In celebration of a Bike to Work Week and National Bike Month, we’ve updated our ranking of Most Bikeable Large U.S. Cities.
Portland narrowly edges out hilly San Francisco for the top spot, with Denver (home of the legendary B-cycle bike share) coming in a close third.
Top 10 Most Bikeable Large U.S. Cities
1. Portland (Bike Score: 70.3)
2. San Francisco (Bike Score: 70.0)
3. Denver (Bike Score: 69.5)
4. Philadelphia (Bike Score: 68.4)
5. Boston (Bike Score: 67.8)
6. Washington D.C. (Bike Score: 65.3)
7. Seattle (Bike Score: 60.4*)
8. Tucson (Bike Score: 64.1)
9. New York (Bike Score: 62.3)
10. Chicago (Bike Score: 61.5)
Note: to keep our rankings apples-to-apples the list above only includes cities with 500,000 or more residents.
Smaller cities like Cambridge, MA crushed it with a Bike Score of 92 and Davis, Boulder, and Berkeley all scored in the high 80s. Minneapolis also deserves an honorable mention with a Bike Score of 79.
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Bike Score is now available for over 100 U.S. cities.
Type your address into the “Get a Walk Score” field at the top of this page to get your Bike Score.
Across the U.S. bicycle commuting grew 47% between 2000 and 2011. However, in cities that are making investments in bicycle infrastructure and education (which includes all of the Top 10 Bike Score cities listed above), bicycle commuting has grown 80% over the same period. This trend is leading a growing number of multi-family developers to build bike-friendly housing with secure storage spaces for bicycles and even putting repair shops in the buildings. As the current leading city for bikers, Portland real estate is also quite affordable when compared to the second best: San Francisco.
Find a Bikeable Place to Live
With Walk Score’s unique apartment search by commute time you can find places to live within an easy bike commute to work. If you’re a biker looking to buy a home try Redfin’s real estate search.
If you’re still not biking, ask yourself if you’d like to be healthier, save money, and save the world.
More Details
- Bike Score is compiled from a data set that includes bike infrastructure, hilly terrain, number of bikers on streets and more.
- Want to add Bike Score to your site? Request a Bike Score API for your site.
- Contact us to learn how you can use Bike Score data in your research and analysis.
*Updated April 28, 2015: We retroactively corrected Seattle’s 2013 Bike Score from 64.1 to 60.4. This new score reflects a reduced weight given to sharrows when calculating the city’s bikeability, in line with the methodology used for other scores in this ranking. While sharrows help to make space for bicyclists on streets shared with cars, they are less safe than heavier-weighted infrastructure like designated bike lanes and residential bike paths.
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