Rochester is among the U.S. cities at the intersection of walkable and affordable. Image: Chris Tomkins-Tinch via Wikimedia Commons
We’ve always known that the Great Lakes are the center of the freshwater universe.
But who would have thought that they are the intersection of affordability and walkability?
A group that’s developed a method of scoring a community’s walkability recently listed neighborhoods in a dozen U.S. cities that are not only easy to get around, they’re affordable to live in. They produced the list with Walk Score data – which measures walkability – the Cost of Living Index and the average rents for every major city in the country.
And guess what? Five of them are in cities on a Great Lake:
- Buffalo
- Rochester
- Chicago
- Milwaukee
- Cleveland
Throw in Pittsburgh and Minneapolis and that means seven of the 12 affordable/walkable towns are in Great Lakes states.
The criteria? Neighborhoods with a Walk Score greater than 90 and a “nice selection” of one bedroom apartments renting for less than $1,000 a month.
You can find the Walk Score of some 10,000 U.S. neighborhoods here.