What Are The Most Walkable Cities In America?

What are the most walkable metro areas in the United States?

That's the question the George Washington University School of Business set out to answer in a comprehensive study.

The study looked at what percentage of an area's office space, retail and multi-family rental spaces are located in what researchers called "WalkUPs," or walkable urban places. WalkUPs were defined by a previous Brookings University study.

We won't bore you with all the nitty-gritty details (you can download the full report here if you really want to dig into the numbers). But unsurprisingly, New York City — with its streets jam-packed full of offices, restaurants and apartments — took the top spot.

Washington, D.C., was ranked No. 2, followed by Boston, Chicago, San Francisco Bay and Seattle.

Another finding: "The most walkable urban metro areas have a substantially greater educated workforce, as measured by college graduates over 25 years of age, and substantially higher GDP per capita," the study said, noting that a direct causation is unclear.

Here are the full walkability city rankings:

1. New York City
2. Washington, D.C.
3. Boston
4. Chicago
5. San Francisco Bay
6. Seattle
7. Portland
8. Pittsburgh
9. Denver
10. Philadelphia
11. Atlanta
12. Charlotte
13. Minneapolis-St. Paul
14. Cleveland
15. St. Louis
16. Kansas City
17. Los Angeles
18. Cincinnati
19. Baltimore
20. Houston
21. Detroit
22. Miami
23. Sacramento
24. San Diego
25. Dallas
26. Las Vegas
27. Tampa
28. San Antonio
29. Phoenix
30. Orlando

Read the full study here.

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