Walking commute share, explained
Share of workers who walked to work as their primary commute mode. Source: ACS B08301.
What it measures
The walking share is the percentage of workers 16 and older who walk as their primary means of transportation to work. The numerator captures workers who walked the entire trip; workers who walked part of the trip and then used another mode are typically classified by their primary mode (the longest leg, or the mode used for the bulk of the distance).
Why it matters
Walking share is the cleanest indicator of how compact a metro's job-housing distribution is, high walking shares require not just walkable streets but actual proximity between residential and employment areas. Metros and cities with high walking shares tend to have lower greenhouse-gas emissions, better public-health outcomes, and more vibrant street-level retail. Walking share also correlates with college-town status: dense, mixed-use campus areas push the rate above 10% in places like Cambridge, MA; Berkeley, CA; and Ann Arbor, MI.
Top US places by walked to work
Top 25 per geography type from the latest ACS vintage. See the full ranking links for the complete eligible universe.
Top states (2024)
SEE ALL 51 →Top metro areas (2024)
SEE ALL 925 →Top counties (2024)
SEE ALL 3,144 →Top cities (2024)
SEE ALL 6,826 →Top ZIP codes (2024)
SEE ALL 16,889 →How the Census measures it
ACS Table B08301. CensusEasy uses the "walked" cell.
How to read the numbers
The US walking commute share is about 2.5%. The figure is highest in dense urban cores (NYC, Boston, San Francisco), college towns (Ithaca, Cambridge, Berkeley, Princeton), and military bases where housing is co-located with jobs. Walking share above 10% in a city indicates either a very compact urban core with housing-job proximity, a college town, or a small isolated town where everything is within walking distance.
Caveats and limitations
Walking share is small enough that small absolute changes can produce large percentage swings. The metric also doesn't capture walking trips taken as part of a transit commute (someone walking to a bus stop is classified by their transit mode, not as a walker).