Behavioral scientists say that people who walk faster than average consistently share the same personality indicators across multiple studies

The first thing you notice is the sound. A rapid, steady tap-tap-tap on the pavement, cutting through the muffled city noise. You glance up from your phone just in time to see her sweep past—bag slung over one shoulder, eyes fixed somewhere ahead that only she can see. She isn’t running. She isn’t late. She’s just… moving. Purposefully. As she disappears into the crowd, something odd happens: the air feels a little different in her wake, as if she’s pulled an invisible thread of urgency taut behind her.

Behavioral scientists have been quietly watching people like her for years—timing their footsteps, mapping their routes, asking questions about their lives and personalities. And again and again, across cities, cultures, and age groups, they’re seeing the same pattern: people who walk faster than average tend to share some strikingly similar personality traits.

Maybe you already know which side of the sidewalk you’re on. Maybe you’re the one weaving between slower walkers, breathing a little sharper, frustrated by people who stop dead in front of you. Or maybe you’re the slow, observant walker, the one who spots the moss on the brick wall, the flicker of a bird’s wing in the corner of your eye. Either way, the pace of your footsteps may be telling a quiet story about who you are—and how you move through the world in more ways than one.

Why Your Walking Speed Isn’t Just About Your Legs

If you stand on a busy street and watch the flow of bodies, you can almost hear the rhythm of the crowd: slow, medium, fast, the occasional hurry that verges on a jog. It might seem like nothing more than a practical response—some people are in more of a rush, some have longer legs, some are late for a meeting. But behavioral scientists look at this everyday movement and see a living, breathing data set.

Across multiple studies, researchers have taken thousands of people, measured how quickly they walk under normal, non-rushed conditions, then compared those speeds against personality profiles. The profiles often use what’s known as the Big Five personality traits: extraversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Over and over, certain lines connect.

Fast walkers, it turns out, aren’t just moving more quickly through space. They tend to show:

• Higher conscientiousness – being organized, responsible, and goal-oriented
• Higher extraversion – more energy, social engagement, and outward focus
• Lower neuroticism – usually less prone to anxiety or emotional volatility

This doesn’t mean every quick stepper fits that mold perfectly, or that you can diagnose someone’s psyche from a single stroll. But the pattern is strong enough that walk speed has become a surprisingly reliable behavioral clue—one of those tiny, everyday acts that quietly whisper who we are while we’re busy thinking about other things.

The Sidewalk as a Personality Test

Imagine a long corridor in a research lab. At one end, a volunteer is asked to “walk at your normal pace” to the other. Hidden sensors or simple stopwatches record the time. That’s it. No treadmill. No race. Just “normal.” And yet that normal pace tells scientists more than you might expect.

Fast walkers typically cover more ground in the same amount of time, but they also tend to move with a specific emotional texture: a sense of priority. They are often people who see time as something precious, even a little scarce. They plan, organize, and stack their days like carefully arranged books. Their quick walking becomes a physical echo of an internal belief: “There’s a lot to do, and I’m not here to waste time.”

Slow walkers, in contrast, often gravitate toward a different tempo—not necessarily lazier or less capable, but more attuned to the present moment, more reflective, more likely to let the world come to them instead of charging ahead to meet it. And somewhere in the broad, shifting middle, there are those who adapt their pace like a chameleon, walking fast in the morning and slowing at dusk, syncing with whoever’s beside them.

The Personality Traits Hiding in Your Stride

Personality, of course, is more than a label; it’s a subtle blend of tendencies, habits, and reactions. Yet walking speed appears to braid itself neatly into some well-known patterns.

Conscientiousness: The Inner Scheduler

People who walk fast often score higher on conscientiousness—think of them as the natural list-makers, calendar-checkers, and diary-keepers. They like things to be in order, even if that order is only visible to them. When they walk quickly, it’s rarely about panic; it’s about alignment. Their bodies match the tempo of their mental to-do lists.

For them, a slow stroll with no purpose can feel like a stalled engine, a kind of friction against their natural current. They’re not trying to be rude when they sidestep you; their minds are already half a block ahead. Their stride is a quiet promise: “I’m on my way to something that matters, and I don’t want to drift off course.”

Extraversion: Moving Toward the World

There’s also a strong link between fast walking and extraversion. Fast walkers, on average, are more outward-facing. They go toward people, toward events, toward noise and energy. To them, the world feels like something to be stepped into briskly, not tiptoed around.

In a crowded market or a busy train station, these are the people who seem to navigate effortlessly, slipping through gaps in the crowd, adjusting to others’ movements with quick, intuitive decisions. Their fast pace can be a form of social confidence—“I belong in this flow, and I know how to move with it.”

Time Perception, Life Speed, and Inner Weather

Dig a little deeper, and walking speed seems to connect not just with personality, but with how people perceive time itself. Fast walkers often report feeling like time is moving quickly—and that they must match it. They keep mental clocks, even when they aren’t aware of doing it.

Slow walkers, by contrast, may perceive time as more expansive. A ten-minute walk can be an open field for thoughts, observations, or daydreams. They might use walking not only to get somewhere, but to process what just happened or what might be coming next.

Emotional Stability on the Move

Some studies have found that faster walking is correlated with lower neuroticism—less frequent rumination, fewer spikes of anxiety or mood swings. That doesn’t mean fast walkers don’t worry; it just suggests that they may be better at keeping their worries from freezing them in place.

Ironically, from the outside, this can make them appear more stressed—jaw tight, shoulders slightly tense, eyes scanning. But internally, many fast walkers experience their movement as a kind of focus. Walking becomes both transport and coping strategy: “If I keep moving, I won’t get stuck inside my head.”

Meanwhile, slower walkers are not necessarily more anxious, but they may be more contemplative, more prone to turning thoughts over a few extra times. For some, that’s a gift: a built-in space for reflection. For others, it can edge into rumination. The sidewalk, again, is less a racetrack and more a mirror.

Speed, Health, and the Long Arc of a Life

There’s another, more concrete layer to this story: physical health. Medical research has repeatedly shown that walking speed can be a surprisingly powerful predictor of overall health and even life expectancy, especially in older adults. People who naturally walk faster often have better cardiovascular fitness, stronger muscles, and more efficient circulation.

But here’s the twist that fascinates behavioral scientists: health and personality seem to intertwine. Conscientious, fast-walking people may be more likely to follow health advice, keep medical appointments, or maintain exercise routines. Their physical speed is both cause and effect—a lifetime of behaviors reinforcing a body that moves with ease.

To draw it together, here’s a simple overview of what studies often find when comparing fast and slow walkers in everyday conditions:

Walking Style	Common Personality Indicators	Typical Inner Experience
Faster than average	More conscientious, more extraverted, slightly lower neuroticism	Sense of urgency or purpose, time-aware, goal-focused
Average pace	Balanced traits, moderate conscientiousness and extraversion	Flexible tempo, adjusts to context and company
Slower than average	Often more reflective, sometimes higher openness or emotional sensitivity	Present-focused, observant, uses walking as thinking or decompressing time

Culture, Context, and the City That Sets Your Pace

Of course, you’re not walking in a vacuum. Cities have personalities too. Step into the pulse of New York or Tokyo and you’ll feel it immediately: the crowd tempo nudges your feet faster, as if the sidewalk itself has a speed limit. In smaller towns or rural areas, the same body, with the same personality, may slow down without even realizing it.

Behavioral scientists have to untangle this web. How much of your speed is “you,” and how much is “where you are”? Urban studies suggest that denser, more economically active cities produce collectively faster walkers. People internalize the geography: longer distances, packed schedules, more public transport connections to catch. Over time, that external pressure can shape internal habits.

But personality still peeks through. Even in slower-paced towns, you’ll find the fast walker: the one striding through the grocery store aisles, cutting across the parking lot, already half-turned toward the next task. And in the most frantic cities, you’ll still find the slow, unhurried figure, eyes lifted toward the skyline, whose leisurely pace seems to bend the city’s rules around them.

Who Are You on an Empty Street?

If you want the clearest read on your own walking personality, imagine this: a quiet road, no deadlines, no one waiting for you, no music in your ears. How do you move when no one is setting your pace and nothing is chasing you?

That default tempo—the way your feet naturally fall when the world stops tugging at your sleeve—may be one of the most honest physical expressions of your inner life. Not a verdict. Not a destiny. But a clue.

Can You Change Your Walking Speed—and Your Inner Story?

Here’s the comforting part: you are not sentenced to your current pace forever. While some of your walking speed is tied to personality and long-standing habits, it’s also highly trainable. People who intentionally begin exercising more, especially with regular brisk walks, often find their “normal” speed shifting upward over weeks and months. Their bodies adapt. Sometimes, interestingly, their sense of themselves adapts too.

Someone who always felt like “the slow one” might discover a new kind of energy, a sharper edge to their days. A naturally fast walker who experiments with deliberate, slow walks may notice an unfamiliar spaciousness in their thoughts, a softening of the constant drive to get there, wherever “there” is.

Personality is not a cage; it’s a starting point. If your fast walking feels like anxiety in disguise, you can practice pausing, meandering, letting your mind catch up with your feet. If your slower pace leaves you feeling left behind, you can train your legs to move more briskly—and watch how that physical shift ripples into your mood, your confidence, your sense of capacity.

The sidewalk will still be there, either way. What changes is the story you tell with each step.

FAQ

Does walking fast always mean I’m more productive or successful?

No. While fast walkers tend to score higher on traits like conscientiousness, productivity and success depend on many factors: opportunity, resources, health, support networks, and deliberate choices. Walking speed is a clue, not a guarantee.

Can being a slow walker be an advantage?

Yes. Slower walkers often notice more details, process experiences more deeply, and may feel less chronically rushed. In creative, reflective, or caregiving roles, this slower tempo can be a real strength.

Is my walking speed mostly genetic or learned?

It’s a mix. Your body type and natural energy levels play a role, but environment, culture, habits, fitness, and personality also shape how fast you normally walk. Over time, training and lifestyle can shift your baseline pace.

Can I use walking speed to judge other people’s personalities?

Not reliably on an individual level. While trends exist in large groups, any one person might be walking slowly because they’re tired, injured, or simply enjoying the day. Walking speed is best seen as a gentle hint, not a hard rule.

How can I experiment with my own walking pace?

Try dedicating a week to two kinds of walks: one deliberately slow, one deliberately brisk, both without distractions like phones or music. Notice how each pace affects your thoughts, mood, and sense of time. You may discover that adjusting your stride is a surprisingly simple way to change how your day feels from the inside out.