Hitting the Streets

Photo by Getty Images.

Want to know how walkable your neighborhood—or prospective neighborhood—is? WalkScore.com, a website that calculates a community’s “walkability” rating, can help.

The score is based on the number of businesses, services and other destinations within walking distance of a given address. Ratings range from zero (“driving only”) to 100 (“walkers’ paradise”), and the site is adding Google Street View tools that allow users to actually see the streets they would stroll in certain communities. 

The goal is simply “to promote walkable communities,” says Walk Score cofounder Matt Lerner. “We are also excited about how much better walkable communities tend to be for older people.”