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A Walker in the City, Just Not Where You'd Expect

by Sandy Ikeda
Wed, 19 Mar 2008 at 2:16 AM

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Where do commuters walk to work the most?

New York? Celebration, FL? Portland, OR? Try Tempe, AZ — part of metro Phoenix, Exhibit A in the case against so-called urban sprawl.

Here's a list of the top cities with "The highest percentage of residents who get to work on foot":

Tempe, AZ
New Haven, CT
Bloomington, IN
Cambridge, MA
Biloxi, MS
Portsmouth, NH
Cincinnati, O
Stillwater, OK
Vermillion, SD
Burlington, VT
Laramie, WY

(Source: Annual survey with the American Podiatric Medical Association)

You can read the MSNBC article here, where there are other lists, including "City known for most desirable destinations" (San Francisco) and a link to the Prevention (I suppose the magazine) Web site, where you can look up your own city to see how it rates.

I grew up a few miles from Tempe, which is home to Arizona State University. Students working at, say, the TGI Friday's near campus, or faculty living close to their offices, probably explain much here. Indeed, nearly all of the other locations are also college towns, including the other top four as well as Cincinnati (U. of Cincinnati), Stillwater (Oklahoma State U.), Vermillion (U. of South Dakoto), Burlington (U. of Vermont), and Laramie (U. of Wyoming). The exceptions are Portsmouth, where I couldn't find any major university (please correct me if I'm wrong), and Biloxi, which does however have an Air Force base, where I would expect there are many who work on or near the premises.

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