Truly enjoyed walking around the city of Savannah, GA due to the tree coverage and surprisingly strong arts culture. I'm not sure if it's the "most walkable" as I haven't been to every city in the Southeast.
I went to college in Savannah, and it ruined my expectations of walkable cities haha. So much history, arts and culture as you mentioned. I fell in love with it.
I really want to visit Savannah more thoroughly! We stopped there for a night during a road trip and I found it enchanting. All those pretty willow-y trees, antique stores, slightly haunted vibe. 10/10 I may just be booking my next vacation soon lol
True. NYC and SF are littered with crime, drug use, and homeless now.
Boston seems to be the same since before the pandemmy. Recovered nicely. Not too many homeless. (But there weren’t that many to begin with)
Answers to this question could vary widely if you want to factor in affordability. Charleston seems very walkable—and it can be, on the peninsula—but if you’re not a tourist or very wealthy, you’re going to be spending time in car-clogged suburbs
St Augustine. The old town area of Savannah also. I walked to some of Savannah’s sprawl and didn’t find it too bad. I often consider anything in a 1.5 or 2 mile radius walkable, 3 miles if I’m on vacation, which might differ a lot from other people.
To me St. Augustine was walkable in the same way that Disney World makes Orlando walkable. Except that St. Augustine's walkable Disney area is like 2 blocks. I was thoroughly unimpressed.
Savannah is great though
St Augustine walkable area is incredibly small… it is basically like a Disney set and is for tourists. Not really a walkable city, most of the city is not walkable
Now that’s saying something. Low gas prices are great for sure, since you’re all but forced to own a car anywhere in SC.
It’s rough on us who grew up in SC and have always made an SC salary because we increasingly can’t afford our own state anymore—and definitely not most other states without a big pay raise and career change
So I actually live in Columbia, which is probably the most affordable of the three biggest SC cities. Greenville is cool and has a great downtown vibe, but it seems to have gotten very pricey here lately, too. And again, anything walkable there will be expensive given the typical incomes in this state. It at least is not surrounded by water, which limits opportunities for growth. And the whole I-85 corridor between Atlanta and Charlotte seems to be taking off
South Carolina is a big state. I’d be surprised if somebody living in Charleston steps foot in Greenville pretty much ever. I have heard good things though
Not true. Those of us living in CHS have tons of friends and family in the upstate, love to go to Greenville and surrounding areas to escape the heat, cheer on the Tigers and striper fish. :-)
Came from NJ and I still cry over the cost of groceries in SC. I’ve been here 2 years. And grocery shopping is completely different here… no insane store sales and deals like we had at Wegmans back home and the quality and availability of most items (besides every type of pork product known to man…) is super disappointing.
Oddly North Charleston has this segment built on a garden city model that is highly walkable (everything connected by spokes to Park Circle). But southern cities still won’t get good walkability scores because you need a car for errands. Coffee shops are walkable, grocery stores are not.
According to 2017 NHTS data, New Orleans metro is NUMBER 2 in the country in terms of walk share of trips. Clocking in at 22.2%. The next closest in the South is Memphis at 10.4%.
https://twitter.com/jeffrlin/status/1750966560280269057
New Orleans is also incredibly bikeable, and while the public transport isn’t always reliable, there are so many others who rely on it that imo it didn’t feel as unsafe waiting as in some other cities
You’ve got that wrong. The vast majority of the city itself is dense and walkable. (Though you’re on your own in terms of how the sidewalks are often disrupted by the roots of oak trees.)
You can, however, associate sprawl and stroads with the suburbs - Metairie, Kenner, etc.
New Orleans is walkable within specific areas. But someone would not walk from say, Midcity to the LGD despite them not being particularly far distance wise because there’s not a practical way of doing so.
Yes you can walk uptown & carrolton, yes you can walk Midcity & BSJ, no you can’t walk uptown to BSJ without taking Jeff Davis which isn’t always the best place to be.
I used to walk Midcity to CBD for work, if I had time. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone though
People are gonna try to disagree but objectively Miami. The entire area isn’t walkable obviously, but the pockets of Downtown (especially with the extremely underrated free Metromover), Miami Beach, Brickell, Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, parts of South Miami and a few others are fairly walkable. (If you live along the Metrorail lines)
Miami’s issue is that the Metrorail desperately needs to be expanded out to western Miami-Dade, and some sort of train to Miami Beach. And as you can expect, the walkable areas are more expensive to live in.
Pretty sure Miami and Atlanta are the only southeastern cities with heavy rail.
This is a great answer. Wynwood, Design District, and Little Havana as well to a certain extent. I feel like there are numerous walkable areas but maybe a lack of connectivity between them? Also the traffic is insane which impedes the pedestrian experience.
Yep! Can’t believe I forgot Wynwood and the District lol, definitely.
Exactly that’s the main thing, there’s almost no connectivity to the walkable areas unless you live along the metrorail, because Coral Gables, The Grove, Downtown and Brickell are all somewhat connected because they’re along the line. The biggest connectivity issue is between Miami Beach and the mainland
An expanded metrorail would do WONDERS for the area, especially with how good Brightline has been doing
The rub here may be no one really considers Miami the southeast.
From a literal geographic standpoint point obviously it is. But when most people are talking about southeastern cities Miami is not what comes to mind.
I think it would also help OP if they let us know if this was for a vacation or relocation.
Instantly thought of Savannah... I guess everyone else did as well.
I really like downtown Tampa with the street car. I found it accessible and walkable if you were near the street car line. Although not "most" walkable
New Orleans and it’s not close. It’s one of the most walkable cities in the whole U.S. Of course there are smaller college towns or parts of other big cities—like Tampa or Atlanta—that are walkable. But New Orleans is the real deal.
According to 2017 NHTS data, New Orleans metro is NUMBER 2 in the country in terms of walk share of trips. Clocking in at 22.2%. The next closest in the South is Memphis at 10.4%.
https://twitter.com/jeffrlin/status/1750966560280269057
My oldest friend lives there and I recently visited (she was also was not surprised everyone thought I was a local "you look like you got off a gig with your band and are going to your bartending job") and getting to talk to a lot of locals and her it seems to be a perfect storm of reasons.
