Does your city or neighbourhood make it easy to get around without a car? Your answer will depend a lot on where you live in the world. Here in car-obsessed North America, walkable neighbourhoods are just a dream for most of us. Read on to learn how you can find out your neighbourhood’s walkability score…and why it matters.

I live in a typical suburban neighbourhood

I’m an avid walker and I’ve written before about the physical and mental health benefits of walking. Yet, I live in a typical suburban neighbourhood that is far from walkable. Like most small- to medium-sized North American cities, the one I live in was designed for people with cars. Shopping and other necessities are clustered away from where most people live.

The idea of 15-minute cities intrigues me. I’d love to live in a neighbourhood with everything in walking distance or a short transit ride away.

We are fortunate to have an extensive recreational trail system that runs throughout our neighbourhood. I walk on those trails pretty much every day. When it comes to errands, I walk where I can. My church, dentist, and optometrist are a 10-minute walk from my house. And we do have a small bakery, a few take-out restaurants, and a couple of convenience stores in the neighbourhood. But everything else requires a car ride.

What’s your neighbourhood’s walk score?

Do you know how your neighbourhood ranks for walkability?

A few weeks ago, I was looking at the real estate listing for a house around the corner from us. Realtor.ca provides some terrific information about the neighbourhood for all listings. In the transport section, here’s how we rank:

• 10 for driving because we have easy access to the highway and parking isn’t a problem.
• 6 for cycling thanks to our trail system and the bike lanes that our city has installed.
• 3.4 for walking as very few day-to-day needs are within walking distance.
• 2.6 for transit. I was surprised this one was so low. We do have a bus stop about a 5-minute walk away and the bus service within our city isn’t bad. I suspect the low ranking is due to our poor intercity transit connections.

If you live in Canada or the United States and you’re curious about how your neighbourhood ranks, enter your address on walkscore.com. On that site, my neighbourhood scores 47 out of 100 for walkability, 34 for transit and 41 for biking. 

So, it’s clear from the ratings that my neighbourhood was built with cars in mind. Let’s look at why walkable neighbourhoods matter.

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Benefits of walkable neighbourhoods

In all western countries, populations are aging. As I look ahead to a time when I may no longer be able to drive, it would be difficult to get around in the neighbourhood where I currently live. Now hopefully that’s a long way away, but it’s definitely something to think about.

At the other end of the age continuum, the high cost of housing makes it challenging for young people to afford both housing and a car. Walkable neighbourhoods provide an option for young people to get into the housing market without needing the added expense of a car.

Taking a closer look, here are some of the benefits walkable neighbourhoods have to offer.

Active living

A sedentary lifestyle is linked to many health issues. Active transportation options like walking and biking are easy and low-cost ways to get moving. Yet, most North American cities were designed for cars and actually impede walking and biking.

A recent study showed that moving from a neighbourhood with a low walkability score to one with a high walkability score added an average of 1100 to 1400 steps to residents’ daily step count.

Less pollution

Beyond getting more steps in, a neighbourhood that promotes active transportation is good for air quality. Fewer cars on the road means less pollution and cleaner air. That’s something to celebrate for your wellbeing and the environment.

Better social connections

We’re seeing a lot of research on the impact of loneliness and isolation on our wellbeing and longevity. No matter where you live, getting out for a walk around your neighbourhood is a terrific opportunity to get to know your neighbours. Chances are that supporting local small businesses in walkable neighbourhoods will improve the quality of social interactions as you go about your day-to-day business because you’ll see familiar faces.

Cost savings

Owning a car is a big expense. ThinkInsure reports the average cost to own and operate a car in Canada in 2024 was $1,300 a month. Imagine the impact of putting those dollars toward your rent, mortgage payments, or retirement savings.

And if you can get more exercise by walking, you might save money by cancelling that gym membership!

On the way home from our recent trip to Prince Edward Island, we spent a night in the city of Lévis, Quebec. I commented to my husband that the area where our hotel was located had an interesting mix of hotels, office buildings, restaurants and shopping. He suggested the neighbourhood fits the description of a 15-minute city.

Kudos to the city of Lévis for their foresight in zoning and developing this neighbourhood. I hope we’ll see more of that in other cities.

How walkable is the neighbourhood where you live? Drop me a comment and let me know.