CityViking data study · 100 cities measured

The 50 Most Walkable US Cities, Measured

We measured the mile around downtown in America's 100 largest cities — street grid, cafés and shops, landmarks, rail stations and freeways — and ranked how much of each one you can do on foot.

By the CityViking team · Published . Every figure on this page is computed from OpenStreetMap, and the method is set out in full below.

See the ranking Download the data (CSV)

The walkability study in numbers

  • 100 Cities measured
  • 43,722 Street corners counted
  • 33,340 Cafés & shops counted
  • 3,280 Landmarks counted

Key findings

What the numbers say, recomputed every time the study is re-run.

  1. San Francisco, CA is the most walkable big city in America, scoring 92.7 out of 100 with top-decile results for street grid, cafés & shops, landmarks and rail access. The rest of the top ten: Philadelphia, PA; Portland, OR; New York, NY; Seattle, WA; Denver, CO; Washington, DC; Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; and New Orleans, LA.
  2. Size isn't everything. Richmond, VA is only the 96th-largest city we measured, yet ranks #31 for walkability. At the other end, Fort Worth, TX, the 10th-largest city in the US, ranks only #71.
  3. Freeways cut through downtowns. In Dallas, TX, 32.9% of the road length within a mile of downtown is freeway or expressway, the most of any city measured. The median city's figure is 9.9%.
  4. The gap is huge. Within a mile of downtown New York, NY packs 275 cafés, restaurants and shops into every square kilometre, about 10 times the median city's 26. Washington, DC has the most landmarks within walking distance (196, against a median of 17).
  5. The Northeast leads. Its cities average a score of 67.9 (5 of its 7 measured cities make the top 50), ahead of the Midwest (53.2), the West (51.7) and the South (44.2).

The top 50 on the map

Each dot is a city's downtown point, the centre of the one-mile circle we measured. The top ten are in green. Click a dot to jump to the city's row in the ranking.

