Sick of getting your crap stolen, or maybe just tired of college kids stopping by during dinner to sell over-priced books, bug spray, and security systems?
I AM!
Those actually may be the least of your concerns.
I know many of you have taken time to prepare yourself and your family and the last thing you want to happen if times get tough is for people to walk on over to your house looking for a handout. I’m not promoting selfishness – just not many people prepare for a million!
Let me introduce you to a handy tool I just found that will help you know if your home is within walking distance of moochers!
NOTE: I did go ahead and tweak it a little to make it more prepper-friendly ;)
The WALK SCORE
Maybe you have heard of the Walk Score already, I hadn’t until about a week ago.
During one of my searches for a dream home I can’t afford, I happened to notice I could find out my homes Walk Score. I couldn’t resist and had to find out what that meant!
The Walk Score website is dedicated to helping you find a home that is within walking or biking distance of everything you could possible need.
Here are some of the things they mention that make a neighborhood walkable:
- A center: Walkable neighborhoods have a center, whether it’s a main street or a public space.
- People: Enough people for businesses to flourish and for public transit to run frequently.
- Mixed income, mixed use: Affordable housing located near businesses.
- Parks and public space: Plenty of public places to gather and play.
- Pedestrian design: Buildings are close to the street, parking lots are relegated to the back.
- Schools and workplaces: Close enough that most residents can walk from their homes.
- Complete streets: Streets designed for bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit.
I don’t know about you, but most of the things they mentioned are what I try to stay AWAY from when purchasing a home! Being crammed right-up next to someone else is not what I consider ideal living. I’ve lived in areas where it’s been too close for comfort and it’s something I’ve tried to avoid if at all possible.
To give the Walk Score some credit, here are a few benefits to the sardine-style lifestyle they want you to live:
- People in walkable neighborhoods weigh 6-10 lbs less.
- Walkable places make you happier and healthier.
- Short commutes reduce stress and increase community involvement.
I was finally understanding their point and started to pack my family up and move to the inner city, until I read their TOP 5 cities to live!
Top 5 Cities to Live According to Walk Score:
New York – 85
San Francisco – 85
Boston – 79
Chicago – 74
Philadelphia – 74
Maybe if it weren’t for the fact that I just got back from San Francisco I would be a little more understanding. Unless getting high from marijuana by just walking down the streets is on your list – San Francisco may not be for you.
Don’t get me wrong, these cities are beautiful and fun to visit, they’re just not places I would move my family to by choice!
More People = More Chaos
(That’s just basic math :) – Yes, I stole that line from Porter Ridge!
I’m not saying you can’t be prepared if you live in tight spaces, I just wouldn’t go out of my way to move to a place that has an A+ Walk Score.
If you do live in one of the cities mentioned above or a crowded place it’s even more reason for you to be prepared!
Things can go from peaceful to chaotic very fast, so having a plan is a must! You may need to be a little more creative with your preparations, but it’s possible! Consider checking out the Apartment Prepper for some ideas on city prepping!
Walk Score Description:
| Walk Score | Description |
|---|---|
| 90–100 | Walker’s Paradise Daily errands do not require a car. |
| 70–89 | Very Walkable Most errands can be accomplished on foot. |
| 50–69 | Somewhat Walkable Some errands can be accomplished on foot. |
| 25–49 | Car-Dependent Most errands require a car. |
| 0–24 | Car-Dependent Almost all errands require a car. |
Prepper Score Description:
Here’s how to read the chart if you’re a prepper (or if you’re just tired of getting your crap stolen ;)
| Walk Score | Description |
|---|---|
| 90–100 | Prepper’s Nightmare! Daily break-ins & You’re the 1st stop for people when TEOWASKI happens. |
| 70–89 | Very Walkable Most break-ins can be accomplished on foot & everyone knows your location. |
| 50–69 | Somewhat Walkable Some break-ins can be accomplished on foot & a few people know where you live. |
| 25–49 | Car-Dependent Most break-ins require a car, and only family and close friends know your location. |
| 0–24 | Prepper’s Paradise – No one knows, cares, or will ever be able to find where you live! |
My Walk Score:
- Where I Grew-Up – 41
- Went to College – 57
- Go Hunting – 10
- Currently Live – 37
- Dream Home – 22
What do you think? Does your Walk Score matter when choosing a home?
Take the TEST to find out your score and share your thoughts below!