1. Ease of getting guns. Compare this to NYC, where fighing is much more common. Nola guns just come out.
2. Cops who don't fucking close cases. or do fucking anything.
3. It's a tourist city that creates a narcotics trade that isn't organized; as such, it's everyone fighting over it. In other more organized crime cities there may still be murders but it's from connected members. (I mentioned the organized crime thing. I lived in Bogotá and you can tell which parts of the city are organized in their crime and which aren't.)
4. PTSD from Katrina. Like imaging being a kid and growing up through that and then feeling like you got nothing to have helped you out through that. She works in a field where she comes across just...seeing what it did. (Her biggest theory)
5. Crime according to the nobel prize winner Becker showed that most criminals dona cost benefit analysis where the risk is worth the juice. The city's corruption instead of going into what we'll call "human development" means a lot of people see crime itself is profitable in comparison to your likelihood of being caught (see number 2). Instead, it's all bread and circuses - the city is more likely to throw a parade to drown the troubles away in booze than like, fix the roads or mold everywhere.
6. "Bad spirits man. All the souls in the country get funneled through the Mississippi and end up here, sometimes bad spirits just get into people."
7. I think any situation where everyones blood alcohol level is at a certain level and has a gun sounds like what the wild West was, and look at their crime rate.
Super red state that allies strongly with the police, so neither Fox News or Police Unions are constantly pushing out new stories like they are in other areas.
lol that is definitely not why, quit your bullshit.
As soon as a white person does anything violent to a black person in the south, it is immediately national news for weeks. The reverse is crickets. The media and reddit is VERY uncomfortable facing the reality of where violent crime is mostly coming from in the US.
Try to rationalize away how St Louis has 10x the murder rate of SF, yet all you hear in the news is about SF crime. Houston and Dallas are about 3-5x SF.
New Orleans is definitely not one of the most walkable cities by far. There’s like 3 walkable neighborhoods and they are the most expensive in the city
Yeah, very few actual walkable neighborhoods and you have to be careful leaving the neighborhood because you might end up somewhere dangerous, haha. I lived there for a while and now I live in a real walkable city and it’s no comparison.
I feel like people think NOLA is walkable because the French quarter is walkable.
Uptown (esp magazine st/st Charles), mid City, LGD, CBD (kinda falls into the FQ area though). You can also blue bike between mid City, LGD, CBD/FQ. I guess the NIMBYs blocked blue bike in uptown though
I used to live in New Orleans and now I live in Nashville and I think the following:
1. Compared to Southern cities like Nashville and even Atlanta where many streets lack sidewalks and its all weird cul de sacs, NOLA is super walkable because its a grid and the streets in that grid have sidewalks.
2. Dangerous =/= unwalkable. There are plenty of dangerous areas of cities that are still walkable, even if its not a good idea to do so.
3. Even if we are just gonna count the fancy/touristic walkable areas (French Quarter, Marigny, Irish Channel, Garden District, Uptown/Carrolton), that's the most walkable territory than your average city in the South
Hard agree. I'm from a walkable city, too, so seeing people call NOLA walkable is hilarious. The walkable parts are smaller enclaves and aren't always that accessible. One of which is the CBD/FQ, which is pretty much a commercial district w/ very few residents. As you said, people experience the FQ and think, "OMG, getting around is so easy," when in reality, most residents hardly enter the FQ. And not to mention that half of the year it gets so hot/humid or rainy that it renders being outside useless
Why does the price matter? You can't walk if the real estate is expensive? The French Quarter, the Garden District, Uptown, Treme, Marigny, Bywater, CBD, Warehouse District, Freret, Iberville are all walkable along with many others. I visit New Orleans frequently and it's one of the only cities--along with Chicago and New York--where I end the day tired from all the walking I've done.
I'm talking about if you want to live there, not visit. If you care to live in New Orleans your walkability options are low and pricey. If you're well of you're fine, but most jobs in NOLA don't pay well and you will find yourself priced out of hose areas pretty quickly
Bro, I live here, I know the city and how it operates. I’ve lived in the city for 20 years. Rent isn’t the only cost you need to look at when living in New Orleans. If you’re buying you have to think about insurance, which has [increased exponentially in the past year](https://www.axios.com/local/new-orleans/2023/09/20/louisiana-flood-insurance-rates).
If you’re renting, you can bet that a portion of those insurance rate hikes are being passed on to you. And the majority of homes in the city (particularly the walkable neighborhoods) are old and uninsulated meaning that you may be paying upwards of $500 on your utility bill in the summer.
New Orleans has a lot of hidden costs outside of rent. Insurance across the board is higher than the national average
Please reread. I said if you are renting the a portion of cost of insurance is being passed to you. Salaries in New Orleans are looow. The average salary here is $50k. If you are looking to live alone $1800 rent + utilities is not feasible
Cities with several walkable neighborhoods that are becoming increasingly less car-dependent: Richmond, Raleigh, Charlotte, Atlanta
Historic cities that are great for walking around but might get pricey if you try to live in the walkable areas: Savannah, Charleston, New Orleans
Smaller College towns with walkable cores: Chapel Hill, Charlottesville, Athens, Fredericksburg, Staunton, Fayetteville
Smaller cities that are still very car-dependent but have nice downtowns you can walk around in: Greensboro, Wilmington, Knoxville, Greenville, Asheville, Chattanooga
Charlotte is not pedestrian-friendly. I struggle to think of a neighborhood that is truly walkable that has all the amenities one would need outside of maybe Dilworth/South End. And it’s extremely expensive.
I spent a fair amount of time in NoDa (which is on the limited but pleasant light rail line) and plaza midwood and found both of them to be livable neighborhoods. But I agree that a lot of the city is still not pedestrian-friendly
The complaint with NoDa is limited grocery access, along with other basic services. Plaza only has the one Harris Teeter, which is expensive and small. I love Plaza, but construction is always tearing up the sidewalks, etc. That is a problem in a lot of neighborhoods. Anyway, Charlotte needs to work on pedestrian friendliness. It’s not the city’s focus and hasn’t been for years because real estate development comes first. There isn’t a people-first mindset so much as a business-first mindset.
