The Most Bike-Friendly Cities in the U.S.

[homebucket]

Most Bike Friendly:

1. Portland
2. San Francisco
3. San Jose
4. Minneapolis
5. Sacramento
6. Denver
7. Washington DC
8. Boston
9. Salt Lake City
10. Seattle
11. New York City
12. New Orleans
13. Chicago
14. San Diego
15. Tampa

Least Bike Friendly:
1. Dallas
2. Birmingham
3. Atlanta
4. Nashville
5. Riverside
6. Memphis
7. Oklahoma City
8. Las Vegas
9. Detroit
10. St. Louis

The Most Bike-Friendly Cities in the U.S. (2022 Data)
Written by Taelor Candiloro
May 23rd, 2022

Since the invention of the penny-farthing pedaled bicycling into mainstream fashion, cycling has been a favorite mode of transportation across the globe. However, the recent need for socially distant transportation and health-conscious community transit systems has inspired a surge in cycling.

In fact, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that cities across the U.S. saw a surge in cycling traffic after the pandemic began, prompting a bicycle shortage as many Americans found cycling to be a reprieve from at-home isolation or a socially distant solution to their commutes.

Whether you're a cycling enthusiast or a first-time pedal pusher, cycling is a great way to get a low-impact workout while also reducing your transportation costs. But if you're considering switching to a two-wheel commute — or hoping to relocate to find better biking resources — it's worth asking an important question: Which cities are the most bike-friendly in the U.S.?

To find out, we analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. National Centers for Environmental Information, Walk Score, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, Vision Zero Network, Google Trends, and Yelp.

Our weighted rankings include:

4x: Bikeability score, a measure of how traversable a city is by bicycle
4x: Percent of workers commuting to work by bicycle
3x: No. of shops per 100,000 people offering bicycles for purchase/bicycle repair services
3x: No. of shops per 100,000 people offering bike rental services
2x: No. of biking trails per 100,000 people
2x: No. of bike share docking stations per 100,000 people
2x: Status as a Vision Zero Community (committed to transit safety)
1x: Google search trends for bicycle-related terms in each metro
-1x: No. of days per year the city experiences precipitation
-1x: No. of days per year the city experiences unsafe air quality

https://anytimeestimate.com/research...ities-us-2022/

[homebucket]

Most Bikeable
1. Portland
2. Minneapolis
3. Salt Lake City
4 (tie). Chicago
4 (tie). Denver

Most Bike Shops per 100k Residents
1. Portland
2. Salt Lake City
3. San Jose
4. San Francisco
5. Denver

Highest % of Workers Commuting by Bike
1. Portland
2. San Francisco
3. San Jose
4. Sacramento
5. Boston

Most Bike Trails per 100k Residents
1. Raleigh
2. San Jose
3. Hartford
4. Providence
5. Baltimore

[jmecklenborg]

These lists are so dumb. Is each "city" defined by its city limits, the boundaries of the city's county, the MSA? What the hell is "bikeability"?

What about the prevailing character of a typical city street? The ability to bike on low-key residential streets that parallel busy, bike-hostile arterials? What about hills?

The fact is that flat cities with little traffic an innumerable alternate routes between points A and B like Detroit and New Orleans hardly need any bike infrastructure. Just get on your bike and pedal the thing. I find it dishonest to argue that an inherently unpleasant place to bike that has built a few trails and thrown down some paint for bike lanes is a more "bikeable" place than somewhere that doesn't even need that stuff.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

These lists are so dumb. Is each "city" defined by its city limits, the boundaries of the city's county, the MSA? What the hell is "bikeability"?

What about the prevailing character of a typical city street? The ability to bike on low-key residential streets that parallel busy, bike-hostile arterials? What about hills?

The fact is that flat cities with little traffic an innumerable alternate routes between points A and B like Detroit and New Orleans hardly need any bike infrastructure. Just get on your bike and pedal the thing. I find it dishonest to argue that an inherently unpleasant place to bike that has built a few trails and thrown down some paint for bike lanes is a more "bikeable" place than somewhere that doesn't even need that stuff.

Bikeability is how traversable a city is by bicycle. So things like topography, biking infrastructure such as car free streets, protected bike lanes, lockers, racks, etc.

I wouldn't focus on the rankings necessarily but the overall grouping. What are the top biking cities and what are the lowest ones. I think they make sense.

[iheartthed]

Detroit is putting in a ton of bike lanes. I don't think it can be a great biking city without them. Detroit is also building a sprawling bike route via old rail right-of-ways that will be accessible over a wide area of the city.

I'm not quite sold on SF being a great biking city due to the topography.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I'm not quite sold on SF being a great biking city due to the topography.

That's probably why it didn't score that high in bikeability score. Topography can be an issue, although e-bikes are largely eliminating that problem. And SF does well in terms of biking infrastructure so it makes up for the topography in that regard as well.

[Crawford]

Detroit proper is really flat, and has huge arterials that can easily accommodate high capacity bikeways. Whether it's bike-friendly is another question, but there's definitely potential.

And, yeah, I don't see how SF can ever be a fantastic biking city given the topography. For short, selected routes, sure.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Detroit is putting in a ton of bike lanes. I don't think it can be a great biking city without them.