This is one test you’re allowed to FAIL!!! (Lowest score WINS ;)
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♥ Jamie
I’d love to have your walk score, but I can’t do it just yet. Where I live is in the middle – somewhat walkable. The funny part was when I looked at the information, they had me passing right by the closest grocery store to walk or bike across a major road (4 lanes and a turning lane) to go to a different grocery store. Sounds to me like that site may have some corporate sponsors.
I noticed a few things like that happening where I live too!
I think that the walk score is skewed towards modern and hip peoples living full urban lifestyles that include buying groceries upwards of once per week.
I’m sure that there is a two-street town somewhere that can live up to “Most errands can be accomplished on foot” if the idea of a two-mile round trip sounds reasonable and you can carry that amount.
Heck, if you live and work on your retreat, daily errands don’t require a car because you’re going more than a month without leaving your property.
You just have to move in about three miles to find communities where you can walk to everything. These are old communities, too.
I thought the same thing. This score seams geared to a young, modern, hip crowd. I’ll stop there ;)
I rarely run errands, so I actually prefer to be farther out. I can understand not wanting to commute far from work, but I’m ok with driving a few minutes to be able to live a little out of town.
Where I am in the suburbs scored a 26. Businesses are prohibited in my borough, so you have to drive. Not bad.
I just checked my neighborhood, 35. I’m trying to figure out what drives the score down, and I’m thinking it’s the distance you may have to travel to work.
Still a prepper’s neighmare, there’s no wilderness within 60 miles and everyone is on 1/8 acre lots.
Yes! Scored an 8. And the distances they posted were not correct. More like a 4 I think.
I think you’re the winner so far :)
My hometown scored a “0” which I both love and find amusing because when my grandmother was young she didn’t have access to a car, so all of her errands had to be done on foot or wait till my grandfather got home with a car. Many days she would walk 20 miles round trip to get what she needed done.
Now that’s impressive! I didn’t know there was a town with a score of 0 – I’m feeling really lazy too, because I’m happy if I get out of my house and maybe walk a mile! Wow, times have changed!
I scored a 21 with my north Edison NJ location. Woohoo;
Jamie, the nearest town I grew up near posted a score of 8. The distance listed to walk to a restaurant in the next town in our county is 7 miles away. I miss that place.
Your Prepper Score rocks! Great info!
Thanks Todd, I had little too much fun playing with their walk score as you can tell ;)
I live in a small town (less than 15k population) so people mostly mind their own business which is what I really like, but it also makes my score rather high. The score for my house is 71. The farmer’s market is about 3 blocks away in the shared parking lot of the bank, the pizza joint, and the hardware store. There is also a private Catholic school on the block behind my house and this site considers the playground to be a park.
We both have to drive a fair distance for work. My husband more of a drive than mine and we both enjoy that we live within walking distance of the bank, the farmers market and the hardware store. We don’t go to the pizza joint since I make my own from scratch and we don’t use the “park” since we head to the woods when we want a park. But I do admit to using the track at the school for my walks. I can measure my distance that way.
But what I found really weird on this site was the picture of the residence. It says it’s my address, but I don’t recognize the house or even the street.
I’ve been playing with the score a little more and it works a little interesting. It put our closest grocery store as a deer processing center that is closed down :) Sounds like you live in a great place. A 15k town is not bad at all, even if the score seems high.
My score was ZERO! It counted a tavern and a hole in the wall convenience store that only sells beer and stale Little Debbie style treats as a “grocery store. Laughing all the way! I love living in the country!
That’s awesome! I love these places they consider stores! They considered a deer processing center that is closed down the closest grocery store to my parents ;)
No kidding, I got a zero! I have to drive to get to anything … even the closest gas station is 4 miles away. The bad news, of course, is that gas is $3.50 / gallon.
Good news! I suppose according to this at least, I also scored a Zero (0) ! The nearest highway is relatively close – 2.5 miles away on an unmaintained dirt/gravel road; a gas station is six & one-half miles away, the nearest grocery store/quick mart is just a little over that, and the small town itself scored an 8. Oh, BTW, gasoline just went down two cents a gallon – to $4.19. I’ll pay that for a zero (0).
Blessings
Love it! Sometimes $4.19 a gallon is worth it! Glad you could find one thing positive about outrageous gas prices! No will be able to afford gas to get to where you live ;)
Hahaha… What a joke. I got a zero! We don’t live QUITE that far out.
That was great, “Walk Score” hummm we got a 0 zero. But gas to work $369 a month. The price you pay for living outside the city. Thanks for showing me that site!
