Skip to Content
Streetsblog California home
Streetsblog California home
Log In
Bicycling

A New Way to Rank America’s Best Cities for Bicycling

PeopleforBikes Top 10 biking cities contain some surprises. Map: PeopleforBikes

A new ranking of America's top cities for bicycling, courtesy of the bike industry-funded advocacy organization PeopleForBikes, has a slightly different take on the usual suspects.

Fort Collins, Colorado, gets the top spot in the new ranking, while Portland scored the highest among large cities. No surprises there.

But Tucson and San Diego landed in the top five among large cities, ranking ahead of Minneapolis, Seattle, and San Francisco, which is a bit of a curveball.

And PeopleForBikes stresses that even America's best bicycling cities leave a lot to be desired. Nowhere ranked higher than a three on the organization's five-point scale.

People for Bikes new ranking of top biking cities gives Fort Collins, Colorado, the top honors.
false

The new PeopleForBikes rating system attempts to ground the results in hard metrics. It's based on several spatial and quantitative factors, including the availability of high-quality bike infrastructure, traffic injury rates, and how much people bike.

Because the ratings also take recent public investments in cycling into account, PeopleForBikes expects them to be volatile.

"It rewards cities not just for what they did 20 years ago, but also what they’re doing right now," Michael Andersen writes at the PeopleForBikes' blog. "As a result, these ratings will change. Cities will move both up and down."

top-5-by-city-size
false

The ranking formula also assesses cycling levels by looking at how much people bike within concentric zones emanating from the city center. That helps to control for city size, meaning cities with a large geographic area like Austin won't be inherently disadvantaged versus cities with tighter boundaries.

While the rankings only include American cities, they're also intended to hold the U.S. up against the world's best places for biking. No city received more than three stars out of a potential five-star rating.

"As much as it might hurt not to have any superstars, that’s honest," PeopleForBikes President Tim Blumenthal told Andersen.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog California

Friday’s Headlines

Streetsblog Cal. is on a light publishing schedule today and Monday.

April 18, 2025

Thursday’s Headlines

The end of "car free Market Street," LA's Vision Zero Flop, More Freeway Miles, Less Oil and Teslas and more...

April 17, 2025

The Armchair Urbanist Goes After BART to San Jose Extension

Even from 3,000 miles away, it's easy to see why the BART extension—as designed—is stupid.

April 16, 2025

Caltrans Posts Draft Master Plan for PCH in Malibu

Activists agree this plan is a huge improvement over current conditions, but there are some areas where it could be even better.

April 16, 2025

SB 720 and What You Need to Know about Red Light Cameras

According to data from UC Berkeley’s Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS), in 2023 alone, there were 167 fatalities and nearly 1000 people suffered serious injuries due to red light running and traffic light violations.

April 16, 2025
See all posts