Map of the Most Walkable US Cities

The ranking

Score out of 100, with the raw measurements behind it. Tap a column to re-sort. Figures are for the mile around downtown, not the whole city.
1 San Francisco CA 92.7 74 275 91 88 3.1%
2 Philadelphia PA 90.7 132 120 124 21 7.8%
3 Portland OR 86.4 96 154 151 66 19.2%
4 New York NY 84.6 72 275 109 16 15.4%
5 Seattle WA 84.3 82 245 88 20 18.1%
6 Denver CO 83.9 64 131 48 12 0.8%
7 Washington DC 83.5 64 154 196 13 9.8%
8 Baltimore MD 83.3 91 75 84 9 8.2%
9 Boston MA 81.7 93 151 162 17 24.8%
10 New Orleans LA 81.3 95 73 40 52 15.1%
11 Austin TX 77.3 65 74 53 2 7.5%
12 Newark NJ 75.0 75 33 43 12 6.7%
13 Oakland CA 74.8 72 101 39 4 13.5%
14 Chicago IL 74.6 53 173 137 23 17.7%
15 Phoenix AZ 71.2 57 37 43 15 5.5%
16 San Diego CA 70.9 61 60 65 11 20.2%
17 Detroit MI 68.0 61 50 39 18 24.3%
18 Cincinnati OH 67.6 56 60 62 15 23.5%
19 Milwaukee WI 67.3 52 70 157 14 22.1%
20 Houston TX 66.8 80 31 46 13 23.3%
21 Indianapolis IN 65.5 65 28 54 1 9.2%
22 Los Angeles CA 65.4 50 102 71 10 17.7%
23 Albuquerque NM 64.6 71 25 32 1 5.2%
24 Reno NV 64.4 62 45 13 5 8.0%
25 Sacramento CA 63.7 52 39 28 15 7.0%
26 Tucson AZ 63.4 69 23 17 17 8.2%
27 Atlanta GA 62.4 61 35 38 19 25.1%
28 El Paso TX 62.0 122 15 16 21 14.4%
29 Memphis TN 62.0 50 28 32 20 3.6%
30 San Jose CA 61.9 52 60 50 8 19.1%
31 Richmond VA 61.5 54 48 77 1 18.8%
32 Pittsburgh PA 60.5 54 48 44 10 28.5%
33 Dallas TX 59.3 59 36 30 19 32.9%
34 Boise ID 59.1 60 36 20 0 2.2%
35 Lexington KY 58.7 70 27 13 0 0.0%
36 Minneapolis MN 58.5 49 56 74 8 24.3%
37 Tampa FL 57.6 63 26 14 9 15.0%
38 Madison WI 57.1 45 86 33 0 0.0%
39 Kansas City MO 57.0 58 49 14 10 25.2%
40 Charlotte NC 56.3 52 38 25 14 17.8%
41 Oklahoma City OK 54.7 54 32 8 24 9.8%
42 Greensboro NC 53.6 54 31 10 1 0.0%
43 St. Louis MO 53.4 53 25 37 8 15.7%
44 San Antonio TX 52.5 62 25 28 1 19.6%
45 St. Petersburg FL 52.4 58 44 9 0 7.3%
46 Laredo TX 50.9 77 19 12 0 7.8%
47 Miami FL 49.7 62 14 13 1 6.6%
48 Honolulu HI 49.7 49 46 30 0 10.5%
49 Fort Wayne IN 48.7 57 15 35 0 5.8%
50 Lincoln NE 48.3 60 13 9 1 0.0%
51 Scottsdale AZ 48.0 48 54 8 0 0.0%
52 Santa Ana CA 46.4 63 8 9 1 4.6%
53 Riverside CA 46.1 48 13 100 1 9.6%
54 Cleveland OH 44.4 29 39 31 8 21.6%
55 Durham NC 44.1 58 20 7 1 8.7%
56 Toledo OH 44.1 55 13 13 1 5.9%
57 Long Beach CA 43.4 42 37 16 5 17.0%
58 Nashville TN 43.2 43 32 25 2 16.2%
59 Jacksonville FL 43.1 50 21 17 8 21.1%
60 Colorado Springs CO 43.1 47 41 13 0 8.6%
61 Columbus OH 42.2 48 38 41 0 25.6%
62 Fresno CA 41.8 54 22 10 1 14.5%
63 Anchorage AK 41.6 44 24 13 1 3.1%
64 Jersey City NJ 41.5 49 27 23 1 20.4%
65 Louisville KY 41.4 45 40 25 0 17.6%
66 Buffalo NY 41.3 47 24 21 7 19.4%
67 Las Vegas NV 40.9 51 35 17 0 22.8%
68 Mesa AZ 40.5 41 18 11 2 0.0%
69 Aurora CO 40.5 54 18 5 0 0.0%
70 Orlando FL 39.8 59 15 11 2 25.7%
71 Fort Worth TX 38.9 54 13 26 2 30.7%
72 Omaha NE 38.7 46 26 27 1 21.7%
73 Tulsa OK 37.2 49 33 18 0 28.7%
74 Wichita KS 37.1 50 15 12 0 6.8%
75 Bakersfield CA 36.9 58 6 8 1 9.9%
76 Anaheim CA 36.6 54 14 7 0 5.7%
77 Stockton CA 36.5 59 4 5 2 15.0%
78 Chula Vista CA 36.3 46 26 5 2 10.6%
79 Henderson NV 34.9 49 15 4 0 0.0%
80 Winston-Salem NC 32.8 55 11 10 0 15.5%
81 Chandler AZ 32.7 47 21 3 0 2.9%
82 St. Paul MN 32.0 41 17 26 6 29.7%
83 Garland TX 31.4 48 6 0 1 0.0%
84 Corpus Christi TX 30.7 51 2 4 0 0.0%
85 Glendale AZ 29.8 41 20 9 0 8.1%
86 Gilbert AZ 27.7 48 11 0 0 0.0%
87 North Las Vegas NV 27.2 47 6 8 0 5.3%
88 Lubbock TX 26.5 48 18 6 0 18.3%
89 Huntsville AL 26.2 39 12 15 4 23.8%
90 Arlington TX 25.9 44 9 2 0 0.0%
91 Chesapeake VA 24.7 25 14 3 0 0.0%
92 Irving TX 24.3 38 3 0 1 0.0%
93 Irvine CA 22.5 34 18 1 0 9.0%
94 Cape Coral FL 20.1 40 1 0 0 0.0%
95 Plano TX 19.3 27 15 1 0 9.7%
96 Raleigh NC 17.1 1 0 0 0 0.0%
97 Port St. Lucie FL 16.5 33 0 0 0 5.1%
98 Frisco TX 16.2 33 12 1 0 12.3%
99 McKinney TX 15.5 42 4 0 0 10.6%
100 Virginia Beach VA 9.8 16 2 0 0 16.0%

A linked city name opens our guide to that city. Every figure for all 100 cities is in the CSV.

The top 10, up close

Each bar is the city's percentile among the 100 cities on that measure: 100 is the best of the field.

