How does SafeStreets compare to Walk Score?

SafeStreets and Walk Score both produce a single number for an address but use different methodologies. SafeStreets is a 4-component composite (Daily Reach 40%, Street Safety 30%, Transit Reach 15%, Walking Comfort 15%) built entirely on public data sources (OpenStreetMap, Sentinel-2, EPA, US Census, CDC PLACES, FEMA, NASADEM). Walk Score is an amenity-distance composite using a proprietary database, primarily covering the US, Canada, and Australia. SafeStreets includes pedestrian safety, environmental comfort (tree canopy, slope, air quality), and CDC health-outcome integration; Walk Score does not. SafeStreets is free with no sign-up; Walk Score is free for end-user lookups but charges for API access. SafeStreets is fully transparent in methodology and weights; Walk Score publishes a methodology summary but treats specific weights as proprietary. SafeStreets covers 190+ countries; Walk Score is primarily US, Canada, Australia.

What is the difference between SafeStreets and the EPA National Walkability Index?

The EPA National Walkability Index is a neighborhood-level (US Census block group) score covering only the United States. It measures intersection density, transit proximity, and land use mix. SafeStreets uses the EPA index as one of several inputs and adds satellite-derived environmental data (Sentinel-2 tree canopy), pedestrian safety analysis, transit weighting via GTFS, CDC health outcomes, and FEMA flood risk. SafeStreets also produces address-level scores (not just neighborhood-level), works in 190+ countries (not just the US), and outputs persona-specific verdicts (car-free, kids walking, aging in place). The EPA index is the right tool for academic research at the neighborhood level; SafeStreets is the right tool for someone evaluating a specific address.

Why does SafeStreets not include crime data?

Crime data is not consistently reported across US jurisdictions, and neighborhood-level data is often suppressed or stale. Many walkability tools that include crime are combining outdated FBI Uniform Crime Reports with proprietary scraping that varies in quality. SafeStreets chose not to include crime rather than mislead users with unreliable data. Other dimensions excluded for similar transparency reasons include school quality (heavily debated and often correlated more with parent demographics than educational outcomes), real-time crowding (no reliable global foot-traffic data), subjective perceived safety (varies sharply by individual), and microclimate at the address level.

When should I use Walk Score instead of SafeStreets?

Walk Score is the most established walkability score and is widely embedded in real estate listings on Redfin, Zillow, and others. If you are browsing listings and Walk Score is already on the page, it is convenient and serves a quick comparison purpose. Walk Scores amenity-distance approach is also more sensitive to absolute commercial density (how many restaurants, bars, services within walking distance) than SafeStreets, which caps each of seven service categories at reachable yes or no. If your question is "how many amenities surround this address?", Walk Score is closer to that. If your question is "what is this neighborhood like to live in for a specific lifestyle," SafeStreets is more useful.

When should I use SafeStreets instead of Walk Score?

SafeStreets is more useful when you want a score reproducible from public data, when you want a verdict on specific lifestyle questions like can I go car-free here or is it safe for kids to walk, when you want pedestrian safety and environmental comfort built into the score, or when you need global coverage. The methodology is fully documented including all weights; every input dataset is publicly downloadable. Researchers, planners, journalists, and advocacy groups citing the score in policy work can defend it from primary sources, which is harder to do with proprietary scores.

How SafeStreets computes a walkability score

SafeStreets scores any address from 0 to 10 by combining four weighted components, built entirely from open public data with a published, citable methodology (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20506270).

The four components and their weights

Daily Reach — 40%. 15-minute-walk access to seven essential categories: grocery, healthcare, education, recreation, dining, shopping, and civic.
Street Safety — 30%. Crossing density, sidewalk separation, and traffic speed.
Transit Reach — 15%. Rail, bus, and ferry access, with rail weighted highest.
Walking Comfort — 15%. Tree canopy, heat, terrain, and air quality from satellite and sensor data.

What the 0 to 10 score means

9.3 to 10.0 — Pedestrian-first. Rare top band for places genuinely built around walking (central Amsterdam, Venice, Manhattan core).
8.3 to 9.2 — Very walkable. Most daily needs accessible on foot, strong pedestrian infrastructure.
7.0 to 8.2 — Walkable. Many errands on foot with decent pedestrian infrastructure.
5.5 to 6.9 — Moderate. Some trips are walkable, a car still helps.
3.5 to 5.4 — Car-dependent. A car is required for most daily needs.
0 to 3.4 — Hostile. Basic pedestrian safety infrastructure is missing.

US addresses use the full data stack (EPA National Walkability Index, US Census ACS, CDC PLACES, FEMA, NHTSA FARS crash records, NCES schools) on top of OpenStreetMap and Sentinel-2. Addresses elsewhere use OpenStreetMap and Sentinel-2. Read the full method and limitations in the open methodology.