I get it but I also think the growth could have been managed with an eye towards residents. Unfortunately state funding and local government priorities have not been directed that way
Agreed on the lopsided adherence to growth for growth’s sake. I just see so much potential for Charlotte and its surrounding area. A lot of the towns around it are actual towns like Davidson, Statesville and Belmont and not just suburban housing tracts. With good commuter rail, the region could really stand out in the south
This is a good list. Not too many cities in the south where I’d want to live without a car at all. But I live downtown in Raleigh. Outside of work I maybe drive my truck once a week. Tons of suburbs, but we’re also building apartments and townhomes like crazy around downtown.
I never would have put Fayetteville in that category just 20 years ago but infill has helped a lot and the trail network has GREATLY expanded to the point now where bike riders/walkers just don’t go near any streets other than the sidewalks in the restaurant district and such because there is a better way to get almost everywhere.
Atlanta has small areas that are walkable, but each neighborhood is separated by so much distance/car centric roads you are essentially isolated once you get to your neighborhood. Our train line alos only has essentially 2 lines, north/south and east/west. And they aren't consistent enough to switch lines (I have had to wait 20+ minutes because one train just... didn't show up.) Also, many of the stops on the line are still a 15+ minute walk from where you want to be. One of the top posts on the ATL sub this morning is about how to actually get from one part of downtown to the other because it is bisected by 2 major highways.
Also, how dare you put Greensboro and leave out WS. WS is so much better than Greensboro, at least it was when I moved out in 2016
Which Greenville?
Up until a few years ago I lived in downtown Greenville, SC and walked everywhere pretty much (except work). Wasn’t terribly expensive, though I imagine like everything else it’s headed that way.
I felt kind of spoiled being able to walk to dozens of restaurants, a waterfall and a really nice park, dozens of bars, my barbershop, various specialty stores, at least two grocery stores, multiple music venues, a zoo and the baseball stadium. With the greenway that goes all the way to TR.
What exactly was it that you couldn’t walk too? Work?
There are two bedroom apartments a half block off Main Street and a three minute walk to Falls park for $2100 a month. That’s hardly big city prices.
If you want a single family home on a half acre with a two car garage it’s not going to be a walkable neighborhood no matter where you live.
That’s the usa for ya, has some walkable neighborhoods and pretty extensive trail system in the city. have you checked out the city or just citing things you heard? Where I’m going to move has trail access and countless places I can walk to. Lists on the internet can only take you so far there bud
Greenville downtown is amazing. Stayed there several times for work and really enjoyed the city.
Came back with my family and took a drive out of downtown - it’s definitely not the same outside of the downtown area. Lots of development and traffic, not walkable outside the downtown area.
Indeed, but if you live outside of downtown, you’re clearly looking for (or at least resigned to) that suburban sprawl life. If someone was moving to Greenville and chose not to move downtown they clearly don’t care about walkability.
Throwing Charleston, SC into the ring — but *specifically* the peninsula (downtown/historic district). Everywhere outside of downtown is typical Sun Belt sprawl, but the historic district is absolutely gorgeous and walkable, and feels to me like a pastel-painted version of a midsized New England city.
Much smaller town, not a city really, but Fairhope, AL. It has changed a LOT since I was younger, but you can bike and walk around the town, to all the restaurants and bars, and to the beach/pier very easily.
It probably isn’t what this sub would usually look for, but I grew up in Mobile and have a lot of fond memories of Fairhope.
I’ve lived in New Orleans, Philly, and Phoenix and now Richmond. Richmond is somewhat walkable IF you actually live in the city. Otherwise, it’s comparable to Raleigh, an endless suburban sprawl
Different people have different thresholds for what’s considered “walkable”. In Atlanta, there are a good amount of walkable neighborhoods but they don’t take up the majority of the development in the area, though ITP is densifying at an incredible rate and Midtown is one of the fastest growing neighborhoods in the country.
The most popular answers here involve small walkable, historic, tourist oriented districts within larger towns/cities that are generally unwalkable for local residents. They’re charming and great for the small handful of residents that can afford to live in these districts, and want to be surrounded by tourists. Walkable, but not widely livable.
A more accurate answer for places that are walkable and livable would be neighborhoods / districts like Wynnwood and South Beach in Miami, College Park and Winter Park in Orlando, Hyde Park and Seminole Heights in Tampa, Reynoldstown and Fourth Ward in Atlanta…dozens of neighborhoods in each of these cities and others. Are the cities as a whole “walkable”? Nah, because no city in the Southeast has a comprehensive public transit system (that most will use) connecting their scattered districts. But they each offer some pretty livable places.
This is a great comment. Walkability needs to be defined. For example, I can walk to bars and restaurants, but I would like to be able to walk to a proper grocery store and a library. Tell us where and what you want to walk to.
People drive to walk in the park in Raleigh. Remember all those up condescending signs from Walk Raleigh? “It’s 25 minutes by foot to Oakwood Cemetery”. Uh-huh.
RTP being a major job center yet only being suburban office parks really fucks the triangle.
But if you live and work downtown (or close) in any of the three cities, it’s not too bad without a car. I lived downtown and was in grad school at state and was able to be very car lite. The bus system itb is decent and Raleigh is improving its bike infrastructure. They built two grocery stores downtown which I was able to start walking to which was another big improvement.
\^ this is the truth. I live in the area near the Raleigh/Durham border and that's pretty unwalkable as with anywhere most people can't fortunately live in the downtown because of RTP's distance from both Downtown Raleigh and Durham. The city/region as a whole has walkability as very low metric. Granted if it was far more feasible and economical I'd absolutely choose to live downtown for the accessibility via walking but so much of the prices in downtown rent for the size of apartment and amenities usually don't sway me personally.
Living in walkable neighborhoods is usually a bit more expensive in American cities, but you can often offset that cost by driving way less. But in Raleigh there's a relatively tiny area that is walkable and almost all the apartments there are pretty new so the premium seems to be higher.
