San Francisco, New York most walkable cities

More and more people are turning to public transportation as gas prices keep soaring, so we may be hearing more about a neighborhood's walkability thanks to new site that helps people find walkable places to live. Walkscore.com uses an algorithm that gives neighborhoods "Walk Scores" between 0-100 based on nearby amenities per person. The higher the score the easier it is for a person to live a car-lite lifestyle, says the site.

The site recently ranked San Francisco as the most walkable city in the United States after scoring an 86 out of 100 "Walk Score." New York and Boston followed with an 83 and 79 Walk Score, respectively.

Mike Mathieu, founder of company that created the site's software, told Reuters he hopes Walk Scores become part of future property listings, which is good if you want to find out how pedestrian-friendly an area is, just don't rely on this tool to tell you how safe it is to walk in those areas.

I noticed some very questionable areas in San Francisco had a very high walkability score, which is sort of scary since you would expect a tool like this one to at least give you a heads up. If you're moving, you might want head to the site to find out your new neighborhood's walkability score, just keep in mind this score doesn't exactly take into account crime rates, traffic accidents, and other important factors that help one determine if walking is the best mode of transportation in those areas.

Link: San Francisco most walkable U.S. city, website says (Reuters)