With a park along the waterfront and clear views of the New York City skyline, Jersey City has been named as one of the best walking towns in the country, according to Prevention Magazine. '

The magazine looked at cities across the country to see which ones had easiest time to find entertainment by foot, as well as conditions of walking paths to determine the top 25 list.

Jersey City was beat out by Cambridge, Mass and New York City in the magazine's ranking. Besides Jersey City, Paterson and Newark were listed as seventh and tenth, respectively.

Some Jersey City residents, who were enjoying the nice weather this afternoon, said to take the ranking "with a grain of salt."

"This area is gorgeous," said Stacy Leiman, who was out for a jog with her boyfriend, Derek Cansen. "I would walk around this waterfront for hours. But as soon as you leave here, some places get a little shady."

She said that walking around Grove Street and Newport is also a treat, with restaurants and bars that are easily accessible. But lumping all of Jersey City together in a "happy walking town is a bit naive."

Jordan Spurloch, who said he goes for a run in Liberty State Park every day after work, said the park was a selling attraction for why he moved to Jersey City, and said the city has ample amount of opportunity for walkers.

He said that most attractions that he goes to are walkable from a public transportation hub, and that driving is becoming increasingly more difficult, which should be the final push to get people to trade in their "cars for sneakers."

"More should take advantage of how easily-walkable the city is," he said.
Jersey City Best Walking Town in the Country.

The entire city is walkable, I lived in places where you can not walk at all like L.A. I have walked from the waterfront to Bayonne several times. I only use my car to leave the city. Any city with sidewalks are considered walkable in my opinion.

Of course algorithms are suspect but downtown JC is pretty walkable (as are a lot of other sections of JC). A good percentage of my neighbors don't own a car and I go for weeks without driving.

Any list like this based on an algorithm should be considered pretty suspect. Did the authors actually take a stroll around here?

Now if this carjacking trend continues and if the thieves can focus on those that roll through stop signs and don't look for pedestrians than I'd say JC has a fighting chance...

The 25 Best Cities For Walking

These US towns made our top 25 cities for walkers list. Find out why here.

3. Jersey City, NJ

Walk Score: 85.2

Just over the Hudson River in New Jersey is this charming walkers' hot spot, which is among the top-ranked "Best Fitness Walking Cities," according to the American Podiatric Medicine Association. Hop between neighborhood farmer's markets in its historic neighborhoods or earn your walking bona fides trekking Liberty State Walking Trail, which spans the width of the state to the Delaware Water Gap?a whopping 130 miles!

Published March 2012, Prevention

Read more: http://www.prevention.com/fitness/fit ... sey-city-nj#ixzz1qO4KQn1j

I think we are lucky that we have as much as we do downtown as far as amenities and parks. We are also lucky we have the waterfront, Liberty State Park and of course we are lucky we are only a few minutes on the PATH subway from Manhattan.

It's a pretty walkable place except for the crazy drivers trying to drive down here or cut through down here.

Quote:

I actually like the JC library system a lot -- I'll often try to get a book from the NYC libraries, only to find that all eighteen copies are checked out or missing or in Coney Island... the JC system may only have two copies, but they're both available and an easy walk from my apartment.

The movie theatre at Newport, though.... *shudder*

NYC is dragged down by staten island and eastern queens. Downtown JC however is much more compact, and "downtown" excludes less walkable neighborhoods.

On the otherhand, walkscore doesn't take into account unquantifiable attributes, and doesn't include other information such as the likelihood of getting knifed on your way to a grocery store.

New York City with an 83 and DJC gets an 97...this algorithm needs a reality check.

Absent the proximity to NYC, Jersey City would score in the single digits and the proximity to NYC is the ONLY reason a car is not necessary.

Have you SEEN the JC Museum, the library system, or the god-awful Newport Center movies???
The only walking anyone does is to the PATH train to get out of the city.

While I don't disagree that downtown JC is quite walkable, take that near perfect score with grain of salt. The program counts things like Bagua Juice as a restaurant.

Most walkable U.S. cities

Thu Jul 17, 12:19 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - San Francisco, New York and Boston are the United States' most walkable cities, according to new rankings from a website that evaluates how easy it is to live in the nation's cities and neighborhoods without a car.

Walkscore.com, which uses an algorithm to identify those neighborhoods boasting the most amenities per person, published its ranking on Thursday and deemed San Francisco the most walkable city, with a "Walk Score" of 86 out of 100.

The ultimate goal is to see the site's scores included in property listings, said Mike Mathieu, founder of the company that created the site's software.

"What we see is someone calling up a broker and saying 'I want three bedrooms, two baths, a walkability score of 85, what've you got?"' Mathieu said.

Type an address, and the site generates a map showing the nearby grocery stores, cafes, movie theaters, schools and parks.

New York received a score of 83, Boston a score of 79.

Scores greater than 70 indicate neighborhoods where it's possible to get by without owning a car, while scores greater than 90 qualify communities as a "Walker's Paradise."

Downtown Jersey City is a walkers paradise (97 out of 100) according to walkscore.com (CLICK HERE)