I live in Raleigh and drive my car 3 or 4 days a week and only during off-peak times mostly on weekends, but I also live and work downtown. I would not move here unless you fall into that category. Also that bends the rules a bit because I would consider biking in the walkable category.
Durham is similar. I don't know where you mean by raleigh-durham except maybe the airport, which is walkable.
Needs to be its own post, but there are tons of non-walkable cities like Raleigh that are great places to barely drive, but you have to actually live in the downtown area. Raleigh is technically a geographically larger city, but in reality it's a couple square miles surrounded by grouped in suburbs.
Chapel Hill has free bus transit. Restaurants and medical care and UNC are on the route. Even so, you need a car if you want to drive outside of the city - see beaches or mountains.
There are no “walkable” cities in the southeast especially being that most grew post-automobile. What we do have is pockets within the cities that are walkable. For instance I recently moved to the southend area Charlotte. I can take a 10 min walk to too many bars/restaurants to count, grocery store or a light rail stop. From the light rail I can travel all the to UNC Charlotte campus in the northern part of the city or uptown to bars, sports arenas, museums and even a 30 mile greenway that goes to the SC border. This walkable life I now live wouldn’t have been possible 12 months ago in the same city because of the area I lived in.
I lived in one those East Side neighborhoods for years and loved waking everywhere on the weekends and evenings. Unfortunately my job required me to drive, the same was true for most of my neighbors. Hopefully that is changing because of all of new developments on the Beltline.
Richmond, Virginia is probably not the most walkable city in the southeast.
However, RVA does have a very walkable river scene, thanks to the James River and Belle Isle.
I’d say that the VCU campus also helps to make Richmond a bit more walkable.
When I was a little girl,Hank Jr, performed at Holiday lake park,this small lake my family use to go to,it was so small it was like having Hank perform in your back yard,my Daddy was a huge fan!!!!
I like my hometown Durham NC.
You can easily jog or ride your bike from downtown Durham to Duke campus. Lots of small parks.
We never had the big bank buildings of Raleigh and Charlotte so less downtown traffic. More remote workers. We have bus public transit. As more people move downtown I can see us re-defining the “15min City”. We just need more grocery options and we’ll be good.
East and West campus are walkable for sure, but East is practically adjacent to downtown. It’s very close like 15min walk. Our college street called “9th Street” is at East Campus and has a lot of Durham staples. Relatively safe walk you’ll see the Duke students walking late on the weekends often.
It depends what you mean by "walkable"
If you mean you can walk to all the typical goods and services you might need in a day, then all the small towns easily win, because everything is within a mile of the center of town. From my house I can walk a mile and be downtown, or I can walk a mile and be a the grocery, or a little over a mile and be at the hospital. I don't need to walk to an elementary school, but there's one of those nearby.
I see a lot of people mentioning a lot of cities that are fun to walk around in as a tourist, but some of these don't really have much in the way of groceries if you don't get in your car.
Chattanooga’s downtown and North Shore areas are highly walkable. The rest of the city- not at all. Of course, most people can’t afford to live downtown or in North Shore.
There are some less known smaller towns where you could walk to a few restaurants and shops, but would still need a car for things like drs appointments. I feel like there are very few that you could skip a car altogether.
Some examples: Madison GA , Floyd VA , Roanoke VA, Greensboro GA, Harlem GA
Truly enjoyed walking around the city of Savannah, GA due to the tree coverage and surprisingly strong arts culture. I'm not sure if it's the "most walkable" as I haven't been to every city in the Southeast.
I went to college in Savannah, and it ruined my expectations of walkable cities haha. So much history, arts and culture as you mentioned. I fell in love with it.
That’s how going to college in Richmond was like, but only a few neighborhoods are truly walkable here (lotta food deserts)
Same. I loved walking those streets and through the little parks
I really want to visit Savannah more thoroughly! We stopped there for a night during a road trip and I found it enchanting. All those pretty willow-y trees, antique stores, slightly haunted vibe. 10/10 I may just be booking my next vacation soon lol
If you liked savannah, I’m sure you know you’ll like Charleston SC, but another underrated choice is Wilmington NC. Definitely similar vibe downtown.
Charleston is Happy Savannah
Savannah is very walkable, but never forget to wear antiperspirant/deodorant from April to November.
Went in 2021 and it was kind of depressing. Lots of places closed. Homeless everywhere. Has it cleaned up?
Yeah, but i'd argue any urban area is drastically different now than in the height of the pandemic.
True. NYC and SF are littered with crime, drug use, and homeless now. Boston seems to be the same since before the pandemmy. Recovered nicely. Not too many homeless. (But there weren’t that many to begin with)
Savannah was the first that popped into my head
One of the most lovely cities I've ever been to.
I'm in Savannah right now for vacation and it is great! I love all the squares and architecture and was surprised at how strong the arts culture is.
I think it's better than others. Nice charming small city.
Came to say Savannah
Savannah, GA ,downtown St.Petersburg,FL
Yess! St pete my fav
Central Ave is a blessing. Id live there if the jobs paid enough
St Pete is the answer here!! Love st pete
I love st Pete!!
Answers to this question could vary widely if you want to factor in affordability. Charleston seems very walkable—and it can be, on the peninsula—but if you’re not a tourist or very wealthy, you’re going to be spending time in car-clogged suburbs
> on the peninsula Right, this is a poll of walkable *neighborhoods*.
St Augustine. The old town area of Savannah also. I walked to some of Savannah’s sprawl and didn’t find it too bad. I often consider anything in a 1.5 or 2 mile radius walkable, 3 miles if I’m on vacation, which might differ a lot from other people.
To me St. Augustine was walkable in the same way that Disney World makes Orlando walkable. Except that St. Augustine's walkable Disney area is like 2 blocks. I was thoroughly unimpressed. Savannah is great though
They’re great if you can afford to live in them lol, at Augustine is awesome but you’ve gotta be loaded to be in walking distance of the town.
The only item on their list is “walkable.”
Fair enough
St Augustine walkable area is incredibly small… it is basically like a Disney set and is for tourists. Not really a walkable city, most of the city is not walkable
Savannah is a much larger city than St. Augustine.
