PeopleForBikes, the U.S. bicycling industry’s trade association and a national advocacy nonprofit, announced the results of its annual City Ratings, a comprehensive ranking of cities based on the quality of their bike networks.
Nearly 1,500 U.S. cities were rated for 2023, the most in program history, up from 1,106 in 2022 and 510 in 2019. Additionally, 249 international locations were rated across Canada, Europe and the United Kingdom.
For 2023, the top-scoring small, medium, and large U.S. cities for bicycling are: Provincetown, Mass.; Davis, Calif.; and Minneapolis.
PeopleForBikes’ City Ratings is an annual, data-driven program to identify, evaluate, and compare the best cities and towns for bicycling. Each city receives a “City Ratings” score on a scale of 0-100.
A low score (0-20) indicates a weak bike network, meaning the city lacks safe bikeways or there are gaps in the network. A high score (80-100) indicates that most common destinations are accessible by safe, comfortable bike routes that serve people of all ages and abilities.
For larger cities, a score of 50 is the tipping point to becoming a great place to bike.
Based on data from PeopleForBikes’ Bicycle Network Analysis (BNA), high-scoring cities often perform well across six factors captured in the acronym SPRINT: safe speeds, protected bike lanes, reallocated space for biking and walking, intersection treatments, network connections, and trusted data.
New to the City Ratings website for 2023, a city comparison tool allows users to compare scores between two cities as well as compare a city’s score over time. Also included are featured comparisons of top-scoring small, medium, and large U.S. cities as well as international cities, highlighting the similarities and differences in what makes a place great for bicycling.
More than just data, PeopleForBikes uses its City Ratings program to benchmark cities’ progress on improving the quality and connectivity of their bike networks as well as establish best practices for city leaders, decisionmakers, and advocates to identify improvements to be made in their communities.
2023’s Best U.S. Cities for Bicycling
Small Cities (<50,000 population)
- Provincetown, Ma: 88
- Crested Butte, Col: 87
- Blue Diamond, Nev.: 85
- Murdock, N: 84
- Ashland, Wisc.: 80
- Jackson, Wyo.: 79
- Aspen, Colo.: 75
- Shorewood, Wisc.: 74
- Ashland, Oregon: 70
- Mifflinburg, Pa. 69
Medium Cities (50,000-300,000 population) 1. Davis, Calif.: 77
- Ankeny, Iowa: 74
- Berkeley, Calif.: 72 4. Boulder, Colo.: 68
- Corvallis, Oregon: 63
- Hoboken, N.J.: 62
- Plainfield, N.J.: 61
- Ames, Iowa: 60
- La Crosse, Wisc.: 59
- Longmont, Colo.: 59
Large Cities (>300,000 population) 1. 1. Minneapolis,: 68
- San Francisco, California: 63
- Seattle 62
- Philadelphia: 57
- Portland, Oregon: 56
- New York City: 55
- St. Paul, Minn.: 51
- Washington, D.C.: 45
- Milwaukee, Wisc.: 45
- Detroit: 42
For information about PeopleForBikes’ City Ratings, or the organization in general, visit PeopleForBikes.org
