Dive Brief:
- Brooklyn, New York, Minneapolis and Seattle are the three best large cities in the U.S. for bike riders, according to PeopleForBikes’ 2026 city ratings.
- Other top cities with populations over 300,000 include San Francisco; Milwaukee; St. Paul, Minnesota; Portland, Oregon; Detroit and Philadelphia. All five New York City boroughs ranked in the top 15.
- The report from the national nonprofit covered 3,019 U.S. communities and incorporated a study of 403 international cities released this month. The scores measure how well bike riders can connect to jobs, schools, healthcare, shopping, recreation and other destinations.
Dive Insight:
“Our goal isn't just to recognize great places to ride, it's to help every community become one,” PeopleForBikes President and CEO Jenn Dice said in a statement.
Among the cities making the greatest progress over the past six years were Austin, Texas; Denver; New Orleans; Pittsburgh and Providence, Rhode Island. Each was part of a project PeopleForBikes launched in 2018. Collectively, they have built 300 new miles of bikeways.
These cities were part of a two-year partnership among PeopleForBikes and Wend Collective, a philanthropic investment firm that has since closed. The project aimed to help accelerate the construction of safe, connected bike networks, according to PeopleForBikes.
Austin used funding from a local transportation bond measure to build 100 miles of new bikeways during the two-year program. Denver also constructed 100 miles of new bikeways. Pittsburgh completed 50 new miles, and Providence built 43.
New Orleans built 27 miles of new bikeways, largely in a historically underserved neighborhood, but the city council ordered the removal of two segments of protected bike lanes in the community in 2022.
PeopleForBikes also highlighted West Hollywood, California, a city in Los Angeles County. Last year, the city council unanimously voted to build only protected bike lanes on future street projects where feasible, according to PeopleForBikes. The city has designed its network to connect to bike lanes in adjacent Beverly Hills and surrounding Los Angeles neighborhoods.