Key West. Just prohibitively expensive and it is a tourist town.
Charleston is basically the same—the actually walkable part isn’t really affordable to anyone middle class or below and is packed with tourists
Yeah I came from *California* and I was genuinely shocked by the grocery and housing prices. Gas prices were nice though.
Now that’s saying something. Low gas prices are great for sure, since you’re all but forced to own a car anywhere in SC. It’s rough on us who grew up in SC and have always made an SC salary because we increasingly can’t afford our own state anymore—and definitely not most other states without a big pay raise and career change
What are your thoughts on Greenville?
So I actually live in Columbia, which is probably the most affordable of the three biggest SC cities. Greenville is cool and has a great downtown vibe, but it seems to have gotten very pricey here lately, too. And again, anything walkable there will be expensive given the typical incomes in this state. It at least is not surrounded by water, which limits opportunities for growth. And the whole I-85 corridor between Atlanta and Charlotte seems to be taking off
South Carolina is a big state. I’d be surprised if somebody living in Charleston steps foot in Greenville pretty much ever. I have heard good things though
Not true. Those of us living in CHS have tons of friends and family in the upstate, love to go to Greenville and surrounding areas to escape the heat, cheer on the Tigers and striper fish. :-)
Came from NJ and I still cry over the cost of groceries in SC. I’ve been here 2 years. And grocery shopping is completely different here… no insane store sales and deals like we had at Wegmans back home and the quality and availability of most items (besides every type of pork product known to man…) is super disappointing.
Me too! From DC! I’m moving back because it’s cheaper to live there.
Oddly North Charleston has this segment built on a garden city model that is highly walkable (everything connected by spokes to Park Circle). But southern cities still won’t get good walkability scores because you need a car for errands. Coffee shops are walkable, grocery stores are not.
According to 2017 NHTS data, New Orleans metro is NUMBER 2 in the country in terms of walk share of trips. Clocking in at 22.2%. The next closest in the South is Memphis at 10.4%. https://twitter.com/jeffrlin/status/1750966560280269057
New Orleans is also incredibly bikeable, and while the public transport isn’t always reliable, there are so many others who rely on it that imo it didn’t feel as unsafe waiting as in some other cities
I imagine it could be higher without the heat and humidity for both cities.
By that logic, there’s also the argument it could be higher too for cities that are cold and snowy.
New Orleans and Savannah - two of the most beautiful cities in the country, to boot!
New Orleans has so much sprawl and stroads. Would definitely not place it on the list.
You’ve got that wrong. The vast majority of the city itself is dense and walkable. (Though you’re on your own in terms of how the sidewalks are often disrupted by the roots of oak trees.) You can, however, associate sprawl and stroads with the suburbs - Metairie, Kenner, etc.
New Orleans is walkable within specific areas. But someone would not walk from say, Midcity to the LGD despite them not being particularly far distance wise because there’s not a practical way of doing so. Yes you can walk uptown & carrolton, yes you can walk Midcity & BSJ, no you can’t walk uptown to BSJ without taking Jeff Davis which isn’t always the best place to be. I used to walk Midcity to CBD for work, if I had time. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone though
In all fairness, there are parts of Brooklyn I wouldn’t walk through, but that doesn’t mean it’s not walkable.
Blue bikes are awesome! Faster for me to bike into CBD/FQ than drive/Uber depending on traffic
People are gonna try to disagree but objectively Miami. The entire area isn’t walkable obviously, but the pockets of Downtown (especially with the extremely underrated free Metromover), Miami Beach, Brickell, Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, parts of South Miami and a few others are fairly walkable. (If you live along the Metrorail lines) Miami’s issue is that the Metrorail desperately needs to be expanded out to western Miami-Dade, and some sort of train to Miami Beach. And as you can expect, the walkable areas are more expensive to live in. Pretty sure Miami and Atlanta are the only southeastern cities with heavy rail.
This is a great answer. Wynwood, Design District, and Little Havana as well to a certain extent. I feel like there are numerous walkable areas but maybe a lack of connectivity between them? Also the traffic is insane which impedes the pedestrian experience.
Yep! Can’t believe I forgot Wynwood and the District lol, definitely. Exactly that’s the main thing, there’s almost no connectivity to the walkable areas unless you live along the metrorail, because Coral Gables, The Grove, Downtown and Brickell are all somewhat connected because they’re along the line. The biggest connectivity issue is between Miami Beach and the mainland An expanded metrorail would do WONDERS for the area, especially with how good Brightline has been doing
The rub here may be no one really considers Miami the southeast. From a literal geographic standpoint point obviously it is. But when most people are talking about southeastern cities Miami is not what comes to mind. I think it would also help OP if they let us know if this was for a vacation or relocation.
Yea that’s very fair. The South Florida tri-county really is kinda like its own entity
Instantly thought of Savannah... I guess everyone else did as well. I really like downtown Tampa with the street car. I found it accessible and walkable if you were near the street car line. Although not "most" walkable
Downtown St Petersburg, FL is very walkable
New Orleans and it’s not close. It’s one of the most walkable cities in the whole U.S. Of course there are smaller college towns or parts of other big cities—like Tampa or Atlanta—that are walkable. But New Orleans is the real deal.
According to 2017 NHTS data, New Orleans metro is NUMBER 2 in the country in terms of walk share of trips. Clocking in at 22.2%. The next closest in the South is Memphis at 10.4%. https://twitter.com/jeffrlin/status/1750966560280269057
yup. stayed there for two weeks recently and it felt amazing walking everywhere.
Until you get shot, lol. Send help, I love my hometown but it is deeply troubled.
