99. Yeah you heard us. That’s what downtown Charleston — using King Street as the middle point — scored out of 100 on Walk Score’s walkability meter, making the Holy City a “walker’s paradise.”
We asked readers a few weeks ago, “What do you think is the best way to get around the city?” We had an overwhelming response, with 82% of readers voting for “On my own two feet (of course).” We love that you went the sassy route.
A walk score is a numeric ranking that represents the walkability of an address based on pedestrian-friendliness and access to businesses. A city’s walkability score is found by calculating the average walkability of many residential addresses in a city.
Pedestrian-friendliness is calculated by analyzing features of an area’s roads, including the population density, intersection density, and the length of blocks in the area.
Points are given based on the distance between residential areas and businesses, including restaurants, retail, and entertainment. Businesses within five minutes (or about a quarter-mile) are given maximum points, with fewer points given to amenities located further away. Anything within a 30+ minute walk is given 0 points.
Trading in the walking shoes for wheels? Charleston ranks lower for bicyclists with an overall score of 80.
Something to note is Charleston as a broader area has a lower walk score of 40.
Here are the walk scores to compare downtown’s surrounding areas.
- Mount Pleasant | Walk score: 22 | Bike score: 38
- James Island | Walk score: 8 | Bike score: 39
- North Charleston | Walk score: 26 | Bike score: 38
- West Ashley | Walk score: 3 | Bike score: 25
- Daniel Island | Walk score: 19 | Bike score: 42
Here are Charleston’s top five most walkable + bikeable neighborhoods downtown:
- Radcliffeborough | Walk score: 95 | Bike score: 75
- Cannonborough - Elliottborough | Walk score: 93 | Bike score: 75
- Mazyck - Wraggborough | Walk score: 92 | Bike score: 86
- East Side | Walk score: 89 | Bike score: 89
- Harleston Village | Walk score: 89 | Bike score: 77
