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You’ve probably seen “Walk Scores” applied to home listings, neighborhoods profiles, and other urban geographic analyses. It’s especially popular in Boston real estate, and for good reason. So what is this “Walk Score?” Who came up with it, how is it calculated, and what does it mean for you and your home search?
What Is The “Walk Score?”
Walk Score® is the brainchild of the company of the same name, founded in 2007 in Seattle by CEO Josh Herst and later acquired by Redfin.
Walk Score assigns a numeric grade from 0-100 to estimate how easily residents of that address or neighborhood can complete their daily errands on foot vs. relying on cars, bikes, or public transit.
The scores break down as follows:
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90–100: Walker's Paradise
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70–89: Very Walkable
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50–69: Somewhat Walkable
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25–49: Car-Dependent
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0–24: Almost All Errands Require a Car
If you go to walkscore.com, you can enter any address into its search engine and find a Walk Score® for that geography.
How is the Walk Score® Calculated?
The Walk Score® is calculated based on the proximity of the address to the following necessities and amenities:
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Grocery stores
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Restaurants and cafés
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Schools
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Parks
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Shopping
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Libraries
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Entertainment
The closer the amenity is (i.e. an easier walk away), or the more of certain amenities are nearby, the more points are added to the walk score.
Other factors weighed into the Walk Score® include:
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Intersection density (how easy the streets are to cross)
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Block length
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Pedestrian friendliness/connectivity
Walk Score® doesn’t just rate the walkability of an address. It also provides a “bike score” and a “public transit score,” weighing similar factors to assess how easy it is to run daily errands by bicycle, bus, or metro.
Why the Walk Score® Matters
Many modern consumers care deeply about how “walkable” their neighborhood is due to a variety of factors:
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Gas is expensive, as is wear and tear on a car. With a sufficiently walkable neighborhood, you may not even need a car.
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Many people prefer the health benefits, fresh air, and simple invigoration of walking over driving.
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Time is precious. A short walk to an important amenity could save time over a long drive with waits in traffic.
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Many people work from home and don’t have the daily commute to stack with errands. Living in a walkable neighborhood makes the remote-work lifestyle much easier.
Limitations of the Walk Score®
Of course, there’s some subjectivity here. It doesn’t tell whether your favorite grocery store or your favorite shop is nearby. If schools are more important to you than cafes, you need a little more info. If you go to walkscore.com and enter an address, it will generate a map of the area surrounding the address showing the landmarks that contributed to the score (schools, stores, parks, restaurants, etc.) so you can verify what’s actually nearby.
Bottom Line
The Walk Score® is a useful and empowering statistic to give you a high-level sense of what it’s like to live in a certain neighborhood. For a city like Boston, with a robust pedestrian culture, it’s a signpost for health, convenience, and high quality-of-life.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is considered a “good” Walk Score®?
A: Any score over 70 is rated as “very walkable.” If you’re seeing a Walk Score® of 70 or higher, you can expect a strong pedestrian lifestyle. Obviously the higher, the better.
Q: Does a high Walk Score® indicate a safe neighborhood?
A: No, the Walk Score® does not take into account factors like crime, lighting, and sidewalk condition. It tells you whether you plausibly can walk to your daily errands, not whether it’s a neighborhood where you would want to. More research is needed to account for those factors.
Q: Is there anything else the Walk Score® doesn’t take into account?
A: The walk score doesn’t account for topography. A short walk may feel longer if it’s up a steep hill. It also doesn’t take into account neighborhood aesthetics — that is, whether or not you will be walking in beautiful surroundings.
Q: Does a higher Walk Score® increase home value?
A: Neighborhoods with high walk scores can command higher prices, especially if the culture values walkability. However, it’s less relevant on the level of individual homes. Since home values are based on nearby comparable sales, nearby homes will have similar Walk Scores®, so it’s basically a wash.
Q: Do suburbs have Walk Scores®, or just cities?
A: Walk Score® does rate suburbs. However, Walk Scores® also matter more in the city than in the suburbs, since it’s understood that most suburban dwellers will have a car. City-dwellers often use the Walk Score® to determine whether they need a car at all when living at that address.