Dangerous By Design: Most Dangerous Large Metro Areas for Pedestrians
| Dangerous By Design: Full Rankings and Tables | ||
| Table 1: | Most Dangerous Metro Areas (Over 1 Million in Population) | |
| Table 2: | Top 10 Metros with Highest Share of Pedestrian Fatalities | |
| Table 3: | Highest Avg. Fatalities per 100k People Age 65 and Older (by State) | |
| Table 4: | Metros > 1m With Highest Yearly Spending on Pedestrians | |
| Table 5: | State Pedestrian Fatalities & Federal Spending on Walking & Biking | |
| Appendix C: | All 360 Metros with Pedestrian Danger Index Grouped by State | |
| Appendix A: | Methodology | |
Table 1 ranks the 52 largest metro areas (those with at least 1 million residents as of 2008) according to their Pedestrian Danger Index for 2007-2008. The safest places for walking are those with a lower PDI. These metros tend to be older northeastern or northern states, or places with a generally compact development pattern. Metros such as Seattle, WA; Portland, OR; and Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN are investing to build a well-developed network of sidewalks and crosswalks and have many people walking and bicycling.
The list of the most dangerous metro areas for walking is striking in its uniformity. Nine of the ten metro areas are in the South, and the top four are in Florida. These areas are dominated by lower density and automobile-oriented development patterns, which include high-speed urban arterials that are particularly hazardous for walking. A national FHWA survey affirms these results, finding that respondents in the South rate pedestrian safety far lower than their counterparts in the rest of the country.
<– Back to Dangerous By Design home
Table 1: Most Dangerous Metro Areas (over 1 million residents) for Pedestrians |
||||
| Ranking | Metropolitan Area | Average Annual Pedestrian Deaths per 100,000 Residents (2007-2008) |
Percent of Workers Walking to Work (2000) |
Pedestrian Danger Index (PDI) |
| 1 | Orlando-Kissimmee, FL | 2.86 | 1.3% | 221.5 |
| 2 | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | 3.52 | 1.7% | 205.5 |
| 3 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL | 3.04 | 1.7% | 181.2 |
| 4 | Jacksonville, FL | 2.61 | 1.7% | 157.4 |
| 5 | Memphis, TN-MS-AR | 1.83 | 1.3% | 137.7 |
| 6 | Raleigh-Cary, NC | 2.02 | 1.6% | 128.6 |
| 7 | Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN | 1.93 | 1.7% | 114.8 |
| 8 | Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX | 1.81 | 1.6% | 112.4 |
| 9 | Birmingham-Hoover, AL | 1.30 | 1.2% | 110.0 |
| 10 | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA | 1.37 | 1.3% | 108.3 |
| 11 | Las Vegas-Paradise, NV | 2.46 | 2.3% | 105.6 |
| 12 | Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC | 1.29 | 1.2% | 103.9 |
| 13 | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 1.47 | 1.5% | 99.3 |
| 14 | Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI | 1.41 | 1.4% | 98.5 |
| 15 | New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA | 2.69 | 2.7% | 98.4 |
| 16 | Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ | 2.02 | 2.1% | 97.0 |
| 17 | Oklahoma City, OK | 1.59 | 1.7% | 95.3 |
| 18 | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | 1.94 | 2.2% | 89.5 |
| 19 | Austin-Round Rock, TX | 1.76 | 2.1% | 84.8 |
| 20 | Kansas City, MO-KS | 1.18 | 1.4% | 84.6 |
| 21 | St. Louis, MO-IL | 1.28 | 1.7% | 76.9 |
| 22 | Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville, CA | 1.64 | 2.2% | 75.9 |
| 23 | Denver-Aurora, CO | 1.59 | 2.1% | 75.6 |
| 24 | Richmond, VA | 1.35 | 1.8% | 74.5 |
| 25 | Tucson, AZ | 1.88 | 2.6% | 72.8 |
| 26 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | 1.30 | 1.8% | 71.9 |
| 27 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA | 1.91 | 2.7% | 70.8 |
| 28 | Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN | 1.04 | 1.5% | 70.2 |
| 29 | Baltimore-Towson, MD | 1.82 | 2.9% | 61.9 |
| 30 | San Antonio, TX | 1.39 | 2.4% | 58.9 |
| 31 | Indianapolis-Carmel, IN | 1.00 | 1.7% | 58.6 |
| 32 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 1.75 | 3.0% | 57.2 |
| 33 | San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA | 1.89 | 3.4% | 55.7 |
| 34 | Salt Lake City, UT | 1.04 | 2.1% | 50.2 |
| 35 | Columbus, OH | 1.16 | 2.3% | 49.4 |
| 36 | Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY | 1.33 | 2.7% | 49.3 |
| 37 | Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI | 1.39 | 2.9% | 48.6 |
| 38 | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 1.72 | 3.9% | 44.3 |
| 39 | Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC | 1.18 | 2.7% | 44.1 |
| 40 | San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | 1.60 | 3.9% | 40.9 |
| 41 | Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI | 1.23 | 3.1% | 39.3 |
| 42 | Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, RI-MA | 1.25 | 3.3% | 38.4 |
| 43 | Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH | 0.81 | 2.2% | 37.1 |
| 44 | Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR-WA | 1.07 | 2.9% | 36.4 |
| 45 | Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT | 0.88 | 2.5% | 35.3 |
| 46 | Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN | 0.77 | 2.3% | 33.5 |
| 47 | Rochester, NY | 1.11 | 3.5% | 31.6 |
| 48 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 0.98 | 3.1% | 31.1 |
| 49 | Pittsburgh, PA | 1.04 | 3.6% | 29.1 |
| 50 | New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA | 1.67 | 6.0% | 28.1 |
| 51 | Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH | 1.07 | 4.6% | 23.2 |
| 52 | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | 0.54 | 2.4% | 22.3 |
