinations within walking range.”
(If you’re car-free and live in a place with a Walk Score of 50 or less, you might be able to take advantage of a car sharing service such as Flexcar. )
I put in 3 addresses, with these results:
* My “home away from home” in Berkeley scored 83.
* My real home, in Seattle, scored 86.
* The Boyfriend’s house scored 35.
I agree with the score for TB’s place, but disagree with the Berkeley score. And, to a lesser extent, I disagree with the score for my place. I like to walk, so I don’t mind walking a mile or so to do an errand. I haven’t really analyzed it, but Walk Score seems to award more points if an area has a variety of businesses within a half-mile radius.
To give you a very general idea of the location, “my place” in Berkeley is bordered by Martin Luther King, Jr. Way (west), Shattuck Ave. (east), Hopkins St. (north), and Virginia St. (south). At least 1 bus has a route along MLK Jr. Way in that area, and I remember at least 3 buses with routes along that part of Shattuck. This particular location is within a mile of all of the following: 2 BART train stations (Downtown Berkeley and North Berkeley), at least 4 grocery stores, 2 drug stores, several coffee shops, lots of restaurants (vegan, vegetarian, and non-veg), a few clothing stores, a kitchen/home accessories store, a post office, 2 Copy Central stores (for Internet access, printing, faxing, etc.), a couple of dry cleaners, laundromats, a library, 2 movie theaters, and the University of California Berkeley. In my book, this location rates a 100.
My actual neighborhood, near the Ballard Bridge, just isn’t as close to as many conveniences within a mile: 4 bus lines, 3 grocery stores, several coffee places, 2 drug stores, a library, a post office, 1 movie theater, a few restaurants (and only 1 vegetarian one), a Fed Ex/Kinko’s (Internet access, etc.). On a blog, my Ballard neighborhood seems comparable to the Berkeley one, but trust me–Berkeley has a lot more stuff. Nevertheless, I’d give my little corner of Ballard a Walk Score of 90.
The Boyfriend lives in Steilacoom. His house offers a wonderful view of Puget Sound and is within about a half-mile of the waterfront, a coffee shop, a pub and a wine & beer place, 3 small restaurants (1 is in the pub). No grocery store, no clothing stores, no dry cleaners or laundromats. Now that I’m really thinking about it, those 35 Walk Score points might be a bit high; 30 is probably more like it. However, if you want to walk in a residential area without beautiful views and not a lot of traffic, Steilacoom’s great.
Walk Score aside, walk when & where you can. And watch out for those pesky cars.