Best walking shoes for women that you can purchase for 2021

You don't have to be a marathon runner to singe calories — walking is actually one of the healthiest forms of exercise. Before heading out the door, you want to be armed with the best walking shoes for you. You want a shoe that’s comfy all day, supports your arches, cushions your heel, and actually looks cute. With so many factors to consider, the Good Housekeeping Institute Textiles Lab put popular shoes to the test to find the best walking shoes to buy.

We sent shoes to testers with a range of shoe sizes and foot shapes. Testers walked for at least two hours before giving feedback on cushioning, support, comfort, traction, appearance, and more. In the Lab, we weighed each sneaker to nix clunky styles that’ll weigh you down. We also sawed each sneaker in half so our experts could evaluate the inside and insole of each shoe. We teamed up with Jordan Metzl, M.D., a sports medicine physician at the Hospital For Special Surgery in New York, and Emily Splichal, D.P.M., a podiatrist at the Center for Functional & Regenerative Podiatric Medicine in New York City, to dig into 527 data points collected over 170 hours of walking. These are the best walking shoes to buy in 2020: