Where are the best cities for strutting your stuff? Based on ratings by walkscore.com and prevention.com, Cambridge, MA, tops the list with a score of 88.8%; NYC is second (85.3%); and Jersey City, NJ, ranks third (85.2%). Not to be outdone are fourth-ranked San Francisco (84.9%) and fifth-placed Berkeley (81.6%), both in sunny California (but you knew that already).

Any walking—whether in the big city or along a country lane—reduces your risk of health problems like high cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension, and possibly also coronary heart disease. In fact, according to a study published in the American Heart Association’s online journal, Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology in April 2013 by Paul T. Williams, Ph.D., of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California and Dr. Paul D. Thompson of Hartford Hospital in Connecticut, running and walking provide “equivalent health benefits.”