Thursday, May 8, 2008

Your Walk Score


I was reading a Marketwatch article, 15-minute tip: Walk more for a better score, about how the walkability of where you live influences your physical and financial health, and found the cool site Walk Score.

The benefits for your physical health are obvious, but how does walking improve your financial health? Well, for one thing, have you seen gas prices lately? But most pointedly, a walk score can inform where you live- adding value to certain neighborhoods and making others less attractive. It certainly is true in cities with enough public transportation that most don't own cars; when choosing a neighborhood to live in you want to know how many services are within walking distance. Walkability can also help you sell your home, decide on where to work, etc.

So head on over to Walk Score to see how your current/prospective neighborhood stacks up. You type in your address, and a google map calculates your score based on the walkability of certain services. My address is an 86 (out of 100), almost a walker's paradise (a score of 90-100), but not quite. I feel like mine is pretty damn close to walker's paradise, the farthest thing is a public park (0.69 mi) and if you knew my avenue on a Friday night you would think there were a little too many services. I checked my old address in the East Village, which is a 100.

It's a fun site, I wish it was around when I was single and searching for affordable apartments in crappy neighborhoods. It definitely would have been part of my research and would have saved me numerous subway rides out to the hinterlands.

6 comments:

Zach said...

My current apartment got a 92. I'm moving to get somewhere a little quieter (away from tons of construction), and the new place is still an 86. It's actually closer to the park and the library, so I'm happy. I think I'll live being half a mile further away from the movie theater and fitness center. It's a cool site, though without being able to put in how much you actually use certain items, the numbers are actually kinda vague. Nor can it address that my old place is closer to many more subway lines than my new one, though both are close to public transit.

mysticdomestica said...

My address scored a 91. Well, damn. I figured, with three blocks to the park and two libraries, I'd break the scale. ;]

PiggyBankBlues said...

nice scores!

zach- that is an excellent point about the subway stops, i think you should write them and suggest that...

mfa- the 2 libraries def. broke the scale :)

Jerry said...

Mine's 78 but I live in Maine. You drive everywhere and we have a major obesity problem which attributes the mega high insurance premiums. This is a cool site and I hope it leads to more people taking charge of their health.

Jerry
www.leads4insurance.com

Просто мысли said...

Why only walk score? Maybe also we should use drive score (BTW it’s already used by sellers from Fizber). Or maybe train score? Any more ideas?

Anonymous said...

Very cool! My current address isn't recognized, so that probably gives a hint at how "walkable" things are from here.

My #1 desired characteristic of a future home/condo is that I can walk to things. Really. It dramatically increases prices, though.