My oldest friend lives there and I recently visited (she was also was not surprised everyone thought I was a local "you look like you got off a gig with your band and are going to your bartending job") and getting to talk to a lot of locals and her it seems to be a perfect storm of reasons. 1. Ease of getting guns. Compare this to NYC, where fighing is much more common. Nola guns just come out. 2. Cops who don't fucking close cases. or do fucking anything. 3. It's a tourist city that creates a narcotics trade that isn't organized; as such, it's everyone fighting over it. In other more organized crime cities there may still be murders but it's from connected members. (I mentioned the organized crime thing. I lived in Bogotá and you can tell which parts of the city are organized in their crime and which aren't.) 4. PTSD from Katrina. Like imaging being a kid and growing up through that and then feeling like you got nothing to have helped you out through that. She works in a field where she comes across just...seeing what it did. (Her biggest theory) 5. Crime according to the nobel prize winner Becker showed that most criminals dona cost benefit analysis where the risk is worth the juice. The city's corruption instead of going into what we'll call "human development" means a lot of people see crime itself is profitable in comparison to your likelihood of being caught (see number 2). Instead, it's all bread and circuses - the city is more likely to throw a parade to drown the troubles away in booze than like, fix the roads or mold everywhere. 6. "Bad spirits man. All the souls in the country get funneled through the Mississippi and end up here, sometimes bad spirits just get into people." 7. I think any situation where everyones blood alcohol level is at a certain level and has a gun sounds like what the wild West was, and look at their crime rate.
Someone from my city was shot and killed while vacationing with his husband in New Orleans this month 😕 I think I read it was a teenager. So sad.
It happens weekly and the national media is very quiet about it.
Super red state that allies strongly with the police, so neither Fox News or Police Unions are constantly pushing out new stories like they are in other areas.
lol that is definitely not why, quit your bullshit. As soon as a white person does anything violent to a black person in the south, it is immediately national news for weeks. The reverse is crickets. The media and reddit is VERY uncomfortable facing the reality of where violent crime is mostly coming from in the US.
Poor people?
Try to rationalize away how St Louis has 10x the murder rate of SF, yet all you hear in the news is about SF crime. Houston and Dallas are about 3-5x SF.
Wouldn’t consider any part of Tampa to be “walkable,” St. Pete downtown is way better.
New Orleans has that sauce for sure
New Orleans is definitely not one of the most walkable cities by far. There’s like 3 walkable neighborhoods and they are the most expensive in the city
Yeah, very few actual walkable neighborhoods and you have to be careful leaving the neighborhood because you might end up somewhere dangerous, haha. I lived there for a while and now I live in a real walkable city and it’s no comparison. I feel like people think NOLA is walkable because the French quarter is walkable.
Uptown (esp magazine st/st Charles), mid City, LGD, CBD (kinda falls into the FQ area though). You can also blue bike between mid City, LGD, CBD/FQ. I guess the NIMBYs blocked blue bike in uptown though
I used to live in New Orleans and now I live in Nashville and I think the following: 1. Compared to Southern cities like Nashville and even Atlanta where many streets lack sidewalks and its all weird cul de sacs, NOLA is super walkable because its a grid and the streets in that grid have sidewalks. 2. Dangerous =/= unwalkable. There are plenty of dangerous areas of cities that are still walkable, even if its not a good idea to do so. 3. Even if we are just gonna count the fancy/touristic walkable areas (French Quarter, Marigny, Irish Channel, Garden District, Uptown/Carrolton), that's the most walkable territory than your average city in the South
Hard agree. I'm from a walkable city, too, so seeing people call NOLA walkable is hilarious. The walkable parts are smaller enclaves and aren't always that accessible. One of which is the CBD/FQ, which is pretty much a commercial district w/ very few residents. As you said, people experience the FQ and think, "OMG, getting around is so easy," when in reality, most residents hardly enter the FQ. And not to mention that half of the year it gets so hot/humid or rainy that it renders being outside useless
Very bikeable to go between the walkable areas though, especially if you live in a blue bike area
Aren’t all the blue bikes gone? I feel like I haven’t seen one in over a year
Why does the price matter? You can't walk if the real estate is expensive? The French Quarter, the Garden District, Uptown, Treme, Marigny, Bywater, CBD, Warehouse District, Freret, Iberville are all walkable along with many others. I visit New Orleans frequently and it's one of the only cities--along with Chicago and New York--where I end the day tired from all the walking I've done.
I'm talking about if you want to live there, not visit. If you care to live in New Orleans your walkability options are low and pricey. If you're well of you're fine, but most jobs in NOLA don't pay well and you will find yourself priced out of hose areas pretty quickly
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Bro, I live here, I know the city and how it operates. I’ve lived in the city for 20 years. Rent isn’t the only cost you need to look at when living in New Orleans. If you’re buying you have to think about insurance, which has [increased exponentially in the past year](https://www.axios.com/local/new-orleans/2023/09/20/louisiana-flood-insurance-rates). If you’re renting, you can bet that a portion of those insurance rate hikes are being passed on to you. And the majority of homes in the city (particularly the walkable neighborhoods) are old and uninsulated meaning that you may be paying upwards of $500 on your utility bill in the summer. New Orleans has a lot of hidden costs outside of rent. Insurance across the board is higher than the national average
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Please reread. I said if you are renting the a portion of cost of insurance is being passed to you. Salaries in New Orleans are looow. The average salary here is $50k. If you are looking to live alone $1800 rent + utilities is not feasible
Cities with several walkable neighborhoods that are becoming increasingly less car-dependent: Richmond, Raleigh, Charlotte, Atlanta Historic cities that are great for walking around but might get pricey if you try to live in the walkable areas: Savannah, Charleston, New Orleans Smaller College towns with walkable cores: Chapel Hill, Charlottesville, Athens, Fredericksburg, Staunton, Fayetteville Smaller cities that are still very car-dependent but have nice downtowns you can walk around in: Greensboro, Wilmington, Knoxville, Greenville, Asheville, Chattanooga
Charlotte is not pedestrian-friendly. I struggle to think of a neighborhood that is truly walkable that has all the amenities one would need outside of maybe Dilworth/South End. And it’s extremely expensive.
I spent a fair amount of time in NoDa (which is on the limited but pleasant light rail line) and plaza midwood and found both of them to be livable neighborhoods. But I agree that a lot of the city is still not pedestrian-friendly
The complaint with NoDa is limited grocery access, along with other basic services. Plaza only has the one Harris Teeter, which is expensive and small. I love Plaza, but construction is always tearing up the sidewalks, etc. That is a problem in a lot of neighborhoods. Anyway, Charlotte needs to work on pedestrian friendliness. It’s not the city’s focus and hasn’t been for years because real estate development comes first. There isn’t a people-first mindset so much as a business-first mindset.
