Nashville as a city scores 29 out of 100 on Walk Score, ranking 48th among large US cities. That number is worse than Atlanta (49) and far worse than New Orleans (58). The honest answer is that Nashville was built for cars and most of it still operates that way. But inside that car-dependent metro, there are pockets where you can genuinely live, eat, shop, and entertain yourself on foot. Here is where those pockets are, ranked with actual data.
The Rankings (Walk Scores)
East End: 88 The top score in the city. East End sits just east of Five Points in East Nashville, and the combination of dense local businesses, the Music City Bikeway, and historic street layouts makes it the closest Nashville gets to a walkable urban neighborhood. Vintage shops, coffee, restaurants, and Five Points Pizza are all accessible without a car.
Downtown/SoBro: 83-93 depending on block Downtown technically contains Nashville’s most walkable individual blocks, with some zip codes (37201, covering SoBro and Printer’s Alley) scoring as high as 93. Broadway honky-tonks, the Country Music Hall of Fame, Bridgestone Arena, and the Farmers Market are all reachable on foot. The caveat: downtown is optimized for tourists more than daily errands. There is a grocery store (H.G. Hill on Broadway), but it is not a full-service grocery.
Watkins Park: 77 Less known than the flashier neighborhoods but genuinely functional for day-to-day living on the north side.
The Gulch: 78 LEED-certified, planned for walkability, with restaurants and bars clustered tightly. Good for a walkable night out, less ideal for daily errands. No grocery within easy walking distance.
Hope Gardens: 75 (approx.) Proximity to the Bicentennial Capitol Mall and Nashville Farmers Market puts it on the list.
Germantown: 75 Victorian rowhouses and a dense restaurant corridor make Germantown walkable for dining and coffee. The Farmers Market is close. The drawback is limited grocery access unless you count the market itself.
Bellmont-Hillsboro Village: 74 Sandwiched between Vanderbilt and Belmont Universities, this neighborhood has Fido, Bongo Java, Pancake Pantry, and a Harris Teeter within reasonable walking distance. The universities add foot traffic infrastructure.
12 South: 73 The main drag along 12th Avenue South is extremely walkable for boutiques and restaurants. Sevier Park anchors the south end. The grocery situation is the weakness: the nearest full grocery is about a mile away.
West End/Vanderbilt: 73 Centennial Park, dozens of restaurants, and the commercial strips along West End Avenue. The traffic is heavy, but the sidewalks are there.
Lockeland Springs: 73 Lockeland Table, Shelby Park, and the Cumberland River Greenway make this a functional walking neighborhood within East Nashville.
Music Row: 80 Technically very walkable, but the neighborhood is oriented around industry, not residents. Good if you work there; less relevant for visitors or people seeking nightlife.
The Practical Truth About Nashville Walkability
Walk scores measure proximity of destinations, not the quality of the walking experience. Nashville has gaps: even in the most walkable neighborhoods, some streets lack continuous sidewalks, crosswalk timing is poor, and summer heat (97 degrees in August) makes long walks genuinely unpleasant from June through September.
The neighborhoods where you can most realistically skip a car entirely are East End, Downtown, and Hillsboro Village. In all three, grocery access exists within walking distance (however inconvenient), restaurants and bars are dense, and public transit connects you to the rest of the city if needed.
In 12 South, Germantown, and The Gulch, you can do most social and entertainment activities on foot but will eventually need transportation for groceries and big errands.
In Green Hills, Donelson, Madison, Bellevue, and most of the suburbs, a car is not optional. Walk Scores there fall below 40.
If You Are Visiting
For tourists, walkability usually means: can I get from my hotel to food and entertainment without calling an Uber? By that measure, Downtown, SoBro, and The Gulch are the only neighborhoods where the answer is reliably yes. East Nashville is walkable once you are there, but getting there from downtown requires a rideshare or the WeGo bus.
12 South and Germantown are both walkable neighborhoods where you park once and spend a few hours on foot, but they are not walking distance from downtown.
Sources
- Walk Score: walkscore.com/TN/Nashville (Nashville city score: 29/100)
- ApartmentGuide: “The 10 Most Walkable Neighborhoods in Nashville, TN,” March 2024
- Redfin: “Best Walkable Neighborhoods in Nashville,” walkscore data
- Felix Homes: “Exploring Nashville’s 9 Most Walkable Neighborhoods in 2025”
- Neighborhoods.com: “The 5 Most Walkable Neighborhoods In Nashville”
- Nashville Home Town: “Best Walkable Neighborhoods in Nashville TN: Complete Guide 2025”