Walkscore.com tries to quantify something that I’ve known about everywhere I’ve lived: how walkable is it? They measure how far it would be to walk to various essentials and amenities like stores, restaurants, libraries, and parks and come up with a score. 100 means you can get almost anything you’d need within walking distance; 0 means you’d need to drive to do everything. They readily admit that their measure is insufficient — it goes off of as-the-crow-flies distance, and it doesn’t know where sidewalks are or how busy streets are or if there are trees. But it’s a fascinating look at where we live. My life, expressed in walkscores:

• House, Kensington, CA: 43
• House, Pinole, CA: 9
• House, Pinole, CA: 32
• Sid Richardson College, Rice: 49
• Student housing in London, England: they don’t measure internationally yet. But it was really close to 100.
• Summer sublet in Washington, DC: 88
• Apartment complex near the Astrodome, Houston, TX: 46
• Apartment in Neartown: 77
• Apartment in the Museum District: 74
• Apartment in Gulfton: 58
• Townhouse, Montgomery, AL: 71
• Downtown Condo: 91

Those measures are pretty good. The highest ranked places are those that I walked the most in. If you’re surprised to see Montgomery rank so high, keep in mind that we lived in the one cool neighborhood there. Within three blocks: a grassy, tree-shaded park, a great pizza place, a coffeeshop a one-screen independent movie theatre, and a Win-Dixie. But I really missed living in a big city. Rice ought to rank higher, but walkscore doesn’t count on-campus services. And Gulfton’s narrow sidewalks with cars whizzing by should cost it some points. In fact, all of Gulfton’s flaws can be explained by Walkscore’s great primer on what makes a neighborhood walkable.

What’s your walkscore? Tell us in the forums.