Portland, Oregon - The Best City to Walk, 2006

Article on MSN.com, March 8th, 2006. Another reason to be proud about Portland. Enjoy the article.

10 The best walking cities

To qualify, a city must be among the country's 100 most populous. It must also have a high percentage of people who regularly walk—for fitness and health, or to get to and from work. (This criterion counted most this year; in past rankings, the number of residents and their use of public transportation carried more heft, which gave bigger cities an advantage.) After the APMA and Prevention crunched those numbers, we then factored in mass transit; research from the University of British Columbia in Canada shows that every 30 minutes spent in a car increases your risk of obesity by 3%, and each 0.6 mile walked daily decreases that risk by 5%. Finally, walker-friendly attributes, such as low crime rates, mild year-round temps and the number of cultural attractions were weighed, as well as participation in recreational sports and pet ownership. Why do we care about Fido? His needs can increase your physical activity, speed weight loss, and lower blood pressure, find researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

And the winners are...

Portland, Oregon
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Madison, Wisconsin
Boise City, Idaho
Las Vegas, Nevada
Austin, Texas
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Anchorage, Alaska
Fremont, California
Raleigh, North Carolina

And check out our complete list and ranking of the 100 best walking cities too.