Maryland Most Walkable Neighborhoods
MD is more residential. If you have seen my other videos, I explain how Maryland exerts more control over growth and real estate development. Maryland is more likely to have central retail areas in their cities and towns. As you go further north in Maryland you will even find places where there are “Village Centers” or “Town Centers” which is where the retail is concentrated and the residential homes surround the village center.
1. Bethesda – The overall Walk Score is 45, but if you zoom in to downtown Bethesda, they get a 99 Walk Score. This makes sense if you look at downtown Bethesda where there is a huge concentration of shops, restaurants and transportation access. If you live within walking distance of downtown, you can probably get away with selling your car or downsizing if you have multiple vehicles. Once you get away from the downtown area, the neighborhoods surrounding Bethesda can drop into the teens on the Walk Score ranking, where almost all errands require a vehicle.
2. Rockville – There is a similar story in Rockville as in Bethesda. Downtown Rockville is a hub of stores, restaurants, offices, metro and transit options making the Walk Score of 94 very well deserved. But Rockville has many personalities when it comes to Walk Scores and as you get into the residential neighborhoods, the scores drop into the teens just like in Bethesda.
3. Kensington – The walk score for the downtown area of Kensington is 90 which is pretty good. There are restaurants, grocery and a few different retail areas throughout a small area of Kensington. Geographically, Kensington is smaller and tucked into a small area with parkland on 3 sides. The “less” walkable parts of Kensington are still close enough to rank with a Walk Score in the 40’s as you can do some errands on foot and some require a car.
4. Silver Spring – Because Silver Spring is unincorporated, it’s geographically large because the boundaries are somewhat fluid with homes as far north as the Intercounty Connector claiming Silver Spring as their address. There is every walk score possible here.
Downtown Silver Spring is very walkable, with a Walk Score of 98. Downtown Silver Spring, in fact, is more “city” feeling than most of DC. Ditch the car and grab the metro or a bus or do everything on foot. The neighborhoods surrounding downtown like Woodside Park have Walk Scores in the high 70’s for homes closer to downtown and in the 40’s if the home is further north toward the beltway. If your home is in the parts of Silver Spring that are outside the beltway, then it’s a toss up what your walkability will look like. Remember that Maryland tends to cluster retail in central areas so depending how far out the home is will determine the walkability.
5. Takoma Park – Finally we have Takoma Park, a cool eclectic neighborhood with a downtown strip with tons of restaurants, shops and metro & bus transportation. The homes around the downtown retail strip rank in the high 80’s on the Walk Score. Takoma Park is pretty small so many homes have decent access to the downtown, but there are some homes on the fringes that aren’t super walkable. The homes toward Flower Avenue which is the eastern border of Takoma Park rank in the mid 40’s on the Walk Score.
So this is Maryland and a recap of the Walk Scores for the metro DC neighborhoods where many people choose to purchase their homes. If doing errands by foot or bike is important to you then you will want to focus on living close to the retail areas in your preferred neighborhood. If walkability isn’t as important then you will have more options in Maryland which is more suburban than DC or that state on the other side of the river, Virginia.
