Walk Score, a subsidiary of

Redfin Redfin Corporation is an American company that provides residential real estate brokerage and mortgage origination services. Based in Seattle, the company operates in more than 100 markets in the United States and Canada. In 2024, the company h ...

, provides

walkability In urban planning, walkability is the accessibility of amenities within a reasonable walking distance. It is based on the idea that urban spaces should be more than just transport corridors designed for maximum vehicle throughput. Instead, it s ...

analysis and apartment search tools. Its flagship product is a large-scale, public access walkability index that assigns a numerical walkability score to any address in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Walk Score is a type of automated efficiency model focused on location efficiency. A Walk Score, as well as a Bike Score and a Transit Score, may be assigned to a particular address or an entire region, and the company maintains a ranking of the most walkable cities in the United States. Products for computer programmers include Travel Time

API An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build ...

. Higher walk scores have been correlated with higher property values and lower mortgage default risk. The company is headquartered in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington.

History

Walk Score was founded in July 2007 by Mike Mathieu and aided by Matt Lerner, Jesse Kocher, and Josh Herst, formerly of

Madrona Venture Group Madrona Venture Group is an American venture capital firm, founded in 1995 and based in Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a populat ...

. In August 2010, the company launched Transit Score to help users understand the proximity of public transport to an address. In 2011, Walk Score unveiled an apartment search tool that locates available housing based on commute time to a given location. The tool calculates commute times for various modes of transport including walking,

cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

, driving, and

public transit Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of wh ...

. In January 2012, the company raised $2 million from

angel investor An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital to a business or businesses, including startups, usually in exchange for convertible de ...

s, including Geoff Entress,

Shel Kaphan Shel Kaphan is an American computer programmer who was the first employee of technology company Amazon. Working there from 1994 to 1999, he co-wrote the first Amazon website, wrote the product review system, and contributed to 1-Click. Amazon f ...

, former chief technology officer of

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...

, and Rudy Gadre, former general counsel of

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. In May 2012, the company launched Bike Score, a quantitative measure of bikeability to/from an address based on the availability of bike lanes, hilliness, road connectivity, nearby amenities, and the percentage of people in that area who bike to work. In April 2013, the company launched Travel Time API. In September 2014, the company launched crime maps. In October 2014,

acquired the company.

Criticism

Walk Score has been criticized for the limits of its accuracy and relevancy in methodology and results. Specifically, Walk Score doesn't calculate whether there are sidewalks, how many lanes of traffic one must cross, how much crime occurs in the area, or what the weather is typically like. It also doesn't differentiate between types of amenities, for example, a supermarket grocery store versus a small food mart selling mostly chips and liquor.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.walkscore.com/ 2007 establishments in the United States 2014 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in Seattle Online companies of the United States Internet properties established in 2007 Walking in the United States

History

Criticism

See also

References

Further reading

External links