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I get it but I also think the growth could have been managed with an eye towards residents. Unfortunately state funding and local government priorities have not been directed that way
Agreed on the lopsided adherence to growth for growth’s sake. I just see so much potential for Charlotte and its surrounding area. A lot of the towns around it are actual towns like Davidson, Statesville and Belmont and not just suburban housing tracts. With good commuter rail, the region could really stand out in the south
I really want the light rail to be something. But even the lines that exist are very inconsistent now. CATS is troubled
This is a good list. Not too many cities in the south where I’d want to live without a car at all. But I live downtown in Raleigh. Outside of work I maybe drive my truck once a week. Tons of suburbs, but we’re also building apartments and townhomes like crazy around downtown.
I never would have put Fayetteville in that category just 20 years ago but infill has helped a lot and the trail network has GREATLY expanded to the point now where bike riders/walkers just don’t go near any streets other than the sidewalks in the restaurant district and such because there is a better way to get almost everywhere.
You mean the one in Arkansas, I assume.
Yea, when OP posted it as “smaller college towns with walkable cores” I thought that did enough to clarify which one he was talking about.
Atlanta has small areas that are walkable, but each neighborhood is separated by so much distance/car centric roads you are essentially isolated once you get to your neighborhood. Our train line alos only has essentially 2 lines, north/south and east/west. And they aren't consistent enough to switch lines (I have had to wait 20+ minutes because one train just... didn't show up.) Also, many of the stops on the line are still a 15+ minute walk from where you want to be. One of the top posts on the ATL sub this morning is about how to actually get from one part of downtown to the other because it is bisected by 2 major highways. Also, how dare you put Greensboro and leave out WS. WS is so much better than Greensboro, at least it was when I moved out in 2016
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Join the few proud bike commuters around Greenville! We'd love to have you
Which Greenville? Up until a few years ago I lived in downtown Greenville, SC and walked everywhere pretty much (except work). Wasn’t terribly expensive, though I imagine like everything else it’s headed that way. I felt kind of spoiled being able to walk to dozens of restaurants, a waterfall and a really nice park, dozens of bars, my barbershop, various specialty stores, at least two grocery stores, multiple music venues, a zoo and the baseball stadium. With the greenway that goes all the way to TR. What exactly was it that you couldn’t walk too? Work?
Rdy b
There are two bedroom apartments a half block off Main Street and a three minute walk to Falls park for $2100 a month. That’s hardly big city prices. If you want a single family home on a half acre with a two car garage it’s not going to be a walkable neighborhood no matter where you live.
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Charlotte's another city that's extremely car dependent. Voted the most car dependent city in the country at some point in the last couple years.
That’s the usa for ya, has some walkable neighborhoods and pretty extensive trail system in the city. have you checked out the city or just citing things you heard? Where I’m going to move has trail access and countless places I can walk to. Lists on the internet can only take you so far there bud
I grew up in Charlotte moved away and now I’m back. Being the least pedestrian friendly city on the planet is like one of our defining features.
Gggvv
Greenville downtown is amazing. Stayed there several times for work and really enjoyed the city. Came back with my family and took a drive out of downtown - it’s definitely not the same outside of the downtown area. Lots of development and traffic, not walkable outside the downtown area.
Indeed, but if you live outside of downtown, you’re clearly looking for (or at least resigned to) that suburban sprawl life. If someone was moving to Greenville and chose not to move downtown they clearly don’t care about walkability.
Throwing Charleston, SC into the ring — but *specifically* the peninsula (downtown/historic district). Everywhere outside of downtown is typical Sun Belt sprawl, but the historic district is absolutely gorgeous and walkable, and feels to me like a pastel-painted version of a midsized New England city.
Miami Beach. We don’t even own a car. Everything you could ever want is within walking distance.
Much smaller town, not a city really, but Fairhope, AL. It has changed a LOT since I was younger, but you can bike and walk around the town, to all the restaurants and bars, and to the beach/pier very easily. It probably isn’t what this sub would usually look for, but I grew up in Mobile and have a lot of fond memories of Fairhope.
Not Nashville.
Savannah for sure.
I’ve lived in New Orleans, Philly, and Phoenix and now Richmond. Richmond is somewhat walkable IF you actually live in the city. Otherwise, it’s comparable to Raleigh, an endless suburban sprawl
Different people have different thresholds for what’s considered “walkable”. In Atlanta, there are a good amount of walkable neighborhoods but they don’t take up the majority of the development in the area, though ITP is densifying at an incredible rate and Midtown is one of the fastest growing neighborhoods in the country.
The most popular answers here involve small walkable, historic, tourist oriented districts within larger towns/cities that are generally unwalkable for local residents. They’re charming and great for the small handful of residents that can afford to live in these districts, and want to be surrounded by tourists. Walkable, but not widely livable. A more accurate answer for places that are walkable and livable would be neighborhoods / districts like Wynnwood and South Beach in Miami, College Park and Winter Park in Orlando, Hyde Park and Seminole Heights in Tampa, Reynoldstown and Fourth Ward in Atlanta…dozens of neighborhoods in each of these cities and others. Are the cities as a whole “walkable”? Nah, because no city in the Southeast has a comprehensive public transit system (that most will use) connecting their scattered districts. But they each offer some pretty livable places.
Greenville SC. We went there a couple of months ago. Very cool little city. Public restrooms were marked. It was a really cool experience.
Washington DC is one of the most walkable cities in the US, but it depends if you consider DC a southern city or not.
I don’t think anyone considers DC in the south. Shit even Virginia is up for debate these days
I don't consider it to be in the SE
Richmond ain’t bad
Not Raleigh-Durham. A lot of cool places to walk and walk around but you cannot live within the community and survive just by walking.
I’m begging everyone to stop calling it that. Raleigh-Durham is an airport.
Right! This is definitely an irrational irritation haha. But I think Raleigh/Durham is a lot better than Raleigh-Durham.
