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Some U.S. cities let you ditch the car for good, if you pick the right one. Walk Score ranks America's 10 most walkable spots for 2026
taylor Annis / Unsplash
Car ownership in the United States is expensive enough that plenty of people would drop it entirely if their city actually let them. A handful of American cities do. In these places, groceries, a doctor's office, a decent bar and a subway stop all sit within a few blocks of nearly everywhere you'd want to live, and a car becomes a weekend convenience rather than a daily necessity. Most American cities aren't built this way. Wide arterial roads, single-use zoning and long blocks turn even a short errand into a drive, which is exactly why the exceptions stand out so clearly on a map of the country.
The gap between a walkable city and a car-dependent one shows up in ways beyond convenience. Households that give up a car altogether save somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000 to $12,000 a year compared with those that keep one, and residents of walkable neighborhoods log 35 to 45 more minutes of exercise every week than people in car-dependent areas, without ever setting foot in a gym. Real estate markets price the difference too. Homes in more walkable neighborhoods tend to carry a meaningful premium over otherwise similar homes in car-dependent ones. Carbon footprints track the same pattern, with dense, walkable metro areas producing dramatically less per-capita emissions than sprawling ones. Residents of walkable neighborhoods also consistently report stronger social ties with the people around them. That kind of connection tends to come from running into a neighbor on the sidewalk rather than passing them in traffic.
