Sure, driving your car or ordering a rideshare to travel around town can be convenient, but nothing quite beats the convenience of using your own two feet to walk from one destination to the next.

Some cities, however, are more walkable than others. Fortunately for those in Ohio, two of the most walkable cities in the U.S. are located right here in the Buckeye State, according to a report.

Ohio’s three most populated cities – Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati – are among the top 25 most walkable cities in the U.S., according to the 2023 Foot Traffic Ahead report, conducted by Smart Growth America, a national nonprofit urban planning advocacy organization. Cleveland ranked 17th on the list, Columbus placed 19th, and Cincinnati ranked 25th.

The report compared U.S. cities using data from two sources: The Environmental Protection Agency’s Smart Location Database and the American Enterprise Institute’s Walkable Oriented Development Database. Each database assigns city walkability scores based on a range of metrics, including how walkable a city is from residences to offices, gyms, grocery stores, and more, as well as an area’s development density, the distance between city blocks, and access to public transportation.

The report categorized cities across four levels: Highest walkable urbanism, upper-middle walkable urbanism, lower-middle walkable urbanism, and lowest walkable urbanism.

Cleveland was included in Level 2: Upper-middle walkable urbanism along with cities such as Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Miami, Charlotte, Austin, Atlanta, Denver and Houston.

“Finally, metro Cleveland ranks at the end of this tier, as it has generally only seen walkable urban development in the center city, focusing on downtown, downtown-adjacent places (The Flats), urban commercial places (Ohio City) and urban education places like University Circle, anchored by Case-Western Reserve, world class hospitals, and numerous museums,” Smart Growth America writes in its report. “Cleveland has limited rail transit, which inhibits further walkable urban development, but its Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) HealthLine is an example of expanding opportunity through greater transit investment.”

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Columbus and Cincinnati, meanwhile, were both grouped in to Level 3: Lower-middle walkable urbanism, along with cities such as Baltimore, Detroit, Kansas City, Nashville, St. Louis, Sacramento, and Dallas-Fort Worth.

The metro Columbus area was the highest-ranked city in Level 3 due to its “knowledge-based economy centered around the Ohio State University and the state capitol,” the report states.

As for Cincinnati, the southwestern Ohio city features “limited rail transit and most walkable urban places confined to downtown and exceptional downtown-adjacent walkable urban places (particularly Over-the-Rhine and downtown Covington, KY) and WalkUPs in University Heights,” the report states. “There are virtually no other walkable urban areas.”

The 25 most walkable cities in the U.S., according to Smart Growth America, are:

1. New York, NY

2. Boston, MA

3. Washington, D.C.

4. Seattle, WA

5. Portland, OR

6. San Francisco, CA

7. Chicago, IL

8. Los Angeles, CA

9. Pittsburgh, PA

10. Philadelphia, PA

11. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN

12. Miami, FL

13. Charlotte, NC

14. Austin, TX

15. Atlanta, GA

16. Denver, CO

17. Cleveland, OH

18. Houston, TX

19. Columbus, OH

20. Baltimore, MD

21. Kansas City, MO

22. Nashville, TN

23. St. Louis, MO

24. Sacramento, CA

25. Cincinnati, OH

Smart Growth America’s full report on the 20 most walkable cities in the U.S. can be found online.