Walkability in Siouxland

Walkability: The measured ease of walking to an amenity in a community. 

The National Association of REALTORS® recently released the latest edition of its Community & Transportation Preferences Survey, a poll taken every two to three years of residents in the 50-largest metropolitan areas to gauge partialities regarding their home’s type and location, in addition to community attributes they find desirable. The survey found that coming out of the coronavirus pandemic, the demand for living in a “walkable” community remains robust. 

Siouxland may not be included in the top 50 metros, but our communities and neighborhoods do have “walk scores.”

The website Walkscore.com measures the walkability, transit, and bike scores of any address. For each address, Walk Score analyzes hundreds of walking routes to nearby amenities such as grocery stores, banks, restaurants, and schools using a numerical score between 0-100.  

Walk Scores of 90-100 are awarded to destinations deemed “Walker’s Paradise” where daily errands don’t require a car. Scores of 70-89 are given to “Very Walkable” places where most errands can be accomplished without a car. 

According to walkscore.com, Sioux City has an average Walk Score of 40; Sioux City has minimal public transportation and does not have many bike lanes. The most walkable Sioux City neighborhoods are Downtown, Rose Hill and Prospect Hill. 

51106 is considered “car dependent.”  

Dakota Dunes is described as “somewhat” bike-able.  

South Sioux City, Nebraska scored a 78 and is described as “very walkable,” most errands can be accomplished on foot.  

Le Mars, Iowa: Walk score 84; Bike score 50. 

I first heard of the walk score measurement almost 10 years ago. Back then, it did not seem important to community growth. However, today according to the same NAR survey,  

• People living in walkable communities are more likely to be very satisfied with their quality of life. 

• 35% of Gen Z and 33% of Millennial respondents who indicated that they are very or somewhat interested in living in a walkable community said that they are willing to “pay a lot more” to live in a walkable community versus 24% of overall respondents favoring walkable communities. 

As our communities grow, new developments may want to consider walkability as well as bike-ability. To find out the Walk Score for your neighborhood, go to walkscore.com. 

 https://www.nar.realtor/reports/nar-community-and-transportation-preference-surveys.