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. However, the cities near the bottom of the list are considered not walking-friendly or "car-dependent" meaning there are few destinations that are within walking distance so most trips will require a car or public transportation.

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. It’s not a perfect rating scale, as it does not include weather, 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 lowest overall walkability scores out of the 40 largest cities in the nation. The walkability score appears in parentheses after each city.

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

1. Jacksonville (36)
2. Nashville (39)
3. Charlotte (39)
4. Indianapolis (42)
5. Oklahoma City (43)
6. Memphis (43)
7. Kansas City (44)
8. Fort Worth (45)
9. San Antonio (45)
10. El Paso (45)

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

Related blog post: The Top 10 Most Walking-Friendly Cities in America

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

Photo: jmd41280, Flickr, Creative Commons