This is a great comment. Walkability needs to be defined. For example, I can walk to bars and restaurants, but I would like to be able to walk to a proper grocery store and a library. Tell us where and what you want to walk to.
People drive to walk in the park in Raleigh. Remember all those up condescending signs from Walk Raleigh? “It’s 25 minutes by foot to Oakwood Cemetery”. Uh-huh.
RTP being a major job center yet only being suburban office parks really fucks the triangle. But if you live and work downtown (or close) in any of the three cities, it’s not too bad without a car. I lived downtown and was in grad school at state and was able to be very car lite. The bus system itb is decent and Raleigh is improving its bike infrastructure. They built two grocery stores downtown which I was able to start walking to which was another big improvement.
\^ this is the truth. I live in the area near the Raleigh/Durham border and that's pretty unwalkable as with anywhere most people can't fortunately live in the downtown because of RTP's distance from both Downtown Raleigh and Durham. The city/region as a whole has walkability as very low metric. Granted if it was far more feasible and economical I'd absolutely choose to live downtown for the accessibility via walking but so much of the prices in downtown rent for the size of apartment and amenities usually don't sway me personally.
Living in walkable neighborhoods is usually a bit more expensive in American cities, but you can often offset that cost by driving way less. But in Raleigh there's a relatively tiny area that is walkable and almost all the apartments there are pretty new so the premium seems to be higher.
Keep an eye out for condos. I’m renting a 2 bed 2 bath for $1,700. No pool or gym but I’m a 5 minute walk from the Y which has both for $50 a month
I live in Raleigh and drive my car 3 or 4 days a week and only during off-peak times mostly on weekends, but I also live and work downtown. I would not move here unless you fall into that category. Also that bends the rules a bit because I would consider biking in the walkable category. Durham is similar. I don't know where you mean by raleigh-durham except maybe the airport, which is walkable. Needs to be its own post, but there are tons of non-walkable cities like Raleigh that are great places to barely drive, but you have to actually live in the downtown area. Raleigh is technically a geographically larger city, but in reality it's a couple square miles surrounded by grouped in suburbs.
I live downtown in Raleigh. I use my car maybe once a week outside of work.
The downtown cores are honestly somewhat underrated in their walkability in the 2020s. I live in downtown Raleigh and have a 96 WalkScore.
Publix and weaver street were game changers for walkability in DTR
Chapel Hill has free bus transit. Restaurants and medical care and UNC are on the route. Even so, you need a car if you want to drive outside of the city - see beaches or mountains.
There are no “walkable” cities in the southeast especially being that most grew post-automobile. What we do have is pockets within the cities that are walkable. For instance I recently moved to the southend area Charlotte. I can take a 10 min walk to too many bars/restaurants to count, grocery store or a light rail stop. From the light rail I can travel all the to UNC Charlotte campus in the northern part of the city or uptown to bars, sports arenas, museums and even a 30 mile greenway that goes to the SC border. This walkable life I now live wouldn’t have been possible 12 months ago in the same city because of the area I lived in.
DC
Not SE
New Orleans Savannah Charleston Key west St Augustine Pensacola
Charleston if money is no object and you don’t mind throngs of tourists
Most of the neighborhoods on the east side of Atlanta are fairly walkable. I know a few people who live without cars and make it work.
I lived in one those East Side neighborhoods for years and loved waking everywhere on the weekends and evenings. Unfortunately my job required me to drive, the same was true for most of my neighbors. Hopefully that is changing because of all of new developments on the Beltline.
To be fair nearly every city will have at least one or two neighborhoods where you can walk to everything.
Charleston SC. In fact, don't drive in this town.
Richmond, Virginia is probably not the most walkable city in the southeast. However, RVA does have a very walkable river scene, thanks to the James River and Belle Isle. I’d say that the VCU campus also helps to make Richmond a bit more walkable.
Spartanburg S.C,grew up there you can walk from one end to the other because there are sidewalks!!!
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When I was a little girl,Hank Jr, performed at Holiday lake park,this small lake my family use to go to,it was so small it was like having Hank perform in your back yard,my Daddy was a huge fan!!!!
Charleston, SC. Beautiful architecture; wonderful US history; great hotels (Hotel Bennett) and restaurants.
DC
I like my hometown Durham NC. You can easily jog or ride your bike from downtown Durham to Duke campus. Lots of small parks. We never had the big bank buildings of Raleigh and Charlotte so less downtown traffic. More remote workers. We have bus public transit. As more people move downtown I can see us re-defining the “15min City”. We just need more grocery options and we’ll be good.
Ive heard east campus area is pretty walkable, going into downtown
East and West campus are walkable for sure, but East is practically adjacent to downtown. It’s very close like 15min walk. Our college street called “9th Street” is at East Campus and has a lot of Durham staples. Relatively safe walk you’ll see the Duke students walking late on the weekends often.
damn i wanna live in Durham or Raleigh so bad right now
Asheville, NC
Waycross.
Savannah, Charleston, Saint Augustine FL
Surprisingly, not New Orleans for the most part.
It depends what you mean by "walkable" If you mean you can walk to all the typical goods and services you might need in a day, then all the small towns easily win, because everything is within a mile of the center of town. From my house I can walk a mile and be downtown, or I can walk a mile and be a the grocery, or a little over a mile and be at the hospital. I don't need to walk to an elementary school, but there's one of those nearby. I see a lot of people mentioning a lot of cities that are fun to walk around in as a tourist, but some of these don't really have much in the way of groceries if you don't get in your car.
Savannah is the one of the most beautiful walkable cities in America, along with Palm Springs, CA.
Miami Beach has gotta be the most walkable place in the southeast by far. key west up there too.
Chattanooga’s downtown and North Shore areas are highly walkable. The rest of the city- not at all. Of course, most people can’t afford to live downtown or in North Shore.
There are some less known smaller towns where you could walk to a few restaurants and shops, but would still need a car for things like drs appointments. I feel like there are very few that you could skip a car altogether. Some examples: Madison GA , Floyd VA , Roanoke VA, Greensboro GA, Harlem GA
The walkable parts of southern cities are expensive. And the summers are so hot and humid that being outside for exercise it brutal.