35. That’s what Lakeland scored out of 100 on Walk Score’s walkability meter, making it a “car-dependent” city.
A walk score is a numeric ranking that represents the walkability of an address based on pedestrian-friendliness and access to businesses.
Walk Score’s scale of walkability | Screenshot via Walk Score
Points are given based on the distance between the home and businesses, including restaurants, retail, and entertainment. Businesses within 5 minutes (or about a quarter-mile) are given maximum points, with fewer points given to amenities located further away. Anything a 30-minute walk or further is given 0 points.
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.
A city’s walkability score is found by calculating the average walkability of many residential addresses in a city.
If you’re more likely to put the rubber to the road than make like Nancy Sinatra + strap on your walking boots, you’re in luck. Lakeland ranks slightly higher for bicyclists with an overall score of 51.
Walk Score’s scale of bikeability | Screenshot via Walk Score
Don’t let a bad grade get you down. Lakeland is already taking steps towards becoming more pedestrian-friendly with initiatives like the Streetscape Expansion Project and the S. Florida Ave. Road Diet .
In the meantime, here are Lakeland’s top 5 most walkable + bikeable neighborhoods:
- John Cox (Walk score: 74 | Bike score: 70)
- Parker Street (Walk score: 71 | Bike score: 75)
- North Lake Wire (Walk score: 69 | Bike score: 62)
- Paul A Diggs (Walk score: 68 | Bike score: 67)
- East Lake Morton (Walk score: 65 | Bike score: 73)
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