1

San Francisco, CA

92.7
  • Street grid 90
  • Cafés & shops 99
  • Landmarks 92
  • Rail access 100
  • Freeway-free 80

Landmarks near downtown: Exploratorium, Cable Car Powerhouse and Barn, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Transamerica Pyramid

826,079 residents · 17th-largest US city

2

Philadelphia, PA

90.7
  • Street grid 100
  • Cafés & shops 92
  • Landmarks 95
  • Rail access 94
  • Freeway-free 64

Landmarks near downtown: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, The Library Company, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University and Franklin Institute

1,574,281 residents · 6th-largest US city

3

Portland, OR

86.4
  • Street grid 98
  • Cafés & shops 96
  • Landmarks 97
  • Rail access 99
  • Freeway-free 24

Landmarks near downtown: Portland Art Museum, Public Service Building, United States National Bank Building and Central Library

635,109 residents · 28th-largest US city

4

New York, NY

84.6
  • Street grid 89
  • Cafés & shops 100
  • Landmarks 94
  • Rail access 86
  • Freeway-free 38

Landmarks near downtown: Pilecki Institute, 9/11 Memorial & Museum, Skyscraper Museum and Museum of Jewish Heritage

8,584,629 residents · largest US city

5

Seattle, WA

84.3
  • Street grid 94
  • Cafés & shops 98
  • Landmarks 91
  • Rail access 92
  • Freeway-free 28

Landmarks near downtown: Seattle Art Museum, The Seattle Public Library - Central Library, National Building and Pike Place Market

784,777 residents · 18th-largest US city

6

Denver, CO

83.9
  • Street grid 81
  • Cafés & shops 93
  • Landmarks 81
  • Rail access 77
  • Freeway-free 84

Landmarks near downtown: American Museum of Western Art, Denver Central Library, Union Station and Coors Field

740,613 residents · 19th-largest US city Things to do in Denver →

7

Washington, DC

83.5
  • Street grid 81
  • Cafés & shops 95
  • Landmarks 100
  • Rail access 79
  • Freeway-free 51

Landmarks near downtown: Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, Decatur House, Renwick Gallery and Petersen House

693,645 residents · 22nd-largest US city Things to do in Washington →

8

Baltimore, MD

83.3
  • Street grid 95
  • Cafés & shops 88
  • Landmarks 90
  • Rail access 71
  • Freeway-free 60

Landmarks near downtown: The Peale, USS Constellation, Walters Art Museum and Chesapeake

569,997 residents · 30th-largest US city Things to do in Baltimore →

9

Boston, MA

81.7
  • Street grid 96
  • Cafés & shops 94
  • Landmarks 99
  • Rail access 87
  • Freeway-free 9

Landmarks near downtown: New England Historic Genealogical Society, William Hickling Prescott House, Gibson House and Co|So: Copley Society of Art

672,973 residents · 25th-largest US city Things to do in Boston →

10

New Orleans, LA

81.3
  • Street grid 97
  • Cafés & shops 86
  • Landmarks 75
  • Rail access 98
  • Freeway-free 39

Landmarks near downtown: Hermann-Grima House, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Confederate Memorial Hall;Confederate Memorial Hall Museum and The National World War II Museum

362,154 residents · 54th-largest US city

How we measured it

Every measure, weight and limitation, so the ranking can be checked and reproduced.

The cities. The 100 most populous incorporated cities in the US, by the Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 population estimates. The list was fixed before any measuring, so no city was added or dropped because of its result.

The circle. For each city we drew a circle with a one-mile radius (1,609 m), roughly a 20-minute walk from edge to centre, around its downtown point. That point is downtown itself: the coordinate of the city's own "Downtown" Wikipedia article where there is one, otherwise its city hall, and only failing both the coordinate on the city's own article. It is never the geographic middle of the city limits, which in some cities sits miles from downtown. The question is a visitor's: if you stay downtown, how much can you do on foot? Density figures are divided by the land inside the circle, not its full area, so a waterfront downtown is not penalised for its harbour. (A 150 m grid cell counts as land if any mapped street or path passes through it.)

