Walk Score Ranks the Most Walkable Cities of 2017

Talk to anyone who lives or works in Miami, and you’re bound to hear a common complaint: traffic. Gridlock rules at many times of the day, causing misery to commuters trying to get to work from the suburbs.

But there’s some good news to report. While New York, San Francisco and Boston were recently ranked the top three most-walkable U.S. cities with populations over 300,000, Miami has leapfrogged Philadelphia to become the fourth most-walkable city in the nation.

The ranking was done by Walk Score, a company owned by real estate brokerage Redfin, whose mission is to promote walkable neighborhoods. Walk Score measures the walkability of a location based on its distance from amenities, population centers, block length and pedestrian friendliness.

Miami’s increase in walkability was attributed to builders and city officials embracing the idea of densely populated neighborhoods, which encourage a live/work/play lifestyle.

“Developers are seeing an overall trend in people who desire to live, work and play within the same neighborhood,” said Aaron Drucker, a Redfin real estate agent in Miami. “Developers have focused on popular urban neighborhoods like Wynwood, Midtown, Brickell, South Beach and Coconut Grove, constructing high rises, multifamily homes and condominiums. This has increased population, creating density that didn’t exist in Miami years ago.”

Projects like Brickell City Centre—which includes 500,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space, a hotel, two condominium towers and two office buildings--offer residents the ability to live within walking distance of offices, restaurants and entertainment venues. That helps encourage people to ditch their vehicles--and embrace their feet.

For the full list of walkable cities for 2017, visit www.walkscore.com/cities-and-neighborhoods.