Seattleites walk and bike less than you might think
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Seattle may be an especially fit city — but the average resident isn't logging huge numbers of miles on foot or by bike, a new analysis finds.
By the numbers: Seattle ranked 42nd among 100 large cities for miles biked per resident, according to StreetLight, a transportation data firm.
- Seattle residents bike an average of 23 miles a year, exactly the same as the national average.
Most U.S. cities also outpace Seattle when it comes to how much their residents walk.
- The average Seattleite walks 157 miles per year, StreetLight found when analyzing residents' habits. That's just a hair above the national average of 151 miles yearly.
- Compare that to Orlando, where people logged an average of 653 miles yearly, or Boston, where the average was 530 miles.
Yes, but: Seattle's biking and walking activity is heavily concentrated in a relatively small geographic area.
- We ranked much higher in Streetlight's report when it came to bicycle and pedestrian activity per square mile.
- That may be why we see so many people walking and biking, even though Seattleites don't log that many miles per person.
Another possible explanation for Seattle's relatively low biking and walking mileage: Our transit system.
- StreetLight notes that cities with dense transit and nearby services may rack up fewer walking and biking miles because people don't have to travel as far on foot or by bike.
- New York City, for example, ranked just eighth for walking miles per resident, despite its reputation as one of the country's most walkable cities.
- StreetLight said New York's dense transit and services may reduce the length of walking trips compared with places where destinations are more spread out.
The intrigue: That could help explain Seattle's numbers, too.
- A recent Consumer Affairs report ranked the Seattle area's transit system as the fourth-best in the country.
Our thought bubble: We're also going to blame the rain. And the hills.