Seattle Magazine: Seattle named most walkable city in the U.S.

This article was originally published by Seattle Magazine on July 31, 2025.

Using a matrix that compared the top five attractions in 30 U.S. cities, FitFlop measured walking distance, time, elevation gain, and total step count. It combined those results with each city’s Walk Score and declared Seattle the winner.

The study focused on five key stops — Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, Chihuly Garden and Glass, MoPOP, and the Washington State Ferries terminal — and found they were all within a 1.4-mile loop. You can see them all in about 32 minutes, covering roughly 3,360 steps.

June 2025 also saw the largest number of visitors to First & Pike since 2019 — 18,892 in total — as more people take advantage of the new pedestrian-only half-block stretch of Pike Street. That’s an 85% increase over June of last year.

The city’s walkable core is increasingly part of Seattle’s draw for tourists. Along with the study’s five landmarks, there’s the Overlook Walk, Olympic Sculpture Park, the newly reopened Pier 58, Seattle Aquarium’s new Ocean Pavilion, Seattle Art Museum, and Pioneer Square. Once you start walking, the options are endless. Add in the Burke-Gilman Trail and neighborhoods like Fremont, Wallingford, the U District, and more, open up.

As Travel + Leisure put it: “This walkable destination is ideal for first-time visitors.” For longtime residents, it’s just one more thing to love about our beautiful city.