I have biked in Detroit, 10+ years ago when there were no bike lanes. It's an amazingly easy place to ride a bike. It's pan-flat just like Chicago but it doesn't have traffic. When there isn't traffic, there aren't parked cars either, so you can usually bike in the parking lane.

[Crawford]

For Detroit, I'd be more worried about stray dogs and the like. Traffic is light. There's a higher-than-average potential for unfortunate interactions, though, whether human or canine.

[homebucket]

Sure, flat, wide open, empty streets are physically easier to bike on, but I don't think that's what people envision when they think of bike friendly urban environments. Apples to apples, it's much safer to ride in a busy street with protected bike lanes than one without, where you are sharing lanes and parking spaces with cars.

[edale]

San Francisco has great biking infrastructure. I took a long ride through the city in November using an e-bike, and it was fantastic. The hills would have provided a challenge without the e-bike assistance, though.

I also biked through much of New Orleans a few years ago. It was a very pleasant experience, except the streets are in piss poor shape in much of the city, so it was a very bumpy ride.

I'm too scared to bike on the city streets in LA. I like to ride along the LA River path every so often, but the traffic is too intense and the streets are too wide for me to feel comfortable riding on them other than within the residential sections of the neighborhood. Plus, my last bike in LA got stolen. Took that as a sign to give it up here except for the occasional rental or city bike ride.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by edale

San Francisco has great biking infrastructure. I took a long ridge through the city in November using an e-bike, and it was fantastic. The hills would have provided a challenge without the e-bike assistance, though.

The hills are definitely a challenge and I can see why it could be daunting to those who don't live here, but there's plenty of workarounds like you mentioned. Take an alternate hill with a less steep grade, invest in an e-bike, walk your bike if you must. And last but not least, climb the hill like a champ. The more you ride, the more swole you get.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by homebucket

That's probably why it didn't score that high in bikeability score. Topography can be an issue, although e-bikes are largely eliminating that problem. And SF does well in terms of biking infrastructure so it makes up for the topography in that regard as well.

There can hardly be any doubt that SF is #1 in entitlement attitude on the part of bikers. The SF Bike Coalition absolutely assumes all pavement is meant for them and in spite of the fact that orders of magnitude more people get around the city in cars, trucks and busses than on bikes, they have the right to take over (and ignore any and all traffic laws while doing so).

Even sidewalks, where the law says they can't ride, are theirs and pedestrians just need to get out of the way (as one recently told a friend of mine after nearly knocking him down).

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

There can hardly be any doubt that SF is #1 in entitlement attitude on the part of bikers. The SF Bike Coalition absolutely assumes all pavement is meant for them and in spite of the fact that orders of magnitude more people get around the city in cars, trucks and busses than on bikes, they have the right to take over (and ignore any and all traffic laws while doing so).

Even sidewalks, where the law says they can't ride, are theirs and pedestrians just need to get out of the way (as one recently told a friend of mine after nearly knocking him down).

There's definitely a lot of bikers that weave in and out in traffic lanes, I cannot deny that. And I only ride on sidewalks when I'm about to stop somewhere or park it and it's not too crowded.

[Steely Dan]

Bikes Rule!!!

Drivers drool.



#stupidfuckingcagers

[pdxtex]

I'm surprised Sacramento didn't make this list. Their trail network looks really good. Portland is an awesome city to ride in, this is true. Concerning Dallas, I've never ridden there but the trail looks ok. Its definitely not the worst. OkC seems extremely bikeable too in concept. Its not much different than Portland. It has tons of gridded low traffic neighborhoods connected to downtown and a long connector path along the river.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

I'm surprised Sacramento didn't make this list.

Sacramento was ranked #5 in this study.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by homebucket

The hills are definitely a challenge and I can see why it could be daunting to those who don't live here, but there's plenty of workarounds like you mentioned. Take an alternate hill with a less steep grade, invest in an e-bike, walk your bike if you must. And last but not least, climb the hill like a champ. The more you ride, the more swole you get.

I'm sure e-bikes have taken off in San Francisco in the last few years. Since the pandemic started, there has been a proliferation of e-bikes here, and I live in a city that (a) has a lot of snow; (b) doesn't have a lot of hills; (c) has a pretty good transit system; (d) had (until very recently) a pretty lousy network of bike lanes.

I think a lot of e-bike adopters are people who don't want to take transit anymore or people who can't afford to buy and operate a car ever since supply chain inflation and gas price spikes took hold.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

I'm sure e-bikes have taken off in San Francisco in the last few years. Since the pandemic started, there has been a proliferation of e-bikes here, and I live in a city that (a) has a lot of snow; (b) doesn't have a lot of hills; (c) has a pretty good transit system; (d) had (until very recently) a pretty lousy network of bike lanes.

I think a lot of e-bike adopters are people who don't want to take transit anymore or people who can't afford to buy and operate a car ever since supply chain inflation and gas price spikes took hold.

Yeah, e-bikes are extremely popular in SF, I think largely because of the hills. I don't have one myself because I ride recreationally and for exercise, so e-bikes sorta defeat the purpose of that (and they're heavy AF), although I have seen a lot of e-MTBs for sale as well. But yeah, certainly you can make a strong use case for e-bikes in general, especially for commuting.

Another thing with SF is the wind, especially if you're near the water. On blustery days biking against a headwind, that can be as difficult or more difficult than riding up a hill.

[pdxtex]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Sacramento was ranked #5 in this study.

Might be time for glasses!