The way to your own places
Add your office, a school or your parents' home. You will see how long each takes on foot, by metro, by car and by bicycle.
Where to live in Buenos Aires: check the block before you rent
Where to live in Buenos Aires is decided block by block, by the walk to a produce shop, a school, a plaza and the subte. One figure from 0 to 100 sums it up.
Free, no sign-up. Sample report
Most errands on foot Avenida de Mayo 825, Buenos Aires
- Dia4 min
- Piedrasunder 1 min
- Plaza Roberto Arlt2 min
How it works
What lies within a walk of a real address, place by place.
You type an address, we find it on the map.
Avenida de Mayo 825, Buenos Aires
Found on the map-34.6087, -58.3781
- Score Each part of daily life gets 0 to 100, and together they make one score.
- Nearby The markers are real places, the nearest of each kind. The tint shows how far you get on foot.
- List Tap a place and the map shows the way there.
Most errands on foot
What lowers it here Noise −6.7 Air −0.9
Strongest: Groceries and Public transport. Weakest: Pets.
The markers are real places, the nearest of each kind. The tint shows how far you get on foot.
- 5 minutes on foot129 places
- 10 minutes on foot436 places
- 15 minutes on foot939 places
Tap a place and the map shows the way there.
No place is selected.
Avenida de Mayo 825, Buenos Aires
Nearest places 78
Groceries
Services nearby
Public transport
Education and children
Health
Parks and sport
Cafes and culture
Bikes and shared cars
Remote work
Pets
What a map alone will not tell you
A map shows what is nearby. The report tells you whether it works for you.
What matters to you weighs more
Give more weight to what matters and mark what you cannot do without. The score changes at once, and the link keeps your settings.
90.9what is in reach−7.6what lowers it=83.3score
What takes points away
A main road under the window or dirty air costs points. The report names each cause and shows it on the map.
How minutes turn into points
We count minutes along real streets. A hill, a long wait at a crossing and a walk beside a highway make the way longer.
How far the door really reaches
The areas you can walk to from Avenida de Mayo 825, Buenos Aires in 5, 10 and 15 minutes, along its streets. The dashed circle is what a ruler on the map would promise.
- 5 minutes on foot
- 10 minutes on foot
- 15 minutes on foot
- 15 minutes as the crow flies
Five minutes is full value
A grocery within 5 minutes of the door counts in full. Further out its value falls, slowly at first, and at 20 minutes it counts for nothing.
A railway doubles a short walk
Around Avenida de Mayo 825, Buenos Aires a walk is on average 1.27 times the straight line. Where tracks or a six-lane road lie between you and the shop, you walk to the crossing first.
- 7.5 km of major roads
- 912 m of stairs
- 108 closed passages
What the score is made of
Each part has its own 0 to 100: the fewer minutes on foot, the higher. The percentages are its weight in the General profile.
Public transport
The lines you can reach on foot. A metro line counts for three bus lines, a frequent line for more than a rare one.
18% of the score
Parks and sport
A park, a forest, a sports ground, benches. A beach or the sea within a walk counts like a park; a lake or a river bank adds points.
14% of the score
Street network
How direct the streets are, and what the walks lose to slopes, waits at wide roads and traffic alongside.
14% of the score
Services nearby
A pharmacy, a bank or a cash machine, the post and parcel lockers, a hairdresser or a repair shop, a shopping centre.
13% of the score
Education and children
Kindergartens, schools, playgrounds, classes. With a child it is a walk made twice a day.
10% of the score
Groceries
A supermarket or a grocery shop, a bakery, a greengrocer, a market. What you buy every few days.
9% of the score
Health
A clinic, a dentist, a hospital. Rarely needed, badly missed when far.
9% of the score
Cafes and culture
Cafes, restaurants, a cinema, a museum, a library. Places you go to for no errand at all.
8% of the score
Bikes and shared cars
Cycle lanes and tracks nearby, the ride to the city centre, bike share and parking, chargers and shared cars.
3% of the score
Remote work
A coworking space, or a cafe and a library where you can sit with a laptop.
1% of the score
Pets
A dog park, a vet, a pet shop.
1% of the score
What lowers the score
Noise, dirty air and industry nearby take up to 20 points
Shown, but kept out of the score
These are mapped unevenly from country to country, or modelled too coarsely for one street. So the report states them as facts.
- Greenery
- The share of the surroundings covered by parks, forest and grass.
- Step-free access
- Step-free places, lowered kerbs, tactile paving and stairs on the way.
- Lighting and night
- Lit streets and places open through the night.
- Climate
- Hot days, frost and rain over the last full year.
- Relief
- Height above sea level and how steep the streets are.
What lowers the score
Noise, dirty air and industry next door take up to 20 points. Here is what they cost Avenida de Mayo 825, Buenos Aires.
90.9what is in reach−7.6what lowers it=83.3score
Avenida de Mayo: about 68 dB at the building
FC Roca: about 39 dB at the building
The level at the address is worked out from the roads, railways and runways around it. Each decibel above 55 dB costs 0.5 of a point, up to 10 points.
The noise is worked out for the spot the building stands on. Inside a flat it depends on which way the windows face and on the glazing: a flat facing the courtyard can be much quieter.
The yearly average of fine particles and nitrogen dioxide against the WHO guideline, up to 8 points. The worse of the two counts.
Noise 6.7 + Air 0.9 = 7.6. Together they never take more than 20 points.
The noise is worked out for the spot the building stands on. Inside a flat it depends on which way the windows face and on the glazing: a flat facing the courtyard can be much quieter.
One address, six ways of living at it
A family needs a school, life without a car needs the metro. Choose who it is for and the weights change.
What you get for an address
The report for Avenida de Mayo 825, Buenos Aires. Behind every number are the places it came from.
Avenida de Mayo 825, Buenos Aires
Most errands on foot
What is missing
- Forest and open nature−2.1
- Clinic or doctor−1.8
- Shopping centre−0.8
- Playground−0.6
Cities
One address in each city, scored the same way.
Buenos Aires
Avenida Santa Fe 3951, Buenos Aires · Palermo
Most errands on foot
Córdoba
Av. Hipólito Yrigoyen 511, Córdoba · Nueva Córdoba
Most errands on foot
Mendoza
Arístides Villanueva 400, Mendoza · Quinta Sección
The basics on foot
Rosario
Santa Fe 581, Rosario · Centro
Everything on foot
La Plata
Avenida 7 n.º 776, La Plata · Centro
Most errands on foot
Mar del Plata
San Martín 2500, Mar del Plata · Centro
The basics on foot
Questions
Is Buenos Aires a walkable city?
In its central and northern barrios, yes. The city is flat, built on a grid, and most blocks have a food shop, a pharmacy and a bus stop. The exceptions are the stretches cut by railways, highways and very wide avenues, and outer areas where shops thin out.
What is the best area to live in Buenos Aires, Argentina?
It depends on who is asking. Someone without a car needs the subte and shops close by; a family needs a school and a plaza; an older person needs a clinic and even sidewalks. The score changes with the profile you pick, so compare two or three real addresses.
Is it safe to walk around Buenos Aires?
Most residents walk daily without trouble. The usual complaint is phone and bag snatching, and people take more care at night around the big railway stations such as Constitución, Once and Retiro. Living Score does not measure crime; it shows distances, barriers, noise sources and air quality.
Is it safe to live in Buenos Aires?
Millions do, and newcomers settle mostly in the northern barrios. Read recent local news for the area you are considering and walk the block after dark. The report helps with one part of it: how long the walk home from the subte is and whether it passes under a viaduct or along tracks.
Is Palermo, Buenos Aires safe?
Palermo is one of the busiest parts of the city, with people on the street late into the night. Busy also means pickpockets and phone theft near bars and on crowded avenues. The score cannot tell you about crime. It can tell you whether an address in Palermo sits on a loud bar street or a quiet one near a park.
Where's the best place to live in Argentina?
Buenos Aires offers the most you can do on foot and by subte. Córdoba is a university city near the hills, Mendoza is small and green beside the Andes, Rosario lives along its river and Mar del Plata along the ocean. In each, the choice is between a central address where daily life is walkable and a quieter district that needs a car.
More on choosing a place to live
Two or three apartments, one decision
Living in Buenos Aires as an expat usually means choosing between two or three apartments found online, often from another country. Load two to five of them into one comparison and read what is around each and how many minutes away.
Add up to three places of your own, such as a Spanish school in Microcentro, a daycare and a climbing gym, and the report shows the walk to each. Where that is too far, it tells you whether one subte or bus line links both ends. Pick from six profiles: general, family with a child, without a car, older person, remote worker, pet owner. A Palermo corner that suits someone without a car can score lower for a family, because the nearest school and park weigh more. You can drag the weights yourself and mark a must-have, and the link keeps the settings.
What a map of barrios does not show
On the ground the real edges are barriers. The Sarmiento railway runs in a cutting through Caballito and at street level through Flores and Floresta, and you cross it only at bridges, level crossings and a few underpasses. Avenida 9 de Julio takes more than one green light to cross. The elevated 25 de Mayo highway cuts the south of the city, and Avenida General Paz separates the capital from the suburbs.
An address two blocks from a park on the map can be a long way around on foot, and a route along real streets picks that up. The same barriers cost points a second time: a railway, a highway or industrial land close to the building, and air worse than the WHO guideline, lower the score by up to twenty points. The report names what is there and how far.
What the number counts
Walks are counted in minutes, block by block, with the wait at wide avenues included. Full credit goes to anything under five minutes; past fifteen to twenty, nothing. Ten categories go in, from food shopping, transport and schools to places to work with a laptop and a vet. A Buenos Aires walkability score, then, belongs to a door and a profile. The barrio has none.
Water within a walk adds to the parks category: the Costanera Sur reserve beside Puerto Madero, the Paraná riverfront in Rosario, the Atlantic in Mar del Plata. Inland Córdoba and Mendoza lose nothing for it.
Most blocks in the central and northern barrios have a produce shop, a bakery and a bus stop, so the differences come from the subte, the green and the noise. Sidewalks matter too: loose tiles are common, and the family and older-person profiles walk slower for that reason.
Outside the capital
In Córdoba, Mendoza, Rosario, La Plata and Mar del Plata there is no subte, and the choice is usually between a walkable center and a leafy district where a car does most of the work.
Everything rests on OpenStreetMap; where the map is thin the report says so. The whole report opens at once, with no account.