The five measures. All are computed from OpenStreetMap, queried through the Overpass API on September 30, 2026:

Street grid 25% of the score
Street intersections per square kilometre of land. Short blocks and many corners mean direct routes and more choices of where to walk. Intersection density is one of the most established walkability measures in urban-planning research. Only surface streets count: freeways, slip roads, alleys, parking aisles and separately-mapped sidewalks are left out, and junctions within 20 metres of each other are merged so a divided avenue is not counted twice.
Cafés & shops 25% of the score
Restaurants, cafés, bars, pubs, food halls and shops of every kind, per square kilometre of land. This is the "can I walk to lunch, a coffee and a pharmacy" measure. Shops marked vacant or disused are excluded.
Landmarks 20% of the score
Distinct notable sights inside the circle: museums, galleries, historic sites, monuments, public art, theatres, stadiums, parks, gardens, landmark churches, towers and bridges. A feature counts only if it is linked to a Wikidata entry, which acts as a notability filter: a named, catalogued landmark, not every bench and plaque. Each Wikidata entry is counted once.
Rail access 15% of the score
Distinct subway, light-rail, streetcar, commuter-rail and intercity rail stations and stops. A stop mapped once per platform or direction ("northbound" and "southbound") counts once. Rail is how a visitor gets from downtown to the rest of the city without a car. Buses are not counted, because bus-stop mapping is too uneven between cities to compare fairly.
Freeway-free 15% of the score
The share of road length inside the circle that is motorway or trunk road (freeways, expressways and their ramps). This measure is inverted: less freeway scores higher, because a freeway through downtown is a wall to a pedestrian.

The score. On each measure, a city gets its percentile rank among the 100 cities, from 0 for the lowest to 100 for the highest. Percentiles put measures in different units on the same footing, and they stop one extreme city (New York's shop count, say) from flattening everyone else. The score is the weighted average of the five percentiles. The weights favour the two measures most established in walkability research (street connectivity and everyday destinations), then landmarks, which matter most to a visitor.

What this can't see. OpenStreetMap is mapped by volunteers, and coverage is not perfectly even: a city whose shops are under-mapped will score lower on that measure than it deserves. Counting only Wikidata-linked landmarks and leaving out sidewalks and bus stops limits that effect, but does not remove it. The study also doesn't measure sidewalk quality, safety, shade, hills or weather, all of which matter on the ground. And it measures one mile around downtown: a city whose walkable neighbourhoods lie further out can rank lower than it feels.

Use this data

The full dataset, all 100 cities with every raw measurement, percentile and score, is free to download and reuse.

Please link to this page when you cite it, so readers can see how the figures were produced.

Download CSV (100 cities) More data studies →

Suggested citation

CityViking (2026). The 50 Most Walkable US Cities, Measured. https://cityviking.com/data-studies/most-walkable-us-cities/. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Map data and measurements © OpenStreetMap contributors, shared under the Open Database License (ODbL 1.0). Population: US Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 estimates.

Walkable cities FAQ

Six questions about the study and its data.

What is the most walkable city in the US?

By our measure, San Francisco, CA, with a score of 92.7 out of 100. Within a mile of its downtown we counted 74 street intersections and 275 cafés, restaurants and shops per square kilometre, 91 notable landmarks and 88 rail stations. The rest of the top five are Philadelphia, PA; Portland, OR; New York, NY; and Seattle, WA.

What is the least walkable big city in the US?

Of the 100 largest cities we measured, Virginia Beach, VA ranked last, and McKinney, TX; Frisco, TX; Port St. Lucie, FL; and Raleigh, NC complete the bottom five. Among the ten most populous cities, Fort Worth, TX ranked lowest, at #71.

How is this different from Walk Score?

Walk Score rates an address by how close it is to everyday amenities, and averages that across a whole city, suburbs included. We measure one thing a visitor cares about: the mile around downtown, where most of them stay. We also count things Walk Score does not, such as landmarks, rail stations and freeways cutting through the core. Every input is open OpenStreetMap data, and the method and weights are published on this page, so the ranking can be checked and reproduced.

Why is my city not in the top 50?

Only the 100 most populous US cities were measured, using the Census Bureau's latest population estimates. The top 50 are ranked on this page, and the remaining 50 are listed in full below the ranking and in the free CSV. A city with a lively, walkable downtown can still rank low if a freeway rings its core, its blocks are long, or its landmarks are spread out beyond the one-mile circle.

Can I use this data?

Yes. The full 100-city dataset is a free CSV download. Please credit CityViking and link to this page. Because the figures are derived from OpenStreetMap, the dataset is shared under the Open Database License (ODbL 1.0), which also asks you to credit OpenStreetMap contributors.

When was this data collected?

The OpenStreetMap measurements were taken on September 30, 2026, and the population figures are the Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 estimates. We re-run the study at least once a year.