New This Year: Survey Reveals Best Cities in Each of the 50 States; More Than 500 Cities Evaluated

Cambridge, MA, is the Best Walking City in America, with more residents walking to work and more parks per square mile than any other city evaluated, according to a just-released study by Prevention magazine and the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA). Walking kudos also goes to New York, ranked #2, and Ann Arbor, #3. The Worst Walking Cities: Oklahoma City, North Las Vegas, and Gadsden, AL. Prevention and the APMA annually team up to measure the walkability of America's cities as interest in walking for fitness remains strong. Walking is the most popular form of exercise with 87.5% of Americans walking for fitness.*

New in this year's survey, more than 500 U.S. cities, including D.C., were evaluated and ranked on 14 walking criteria, including the percentage of adults who walk to work, number of parks per square mile, use of mass transit, and percentage of adults who walk for fitness. Also new this year, a Best Walking City was named in each of the 50 states from an evaluation of its 10 most populated cities. (For a complete list, go to www.prevention.com/50bestcities or pick up Prevention's April issue, on newsstands today.)

This year's 10 best and 10 worst walking cities in the United States, according to the Prevention/APMA study:

  10 Best U.S. Walking Cities of 2008
  1. Cambridge, MA
  2. New York, NY
  3. Ann Arbor, MI
  4. Chicago, IL
  5. Washington, DC
  6. San Francisco, CA
  7. Honolulu, HI
  8. Trenton, NJ
  9. Boston, MA
  10. Cincinnati, OH


  10 Worst U.S. Walking Cities of 2008
  1. Oklahoma City, OK
  2. North Las Vegas, NV
  3. Gadsden, AL
  4. Davenport, IA
  5. Mount Pleasant, SC
  6. Enid, OK
  7. Laredo, TX
  8. Springdale, AR
  9. Clarksville, TN
  10. Lafayette, LA

To see the 100 Best Walking Cities in the nation, go to www.prevention.com/100bestcities; the 50 Best Walking Cities in each state, www.prevention.com/50bestcities; the full list of 500+ city rankings and study criteria, www.prevention.com/bestcities or www.apma.org/walking.

* American Sporting Goods 2006

The Best Walking City in each state, according to the Prevention/APMA 2008 study:

  State           Best Walking City

  AK              Fairbanks
  AL              Birmingham
  AR              Little Rock
  AZ              Tempe city
  CA              San Francisco
  CO              Denver
  CT              New Haven
  DC              Washington, DC
  DE              Wilmington
  FL              St. Petersburg
  GA              Atlanta
  HI              Honolulu
  IA              Des Moines
  ID*             Boise*
  ID*             Coeur D'Alene*
  IL              Chicago
  IN              Bloomington
  KS              Lawrence
  KY              Louisville
  LA              Baton Rouge
  MA              Cambridge
  MD              Silver Spring
  ME              Waterville
  MI              Ann Arbor
  MN              St. Paul
  MO              Kansas City
  MS              Biloxi
  MT              Bozeman
  NC              Charlotte
  ND*             Grand Forks*
  ND*             Wahpeton*
  NE*             Lincoln*
  NE*             Hastings*
  NE*             Fremont*
  NH              Portsmouth
  NJ              Trenton
  NM              Santa Fe
  NV              Reno
  NY              New York
  OH              Cincinnati
  OK              Stillwater
  OR              Portland
  PA              Philadelphia
  RI              Newport
  SC              Greenville
  SD              Vermillion
  TN              Memphis
  TX              Austin city
  UT              St. George
  VA              Alexandria
  VT              Burlington
  WA              Seattle
  WI*             Appleton*
  WI*             Madison*
  WV              Morgantown
  WY              Laramie

  *Tie

Source: American Podiatric Medical Association

Web Site: http://www.apma.org/