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How walkable is Minneapolis?
By Oscar Higson-Spence. Updated
Minneapolis has a walkability score of 72 out of 100 across the 5 km around its center, which makes it very walkable: most errands can be done on foot. It is the joint 17th most walkable of the 58 cities ranked in the United States, with 1 other.
What's within walking distance of the center
1,617 shops, restaurants, parks and other everyday places are mapped within a 30 minute walk of central Minneapolis. The nearest grocery is about 4 minutes away on foot. Every category earns full or nearly full points.
Groceries
- SIMPLS Grab and Go, 5 min
- Cielostar, 5 min
Restaurants & bars
- 2 Dope Chicks, 1 min
- Atlas Grill & Clubroom, 1 min
Shopping
- Marty Mathis Clothiers, 3 min
- Solomon Optical, 3 min
Coffee
- Caribou Coffee, 2 min
- Starbucks, 3 min
Banks
- Houlihan Lokey, 2 min
- J.P. Morgan Private Bank, 2 min
Parks
- The Commons, 5 min
- Cancer Survivors Park, 8 min
Schools
- Kinderberry Hill Child Development Center, 7 min
- Minneapolis Public School, 8 min
Books & libraries
- Christian Science Reading Room, 5 min
- Minneapolis College, Library Information Technology Program, 6 min
Culture & entertainment
- Museum Louvre It Or Leave It, 3 min
- The Uncanny Experience, 4 min
Measured from the center at 44.9761, -93.2670, the point near Minneapolis'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 75 street intersections per km², and blocks average 110 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
Minneapolis's score of 72 is the average across the 5 km around its center, the point with the most everyday places within a walk. Walkability averages 93 within 1 km of the center, 80 from 1 to 3 km out and 65 from 3 to 5 km out. 64% 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 Minneapolis. Rings mark 1, 3 and 5 km from the center. Gaps are water or land without streets.
| Area | Score | Scoring 70+ |
|---|---|---|
| Center | 99 | 100% |
| Within 1 km | 93 | 100% |
| 1 to 3 km out | 80 | 83% |
| 3 to 5 km out | 65 | 48% |
Nearby cities
| City | Distance | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States | 14 km | 63 |
| Omaha, Nebraska, United States | 468 km | 54 |
| Milwaukee, United States | 480 km | 76 |
| Chicago, United States | 572 km | 91 |
| Winnipeg, Canada | 619 km | 69 |
Questions about walking in Minneapolis
Is Minneapolis a walkable city?
Around its center, yes. Minneapolis has a walkability score of 72 out of 100 across the 5 km around its center, which makes it very walkable: most errands can be done on foot. Its center scores 99. 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 17th of 58 cities in the United States and joint 255th 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. Minneapolis ranks joint 17th with 72.
How does Minneapolis compare with nearby cities?
Minneapolis sits between its nearest ranked neighbours: it scores 72, against Saint Paul, Minnesota (63, 14 km away), Omaha, Nebraska (54, 468 km away) and Milwaukee (76, 480 km away).
Which part of Minneapolis is most walkable?
Minneapolis's most walkable area is its center, the point near the middle of the city with the most places in walking range, which scores 99. Walkability averages 93 within 1 km of it. Beyond 2.5 km, it holds up best to the south (averaging 83) and falls most to the west (38).
Why is Minneapolis'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 Minneapolis'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 Minneapolis's walkability score calculated?
For Minneapolis it is the average of 87 points spaced 1 km apart within 5 km of its busiest point, leaving out water and land without streets; 56 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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