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- Charlotte, North Carolina
How walkable is Charlotte, North Carolina?
By Oscar Higson-Spence. Updated
Charlotte, North Carolina has a walkability score of 58 out of 100 across the 5 km around its center, which makes it somewhat walkable: some errands can be done on foot. It is the 45th most walkable of the 58 cities ranked in the United States.
What's within walking distance of the center
1,334 shops, restaurants, parks and other everyday places are mapped within a 30 minute walk of central Charlotte, North Carolina. The nearest grocery is about 11 minutes away on foot. It earns full or nearly full points for restaurants & bars, shopping, coffee, banks, schools and culture & entertainment. It is weakest for books & libraries.
Groceries
- Whole Foods Market, 13 min
- Reid's Fine Foods, 17 min
Restaurants & bars
- Sushi Taku - Charlotte, 2 min
- Nikko Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar, 3 min
Shopping
- Metrolina Intergroup, 3 min
- R & D Medical Products, 3 min
Coffee
- Toastique, 8 min
- Boba Baba, 9 min
Banks
- New Republic Bank, 7 min
- Wells Fargo Bank, 9 min
Parks
- Wilmore Centennial Park, 12 min
- Baxter Street Park, 15 min
Schools
- Charlotte Montessori School, 11 min
- Little Angels Academy, 11 min
Books & libraries
- Papers & Paperbacks, 19 min
- ASC Books, 21 min
Culture & entertainment
- Amos' Southend, 6 min
- Museum of Illusions - Charlotte, 13 min
Further than usual
- The nearest library or bookshop is 18 minutes from the center on foot, against 6 minutes for the median city ranked.
Measured from the center at 35.2154, -80.8514, the point near Charlotte, North Carolina's middle with the most places in walking range. Walking times assume 80 m per minute along an estimated street route.
Street layout
Within 800 m of the center there are about 76 street intersections per km², and blocks average 100 m long. Sparser streets or longer blocks reduce the score by 1%, since they make walks longer than the straight-line distance suggests.
How far walkability reaches
Charlotte, North Carolina's score of 58 is the average across the 5 km around its center, the point with the most everyday places within a walk. Walkability averages 80 within 1 km of the center, 70 from 1 to 3 km out and 48 from 3 to 5 km out. 36% of the sampled area scores 70 or more, where most errands can be done on foot. Walkability falls off steeply away from the center, so check a specific address on the map.
- 90+
- 70–89
- 50–69
- 25–49
- 0–24
Each hexagon is the score at a point, 1 km from its neighbours, across the 5 km around central Charlotte, North Carolina. Rings mark 1, 3 and 5 km from the center. Gaps are water or land without streets.
| Area | Score | Scoring 70+ |
|---|---|---|
| Center | 84 | 100% |
| Within 1 km | 80 | 100% |
| 1 to 3 km out | 70 | 59% |
| 3 to 5 km out | 48 | 15% |
Nearby cities
| City | Distance | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Raleigh, North Carolina, United States | 209 km | 50 |
| Atlanta, United States | 365 km | 70 |
| Lexington, Kentucky, United States | 451 km | 53 |
| Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States | 474 km | 37 |
| Washington, D.C., United States | 530 km | 79 |
Questions about walking in Charlotte, North Carolina
Is Charlotte, North Carolina a walkable city?
Partly. Charlotte, North Carolina has a walkability score of 58 out of 100 across the 5 km around its center, which makes it somewhat walkable: some errands can be done on foot. Its center scores 84. The score covers about 80 km² around the busiest point rather than the whole city, and suburbs further out are usually less walkable, so check a specific address on the map. It ranks 45th of 58 cities in the United States and joint 484th of 690 worldwide on How Walkable.
What is the most walkable city in the United States?
New York City is the most walkable of the 58 cities ranked in the United States, with a score of 93. Charlotte, North Carolina ranks 45th with 58.
How does Charlotte, North Carolina compare with nearby cities?
Charlotte, North Carolina sits between its nearest ranked neighbours: it scores 58, against Raleigh, North Carolina (50, 209 km away), Atlanta (70, 365 km away) and Lexington, Kentucky (53, 451 km away).
Which part of Charlotte, North Carolina is most walkable?
Charlotte's most walkable area is its center, the point near the middle of the city with the most places in walking range, which scores 84. Walkability averages 80 within 1 km of it. Beyond 2.5 km, it holds up best to the east (averaging 69) and falls most to the south (36).
Why is Charlotte, North Carolina's score different from its Walk Score?
Walk Score's city scores average every neighborhood within the city limits, weighted by where people live, so they count outer suburbs that the 5 km around Charlotte, North Carolina's center leaves out, and they are usually lower. Address by address the two agree closely: across 46 addresses in the United States and Canada, How Walkable's scores were 5.9 points from Walk Score's on average, as the accuracy study at howwalkable.com/accuracy shows.
How is Charlotte, North Carolina's walkability score calculated?
For Charlotte, North Carolina it is the average of 89 points spaced 1 km apart within 5 km of its busiest point, leaving out water and land without streets; 32 of them score 70 or more. Each point counts groceries, restaurants, shops, cafés, banks, parks, schools, libraries and cultural venues within a 30 minute walk, gives nearer places more weight, and loses up to 20% where streets are sparse or blocks are long, using open map data from Overture Maps (release 2026-09-23.1) and OpenStreetMap. It measures what is within a walk, not what the walk is like: pavements, traffic, safety, hills and heat are not part of the score.
This page is generated from open map data with a published walkability method, explained in the methodology. Places from Overture Maps release 2026-09-23.1. City position and population from GeoNames.
Ask about walking anywhere in ChatGPT with the How Walkable app, for example "How walkable is Charlotte, North Carolina?"