Best (and Worst) Walking Cities in America Ranked by Prevention & APMA

NEW YORK, March 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — 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. All lists are available upon request.

* 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

CONTACT: Jessica Herling of Prevention, +1-212-808-1424,
jessica.herling@rodale.com; or Amie Hornbaker of the American Podiatric
Medical Association, +1-301-581-9221, aehornbaker@apma.org

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