How Easy is Walking to the Grocery Store in Your City?

A new article on Streetsblog USA by Angie Schmitt details a new ranking and visualization by WalScore, which complied data on the best and worst cities for walking to the grocery store. No surprise at the top—in New York City, 72 percent of its residents can access grocery stores in five minutes or less by walking.

Here’s how Sshmitt explains the methodology of the rankings: “Walk Score used its algorithm to cross-reference millions of walking routes with its database of grocery store locations. Then it ranked cities with populations over 500,000 according to the share of residents who can walk to a grocery store in five minutes.” 

The visualization—and Schmitt’s coverage of the rankings—are meant in part to inspire cities to collaborate with WalkScore in working to improve pedestrian access to grocery stores. In fact, “[cities] including San Jose, California, are using tools from Walk Score to examine and address local food access issues."