Access Across America: Walk 2024

Nearly half of top US cities experienced increases in job walkability

Access Across America: Walk 2024, which estimates access to jobs by walking or using a mobility device such as a wheelchair in the top 50 metro areas, underscores the importance of strong, safe pedestrian connections in the largest U.S. cities. Those who walk or roll in the most populous cities had access to more jobs in 2024 than 2023. Often dramatically so, as eleven of the 50 top metro areas saw percentage gains in the double-digit range.     

The top five cities for job walkability for both lower- and higher-wage workers remained the same from 2023 to 2024: New York, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, and Seattle. These cities share density and a job-housing mix that provides the highest access to jobs for those who walk or roll. Each of these metro areas posted significant increases of 8-14% in pedestrian accessibility to jobs year over year. 

Other metro areas with notable increases include Louisville (which had the highest gain of all U.S. metro areas at 14.3%), Las Vegas (13.8%), Nashville (11.4%), Charlotte (11.3%), and San Diego (10.4%). 

In major cities like San Francisco and Boston, the concentration of jobs and residents with walkable connections means that they are 2nd and 3rd for job access by walking while being 12th and 11th for total employment, respectively. It is instructive to compare these cities to Dallas, which has the fourth highest employment but is 19th in walkable job access.

Rankings are determined by a weighted average of accessibility, giving a higher weight to closer jobs. Jobs reachable within ten minutes are weighted most heavily, and jobs are given decreasing weights as travel time increases up to 60 minutes.

Cities differ in the type of jobs that are easily accessible by walking and rolling. In some cities like Chicago, higher wage jobs are more accessible to pedestrians on average. In others such as Los Angeles or Minneapolis, the regional average job access is higher to lower wage jobs than it is to higher wage jobs.

Key factors affecting the rankings for any metro area include the number of jobs available and where they are located, the availability of roads, paths, sidewalks, and other pedestrian-accessible routes, and population size, density, and location. Proximity to destinations is implicitly important in the mode of walking, due to its lower speeds.

This annual nationwide data is used to guide key transportation and land-use policy decisions. State departments of transportation, metropolitan planning organizations and transit agencies can apply the data to performance goals related to congestion, reliability and sustainability. In addition, detailed accessibility evaluation can help in selecting between project alternatives and prioritizing investments.