Walk Score was founded in July 2007 by Mike Mathieu [3] [4] and aided by Matt Lerner, Jesse Kocher, and Josh Herst, formerly of Madrona Venture Group.

The tool calculates commute times for various modes of transport including walking, cycling, driving, and public transit.

[6] In January 2012, the company raised $2 million from angel investors, including Geoff Entress, Shel Kaphan, former chief technology officer of Amazon.com, and Rudy Gadre, former general counsel of Facebook.

Specifically, Walk Score doesn't calculate whether there are sidewalks, how many lanes of traffic one must cross, how much crime occurs in the area, or what the weather is typically like.

It also doesn't differentiate between types of amenities, for example, a supermarket grocery store versus a small food mart selling mostly chips and liquor.