My town got a 72, but My house got a 42….I live in a town of 3400 pop. and it is about 3 miles wide by 6 miles long….not too far to walk to just about anything! Best part, I’m about 1.3 miles from the Gulf of Mexico! Worst part….Tourists!!
My old house in Michigan scored a 0 but we had to move a few years ago because of the job situation there. I loved that house :(
My current location is a 57. Very disappointing.
A job comes first for sure! 57 isn’t too bad, you can always be prepared no matter where you live!
Woohoo just scored a big fat 0
This is an interesting process to think about. My score is 8
my home scored a 0 but i live next to a game reserve about 10 miles from the closest town
I recognized the house immediately–the Full House house.
My current home scored a 32. I am moving in town next week, and the new home is a whopping 38. There is a motel in between the two houses–the first two floors are for ‘welfare’ people, which means drug dealers and crack whores. The really adds to the quality of the neighborhood. Closer to my new home is a convenience store–in the woods behind it is one of our ‘tent cities’ where the homeless-by-choice live. The men are okay, but the women will slice you for the fun of it.
My very first home was in Northern Virginia about 45 miles west of DC. The first appraisal came in below the asking price because there was not a 7-11 within walking distance (it was a 17-mile walk). I suspect that its score would have been below 10. The house was in the woods, miles from any store–it used to be farms owned by Col Mosby’s men.
Congrats! You’re the 1st to get the extra bonus points -Yep, it’s one of the Full House homes. Sounds like a interesting place you live! Stay safe!
The three houses I have lived in since I was 8 years old scored a Zero, a 17 and a 22 in that order. Next house will be moving back towards the country. All in all I suppose I have done pretty well. I cant stand living on top of people.
Got a score of “2”. What a crock of priorities. Closest groceries was wally-world at 4.6mi. There are 2 “quickie marts” within just over 2mi. They had the nearest “outdoor area” at 6+ mi. Heck, I LIVE in an outdoor area.
The 5 cities they say are the best to live in, I don’t even want to visit.
Walk score of zero, moved here a few years ago from a location that has a score of 88.
That’s a big change! 88 to a 0! Congrats on going from a “B” score to “totally failing” ;)
This is very interesting…I love it! My city is considered a 51 but my specific neighborhood (which I consider to be mid-town and pretty busy) scored a 25. The goal is to eventually move to a 0!
I scored a zero, living 15 miles from the nearest gas station or grocery store has it’s perks. The nearest town has a population of 25.
We score a 76. I am not worried, we don’t have daily break in’s , not even monthly break in’s. Most people don’t know where we live, they are surprised when they see our place. I know if teotwawki happens, most people will flee the cities heading out towards you guys. This leaves thousands of houses and stores to raid. The food terminal is close enough to get too, but not to close to cause a threat. We have quite a bit of green space to grow food. we have a lot of edible wild greens as well. We have plenty of woods where there are squirrels, chipmunks, racoons pleanty of birds even deer to catch and eat. We have an escape route through the valley behind our house, we know the route out. Any ” invaders” will get lost in a second. We have apartment buildings that can be fortified by blocking off the lower levals of the stairwells. Surviving in the city is differnet then the country but it is still quite doable. If the power goes out I have more places to hide.
That’s one way to look at it! You’re smart and it sounds like you would do fine no matter where you live.
My house is a zero!! :) and that’s the Full House house
I live in an 8….. all i need to say!
New York! Of course – I need to pack and move to this walk score Utopia immediately (chuckling)
My house that I live in now scored 33, but then I did the town I grew up in and it scored 8, I am moving back to my little farming community as soon as possible.
Each of those are great scores! I’ve just realized I think I’m a small town type girl. The city is fun, but not for me!
I am so excited to have score a “0”. Yay!!!!
We do have to drive just about everywhere to go anywhere and do anything… But that’s just what I like about it! Thanks for the cool website!
You’re welcome! Thanks for visiting my site!
Sometimes it’s nice to have a little bit of a drive when it means less congestion.
I got a ZERO. We chose our place based on several criteria.
Distance FROM an interstate, had to be at least 5 miles, we’re 8.
Had to NOT be visible from a road, we’re 1/2 mile from a gravel rd.
Not near any subdivisions, condos’s, trailer parks, or apt.s
Had to have lots of trees and some cleared areas
Had to have a pond or good site for one, we have a pond
Love the criteria! I may use this list next time I buy a home!
