Always bragging to your friends about how you don’t need a car in Chicago? Well you’re right—kind of.
This week Redfin reported the most recent "walk scores" for major cities, the measure of “how walkable” a city is, and Chicago pulled in a No. 6 ranking with a walk score of 74.8.
New York once again topped the list with an 87.6 rating, with San Francisco close behind at 83.9 (though the cardio is much better in San Fran). Boston, Philadelphia and Miami round out the top five. Chicago’s score puts it in the “very walkable” category, which means most errands can be accomplished on foot.
“New York is clearly leading the way in walkability by reclaiming space from cars for people,” said Matt Lerner, Walk Score co-founder in the Redfin report. “One look at Times Square shows how New York has become a leader. It’s just one example of a place that went from being a gridlocked road full of cars to a park for pedestrians.”
Current developments in Chicago, such as The 606 and a variety of CTA projects, are likely to increase the city’s walkability in the future. The 606, similarly to New York’s Highline, is repurposing unused elevated train tracks into a park that will span from west of Central Park Avenue to Ashland.
The report also gave cities bike scores and transit scores, in which Chicago fared worse, bringing in a transit score of 65 and a bike score of 62.
The report also broke down neighborhoods within the cities and ranked Near North the best, followed by Printers Row, Gold Coast, the Loop and River North.