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How walkable is San Francisco?
By Oscar Higson-Spence. Updated
San Francisco has a walkability score of 91 out of 100 across the 5 km around its center, which makes it a Walker's Paradise, where daily errands do not require a car. It is the joint 2nd most walkable of the 58 cities ranked in the United States, with 1 other.
What's within walking distance of the center
6,131 shops, restaurants, parks and other everyday places are mapped within a 30 minute walk of central San Francisco. The nearest grocery is about 2 minutes away on foot. Every category earns full or nearly full points.
Groceries
- Daldas Grocery, 4 min
- Starlight Market, 4 min
Restaurants & bars
- Velvet Room, 1 min
- Cityscape Bar, 1 min
Shopping
- Eison Triple Thread, 1 min
- Seregin's Fine Timepieces, 1 min
Coffee
- Grand Cafe, 1 min
- Taylor Street Coffee Shop, 2 min
Banks
- Bank of America, 5 min
- Northeast Community Federal Credit Union, 5 min
Parks
- Union Square, 4 min
- Tenderloin Children's Playground, 7 min
Schools
- Cross Cultural Family Center, 8 min
- De Marillac Academy, 9 min
Books & libraries
- Argonaut Book Shop, 5 min
- Go! Games, 8 min
Culture & entertainment
- Geary Theater, 1 min
- Leela Improv Theatre, 1 min
Measured from the center at 37.7866, -122.4109, the point near San Francisco'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 95 street intersections per km², and blocks average 102 m long. That is a well-connected street grid, so the score is not reduced.
How far walkability reaches
San Francisco's score of 91 is the average across the 5 km around its center, the point with the most everyday places within a walk. Walkability averages 99 within 1 km of the center, 96 from 1 to 3 km out and 83 from 3 to 5 km out. 37 of the 91 points within 5 km fall on water or on land without streets, such as hillsides, forest or farmland, and are left out, so the score describes only the built-up part. 91% of the sampled area scores 70 or more, where most errands can be done on foot.
- 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 San Francisco. Rings mark 1, 3 and 5 km from the center. Gaps are water or land without streets.
| Area | Score | Scoring 70+ |
|---|---|---|
| Center | 100 | 100% |
| Within 1 km | 99 | 100% |
| 1 to 3 km out | 96 | 100% |
| 3 to 5 km out | 83 | 79% |
Nearby cities
| City | Distance | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Oakland, California, United States | 13 km | 72 |
| San Jose, California, United States | 67 km | 67 |
| Sacramento, California, United States | 121 km | 62 |
| Bakersfield, California, United States | 405 km | 51 |
| Los Angeles, United States | 560 km | 82 |
Questions about walking in San Francisco
Is San Francisco a walkable city?
Around its center, yes. San Francisco has a walkability score of 91 out of 100 across the 5 km around its center, which makes it a Walker's Paradise, where daily errands do not require a car. Its center scores 100. 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 2nd of 58 cities in the United States and joint 20th 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. San Francisco ranks joint 2nd with 91.
How does San Francisco compare with nearby cities?
San Francisco is more walkable than its nearest ranked neighbours: it scores 91, against Oakland, California (72, 13 km away), San Jose, California (67, 67 km away) and Sacramento, California (62, 121 km away).
Which part of San Francisco is most walkable?
San Francisco's most walkable area is its center, the point near the middle of the city with the most places in walking range, which scores 100. Walkability averages 99 within 1 km of it. Beyond 2.5 km, it holds up best to the south-east (averaging 94) and falls most to the west (84).
Why is San Francisco'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 San Francisco'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 San Francisco's walkability score calculated?
For San Francisco it is the average of 54 points spaced 1 km apart within 5 km of its busiest point, leaving out water and land without streets; 49 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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