29. That’s what Nashville scored out of 100 on Walk Score’s walkability meter, making it a “car-dependent” city.
A walk score is a numeric ranking that represents the walkability of an address based on pedestrian-friendliness and access to businesses.
Points are given based on the distance between residential areas and businesses, including restaurants, retail, and entertainment. Businesses within five minutes (or about a quarter-mile) are given maximum points, with fewer points given to amenities located further away. Anything within a 30+ minute walk is given 0 points.
Pedestrian-friendliness is calculated by analyzing features of an area’s roads, including the population density, intersection density, and the length of blocks in the area.
A city’s walkability score is found by calculating the average walkability of many residential addresses in a city.
Trading in the walking shoes for wheels? Nashville ranks slightly higher for bicyclists with an overall score of 30.
Don’t let a bad grade get you down. Nashville is already taking steps towards becoming more pedestrian-friendly with initiatives like the WalknBike plan and the proposed River North pedestrian bridge.
In the meantime, here are Nashville’s top five most walkable + bikeable neighborhoods:
- East Nashville | Walk score: 88 | Bike score: 25
- Downtown | Walk score: 86 | Bike score: 25
- Chestnut Hill | Walk score: 78 | Bike score: 25
- Historic Edgefield | Walk score: 78 | Bike score: 25
- Watkins Park | Walk score: 77 | Bike score: 25