Your criteria is funny. I was going to post that my area scored a 1, but I live in a trailer park!! These people would target us in a heartbeat. Most can’t buy groceries for the week, let alone prepare long term.
Don’t worry, we’re already saving for a down payment to get out. I’ve also taken the “don’t tell people you prep” advice to heart.
I will be showing my husband your criteria!
My walk score is 34 and that is too high for me. I need my next house to be in the single digits… and no HOA. Looks like it’s time to start getting the house ready for showing.
We just got a note this week from our HOA about the small shed you can barely see in the backyard! I hate HOA’s, at least ours! I can’t handle feeling like people are peering in my backyard all the time and sending me nasty notes about getting rid of things! So annoying. Off to look for new house too ;)
Walk score – what a joke, at least for those of us who don’t like living in a cattle pen. My score was “0” and it suits me fine. According to the info from my score sheet, I am 17 miles from a bar. So what, I haven’t been in a bar for more than 40 years. According to the smart people at Walk Score the nearest park is 3.3 miles away. (that’s as the crow flies). The road is more like 25 miles across a large mountain. Furthermore, my surroundings are better than most any park, and it is not crowded. Also, they say I am 11 miles from coffee. (???) We have several coffee pots including those we can use when the grid is down. Anyway, thanks for your post Jamie; it reminded me, ( I didn’t really need a reminder), why I left the city 32 years ago and returned to the family farm.
I think a “0” is just fine too ;)
When I saw the walk score, I couldn’t help but poke a little fun at it! I didn’t realize people actually wanted to live in a cattle pen.
I just check my walk scores and as usual they cannot find my address (you cannot GPS my address either) so I think I should get a -00 LOL. My small town that I live about 2 miles from scored a 31, not to bad for a town with a pop of less than 1800 people. To get to a town that has something besides a local grocery, sonic and DQ (yep every small town in Texas has a DQ LOL) I have to drive 20 miles one way. I have almost always lived in the country, except once I lived in Houston and I only lasted 2 months to many people.
Awesome, you know you live in a small town if there is a DQ!
I just came upon this “Walk score”. Where I grew up is a 0 and I miss it. Our last address was about a 27 and we could walk to 3 pizza places, an ice cream stand, a bar, and the library (and my job). We moved and our score is now a 14 despite living within 5 miles of downtown Reading, PA. Highways and a river surround us. So walking anywhere would involve crossing a highway. I could walk to the grocery store which is about 2 miles one way and involves crossing only 1 highway. The funny thing is when we lived on a farm our score was higher because of 2 grocery stores etc. within a half mile, but we only had one neighbor and lots of open land around us. Go figure. That farm was bought by a developer :( Now there is a storage facility, townhomes and industrial buildings on the former farm. Someday I hope to live in the country again.
Yipppiieee!!! My walk score is 0. That’s why I really have no plan to bug-out unless a natural disaster requires it. My family is safer here than most places.
This is disgusting. You are obviously prepping for and hastening natural disasters with this cavalier attitude. And no, having a high walking score does not mean you get your crap stolen all the time. It means you get to lead a healthier life for yourself, your children, and the environment. Everyone wins, not just your isolated family. Had you ever lived anywhere above a deplorable 57, you may understand that. I don’t remember the part about miserly hoarders in the beatitudes, but I’m fairly certain Jesus would want you to share. He’s pretty big on “being kind to your neighbors”, right? . Honestly, I’m sorry I stumbled across your blog.
Anoynymous – I’m sorry you feel that way. I actually have a high walking score and wish I didn’t. There’s good and bad in both extremes. I love how convenient so many things are, but I’m despise the noise, taxes, crime and pollution I get living in the burbs.
I’m a HUGE believer in being kind to your neighbors and helping out where I can, but where I live, my neighbors don’t seem think that way. Example 1 – a tree limb came down in the street just down another street from our house. My hubby and I walked over and moved it out of the street to keep traffic moving. We didn’t see another person around, even from the house where the tree originated. Example 2 – we had a tree limb come down in our yard and some of the neighborhood boys offered to help clean it up. Two of their moms put a stop to it, telling the boys that if they weren’t getting paid, they shouldn’t be doing it and had to leave. I have lived in the country and helping your neighbor is very common, even if they are a couple of miles away – plus they do it for free, not expecting anything in return.
I’ll take the country life with fresh air and sparse neighbors over the conveniences of a high walk score any day!
My walk score is 0!