How Retirement Lists measures walkability

The source metric is the EPA National Walkability Index at the Census city-geography level. It is a historical built-environment screen rather than a current pedestrian audit.

For each destination with source evidence, Retirement Lists uses the EPA block groups whose calculated polygon centroid falls inside the Census city-geography boundary.

Population-weighted mean of EPA National Walkability Index block groups whose calculated polygon centroid falls inside Census city-geography boundary; normalized from EPA 1-20 to 0-100 after aggregation.

The calculation is modeled at the source geography and does not turn the result into a street-by-street observation. A missing U.S. result remains unavailable; Retirement Lists does not substitute another city, a nearby geography, or a descriptive city statement.

Walkability is a separate Lifestyle measure. The current published metric is available for display as a modeled planning estimate, while the current contract does not make it eligible for a filter, sort, Fit, Compare value, or hard constraint.

The measure does not inherit an overall Lifestyle formula and does not describe parks, local-lifestyle research, transit service, or internet performance.

The EPA NWI evidence uses the 2021 release with 2018 population inputs and Census 2020 place boundaries. The current source observation was recorded on July 10, 2026.

This is a U.S.-only modeled city estimate from EPA block-group observations and Census place or county-subdivision boundaries. Population weighting and centroid boundary assignment do not measure every street, pedestrian condition, disability access, terrain, weather, or current transit service.

• It is not a direct audit of sidewalks, crossings, slope, or route quality.
• It does not measure disability access or the experience of a particular household.
• It does not establish current transit frequency or service quality.
• It does not provide comparable international coverage.