How walkable is your neighborhood?

I live in Chicago, and have for over two decades. I have never owned a car here.

Within one block of my house, I have a nice playground park, a public library, one major and one minor bus route, and a great K-8 public school.

Withing two blocks I have a supermarket, a health clinic, two convenience stores, several fast food options including small independent shops, and a great highschool.

Within half a mile I have a coffeeshop, another elementary school with a gifted program, commuter rail to the suburbs, a brewpub, a public pool with a waterslide, and two more major bus routes one of which takes me straight to work and the other takes me to the Korean supermarket with the steamed bun stand.

Within a mile I have a two bakeries, a wine bar, a pharmacy, two large parks each with free preschool and playgrounds, another public pool, light rail into the city, a hospital, and another major bus route.

I commute by bicycle and Chicago is flat as hell. My route to work is fully along bike lanes, about forty percent of that protected by a concrete curb and another forty percent on a beautiful side street along the train track embankment covered in murals.

Cost of living? My house is 1050sf and cost $102K. I earn $55-60K annully and support a family of five on that. Without the cost of a car, it’s easy.

I’m in a rural area so no dedicated walking infrastructure but the side roads are very walkable anyway since there’s little to no traffic until you get to major roads. That’s where traffic is steadier with semi trucks.

3 miles to the town center where there is a school, fire station, town hall, gas station, park, dollar store and ice cream shop. Not an easy stroll from here but easily bikable

I live in a fairly small town. Notably it was never bulldozed to build gigantic stroads or highways and grew slowly enough that there is a single stroad which the city has been slowly extending a sidewalk/bikepath along. For anyone who lives and works in town, it’s very walkable/bikable. Problem is it’s a small town of around 10-15k people so lots of stuff requires running to the nearest large city for medical appointments and shopping and whatnot

With remote work my family has been able to make it work with only one car, and I’ll bike to stuff in town so my wife can use the car when she needs to. There’s some logistical challenges at times but ultimately it’s really nice only worrying about the cost of a single shared vehicle

I live in a place with a totally free bus system!

It is fucking awesome, there is no stupid card, no people being hassled who can’t pay… and I find when I go out without driving I am just less depressed to the point that I will now go out of my way to walk and ride the bus since I feel less like a ghost fading away in a shockingly expensive metal bubble that is always breaking or costing money when I do…

I live 10 min bus ride from a very walkable ~50,000 person towncenter, it is a massive quality of life boost for me.

Seriously, move to Olympia! Or advocate for free public transit in your city/hometown! It makes everything so much more walkable especially not needing a card or other nonsense, just walk on and go.

Also when the US economy screams to a halt, the only service industry heavy places that will weather it will be places in easily accessible, walkable downtowns that are easy and pleasant for people to get to rather than ANOTHER process of getting in a car, sitting in traffic and scrambling for parking.

If you are walking to a neighbors house, a dog, or for your health its very walkable. If you need to get food, you need a car.

Northeast metro area, haven’t owned a car in about 25 years. Mainly walk to places but I also take the train/bus as needed.

When I go out to the suburbs via train I do usually end up driving around with family. (their car)

Metro area is HCOL but not having a car has saved me a huge amount of money, people tend to act like the car is a separate expense not related to the rest of your bills like rent/property taxes, utilities, all that.

I am blessed to be able to walk to work or to multiple grocery stores in the area including a Trader Joe’s. Anything else pretty much needs a car (or bike but that’s dangerous) but at least the daily + weekly essentials are walkable.

Normal spring time can get me jack in the box within a 45minute downhill walk. Or Von’s in an hour twenty? Then you have to come back home in maybe double the time.

In winter time good luck not dying within a couple of blocks. End up as a Popsicle on the road. Thus bus stops don’t actually provide a useful car-less system for us. Heck even cars don’t do so well around December/January time.

It’s 10 miles to the nearest stretch of sidewalk, the main road is a 50 most people go at least 60 down.

People walk it, but it’s notoriously unsafe. On top of that, where I live is a popular drive spot for drunk teens, and more than one person has gotten hurt by them taking out mailboxes.

I can walk to the beach and to hiking. and there are some food trucks in walking distance, but no real groceries.

I would die if i tried walking, i live just outside of town on a dangerous blind curve, but there is a small housing district that’s mildly walkable on my way into town. It’s got sidewalks on at least one side of the road and they lead to mainstreet (which is to say the library and the post office, the sidewalk ends before any store that sells essentials, but it’s slightly less dangerous than my blind curve).

The closest destination is two hours away by foot and I’ll be walking down a highway to get there.

I live in an exurb of Philly. There isn’t specific walking infrastructure but the roads are walkable and I can easily take a walk for exercise just by going down my street. But I can’t reach anything like a store or restaurant within a reasonable walk. If I want to go to the nearest coffee shop I need my car. Or I could try biking but it’s hilly with narrow, winding roads.

My neighborhood doesn’t have sidewalks, but there’s a grocery store that’s a 15 minute walk away. For anything beyond food or a haircut, you’d have to walk for at least an hour probably much more. We have busses, but they only have 3 stops in town, they’re mostly for going to other towns. There’s also a train station that’s a 20-30 minute walk away. Cars are essentially mandatory here.

Ours isnt walkable. We live dead center of a suburban neighborhood thats equal distant between two major roads with various grocery stores, restaurants, and shops, but its a minimum 45 minute walk just to reach either major road. Its another 10 minute walk if you want the grocery store and 15-45 if you want a place to eat.

There are no sidewalks for about 100 feet on both ends of the only road that connects the two major roads and our large neighborhood. This isnt really an issue on one side because theres grass you can still walk on, but on the other end you have to walk across a shoulderless bridge to reach the main road or climb over the 6ft deep drainage ditch to get to a parking lot that runs next to the bridge.

We tried walking to a restaurant once and havent had the energy to try it again which is a shame because we have an insanely diverse number of options for food and shopping, not that we can really afford it anymore.