Study: San Francisco most walkable city

SEATTLE, July 18 (UPI) -- San Francisco is the most walkable of the 40 largest U.S. cities, based on an analysis of 2,508 neighborhoods, officials of a civic software firm said.

Front Seat, the civic software company that operates the walkability Web site walkscore.com, announced the results of its calculations to identify America's Most Walkable Neighborhood.

The second most walkable city is New York, with Tribeca, Little Italy, Soho the most walkable neighborhoods; third is Boston and the most walkable neighborhoods of Back Bay-Beacon Hill, South End, Fenway-Kenmore. Chicago is fourth with Loop, Near North Side, Lincoln Park; followed by Philadelphia with City Center East, City Center West and Riverfront.

Seattle is No. 6 with Pioneer Square, Downtown and First Hill; Washington is seventh with Dupont Circle, Logan Circle and Downtown.

Long Beach, Calif., Los Angeles and Portland, Ore., round out the Top 10.

The Walk Score algorithm works by identifying the closest grocery stores, restaurants, coffee shops and other amenities near a given address. The neighborhoods were weighted by population and assigned a Walk Score between 0 and 100.

Walk Scores greater than 70 indicate neighborhoods where it's possible to get by without owning a car, while scores of 90-plus qualify as a "Walker's Paradise."