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- Louisville, Kentucky
How walkable is Louisville, Kentucky?
By Oscar Higson-Spence. Updated
Louisville, Kentucky has a walkability score of 59 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 joint 42nd most walkable of the 58 cities ranked in the United States, with 2 others.
What's within walking distance of the center
1,047 shops, restaurants, parks and other everyday places are mapped within a 30 minute walk of central Louisville, Kentucky. The nearest grocery is about 8 minutes away on foot. It earns full or nearly full points for restaurants & bars, shopping, banks and schools.
Groceries
- First Link Supermarket, 10 min
- Webb's Market, 11 min
Restaurants & bars
- Chicken King, 2 min
- Seafood Heaven, 4 min
Shopping
- The Sound Factory, 2 min
- Intoxalock Ignition Interlock, 2 min
Coffee
- City Cafe, 10 min
- The Brown Hotel Cafe, 10 min
Banks
- Transcend Credit Union, 10 min
- Chase Bank Downtown Louisville, 10 min
Parks
- Ballard Park, 13 min
- Rubel Park, 14 min
Schools
- Nativity Academy At St Boniface, 9 min
- Meyzeek Middle School, 11 min
Books & libraries
- University of Louisville School of Medicine Bookstore, 10 min
- Imagination Library of Louisville, 11 min
Culture & entertainment
- Old Forester's Paristown Hall, 12 min
- Camp Spaceman, 13 min
Further than usual
- The nearest café is 9 minutes from the center on foot, against 3 minutes for the median city ranked.
- The nearest cultural venue is 12 minutes from the center on foot, against 4 minutes for the median city ranked.
Measured from the center at 38.2465, -85.7423, the point near Louisville, Kentucky'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 77 street intersections per km², and blocks average 108 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
Louisville, Kentucky's score of 59 is the average across the 5 km around its center, the point with the most everyday places within a walk. Walkability averages 86 within 1 km of the center, 63 from 1 to 3 km out and 53 from 3 to 5 km out. 37% 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 Louisville, Kentucky. Rings mark 1, 3 and 5 km from the center. Gaps are water or land without streets.
| Area | Score | Scoring 70+ |
|---|---|---|
| Center | 85 | 100% |
| Within 1 km | 86 | 100% |
| 1 to 3 km out | 63 | 40% |
| 3 to 5 km out | 53 | 26% |
Nearby cities
| City | Distance | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Lexington, Kentucky, United States | 116 km | 53 |
| Cincinnati, United States | 145 km | 59 |
| Indianapolis, United States | 172 km | 56 |
| Nashville, Tennessee, United States | 250 km | 62 |
| Columbus, Ohio, United States | 305 km | 64 |
Questions about walking in Louisville, Kentucky
Is Louisville, Kentucky a walkable city?
Partly. Louisville, Kentucky has a walkability score of 59 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 85. 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 joint 42nd of 58 cities in the United States and joint 471st 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. Louisville, Kentucky ranks joint 42nd with 59.
How does Louisville, Kentucky compare with nearby cities?
Louisville, Kentucky is at least as walkable as its nearest ranked neighbours: it scores 59, against Lexington, Kentucky (53, 116 km away), Cincinnati (59, 145 km away) and Indianapolis (56, 172 km away).
Which part of Louisville, Kentucky is most walkable?
The streets just around Louisville's center are its most walkable, averaging 86 within 1 km. The center itself, the point with the most places in walking range, scores 85. Beyond 2.5 km, it holds up best to the west (averaging 73) and falls most to the north-east (33).
Why is Louisville, Kentucky'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 Louisville, Kentucky'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 Louisville, Kentucky's walkability score calculated?
For Louisville, Kentucky it is the average of 82 points spaced 1 km apart within 5 km of its busiest point, leaving out water and land without streets; 30 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.
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