Philadelphia metro's walking habits on the decline

Philadelphians aren't getting their steps in like they used to.

Why it matters: Walking is good for us.

• Individually, it confers many health benefits and is the OG form of zero-emissions traveling in the big-picture scheme of climate change.

Driving the news: The number of annual average daily walking trips per 1,000 people in the Philly metro dropped a staggering 32% between 2019 and 2022, per a new StreetLight Data report.

• There were 300 annual average daily walking trips per 1,000 people in 2022, compared to 440 in 2019.

How it works: StreetLight measures travel behavior based on anonymized data from mobile devices, vehicle GPS systems and more.

• For this analysis, one "walking trip" is any trip taken by foot that is more than 250 meters — about 820 feet — from start to finish.

The big picture: Nationally, the number of annual average daily walking trips dropped a whopping 36% in the contiguous U.S. between 2019 and 2022.

Zoom out: New York City topped StreetLight's list among the top 50 U.S. metros, at 390 per 1,000 people, followed by Orlando, Florida (350) and Las Vegas (320).

• Portland, Oregon; Boise, Idaho; and Ogden, Utah, are all tied for last place, at just 220 trips per 1,000 people.

What they're saying: The pandemic had an "obvious impact," StreetLight says.

• Some of this could be remote work, which makes it easier to become sedentary.