Walking is an enjoyable, cost saving, and environmentally friendly activity that almost anyone can participate in. Walk Score ranks the 40 largest cities in America and the neighborhoods within those cities based on their "walkability." The purpose is to help people find walkable places where it is easy to live a car-free (or car-lite) lifestyle.

Walk Score calculates the walkability of an address by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc. and awarding points based on the distance to the closest amenity in each category. According to studies, the number of nearby amenities is the leading predictor of whether people walk. If the closest amenity in a given category is within ¼ mile, it gets the maximum points. The number of points awarded declines as the distance to the nearest amenity grows and if it is beyond 1 mile, no points are awarded. Each category is weighted equally and the points are summed and normalized to yield a score from 0–100. Scores above 90 are considered "Walker’s Paradise" meaning you can likely get by without needing to own a car. It’s not a perfect rating scale, as it does not include public transit, pedestrian-friendly design, topography, beauty of the surroundings, or man-made and natural impediments to walking; it is purely based on the proximity of amenities. Cities are defined as in the 2000 U.S. Census and neighborhood boundaries come from Zillow.com.

The list below includes the cities with the highest overall walkability scores followed by the three most walking friendly neighborhoods within each city. The walkalitily score appears in parentheses after each city and each individual neighborhood.

The top 10 most walking-friendly cities in America are:

1. San Francisco (score = 86)
   Neighborhoods: Chinatown (99), Financial District (99), Downtown (98)
   
   
2. New York (83)
   Neighborhoods: Tribeca (100) Little Italy (100), Soho (100)
   
   
3. Boston (79)
   Neighborhoods: Back Bay-Beacon Hill (97), South End (97), Fenway-Kenmore (96)
   
   
4. Chicago (76)
   Neighborhoods: Loop (98), Near North Side (97), Lincoln Park (94)
   
   
5. Philadelphia (74)
   Neighborhoods: City Center East (98), City Center West (98), Riverfront (92)
   
   
6. Seattle (72)
   Neighborhoods: Pioneer Square (99), Downtown (97), First Hill (96)
   
   
7. Washington D.C. (70)
   Neighborhoods: Dupont Circle (99), Logan Circle (98), Downtown (97)
   
   
8. Long Beach (69)
   Neighborhoods: Downtown (87), Belmont Shore (83), Belmont Heights (82)
   
   
9. Los Angeles (67)
   Neighborhoods: Mid City West (92), Downtown (90), Hollywood (89)
   
   
10. Portland (66)
    Neighborhoods: Pearl District (99), Old Town-Chinatown (98), Downtown (96)

For more information on how regular walking can improve your health, join the Healia Health Community for Exercise and Fitness.

_{Source: Walk Score. http://www.walkscore.com/rankings/} 

_{Photo: Benjamin Rossen, Flickr, Creative Commons}