Rating the best bicycle cities and towns in America and beyond

Provincetown, Massachusetts is the most bikeable city in the United States, according to the latest city ratings by People For Bikes, while for large cities, Montreal, Canada took the top spot.

This marks the sixth consecutive year that People For Bikes, in conjunction with Trek Bicycle, published its findings that are based on a year of research and compiled into a comprehensive guide to 1,058 cities.

In 2022, the top three bikeable cities in the country are Provincetown; Davis, California; and Fayette, Missouri.

“The Bicycle Network Analysis (BNA) tool provides the basis for each city’s score, demonstrating how easy it is for residents to get to key services like grocery stores, employment, healthcare and more,” said Rebecca Davies, City Ratings program director. “Not only does the BNA highlight if riders can get to these places, it shows how safe it is to do so by ranking streets as high or low stress based on factors like the quality of bike infrastructure and street speed limits. When combined with our Community Survey, we are not only able to see what the maps of these cities tell us, but also what the people actually riding in these cities think about biking where they live, work and play.”

PeopleForBikes’ City Ratings program highlights communities that embrace the bicycle as a tool for mobility, economic growth and recreation, while also suggesting that the vast majority of American cities and towns have yet to implement relatively simple changes that make communities more bikeable.

These results are the culmination of extensive research and data collection, including factors such as cities’ speed limits, existing infrastructure and overall safety, as well as community input on what people think about biking in their city. Cities are scored and ranked using a combination of PeopleForBikes’ Bicycle Network Analysis and Community Survey, resulting in an overall score of 1-100.

“Our goal is to work with the bike industry, advocacy partners and elected leaders to make America the best place in the world to ride a bike,” said Jenn Dice, president and CEO of PeopleForBikes. “One of our main strategies to achieve this vision is prioritizing the construction of safe, connected bike infrastructure. By evaluating and comparing cities’ bike networks across the U.S., our City Ratings program helps benchmark progress and share lessons for success.”

The ratings don’t just highlight the best of the best as 95 per cent of the areas on the list scored fewer than 50 points out of a possible 100. Yes, they failed. People For Bikes says this is “a sign that the majority of U.S. cities have ample room for improvement in terms of bicycling infrastructure and safety.”

The bottom three communities are Oak Park, Illinois; Mount Vernon, New York; and Pelham Manor, New York.

People For Bikes explains that its research shows there are several easy ways for a city to improve its score — most notably, and perhaps most easily, is lowering speed limits.

“Respected studies from groups like American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the Lund Institute in Sweden highlight that just a 10% reduction in speed on streets results in 34% fewer fatal crashes,” said Davies. “Not only can cities quickly improve their scores by reducing speeds, they create safer places to ride in the process.”

One of the biggest movers on the list this year is Seattle, Washington, which moved up five points from 54 to 59.

In addition to Montreal, Canada’s impressive 65-point score to lead the large cities categories, Brooklyn and San Francisco also scored more than 60.

In addition to the city ratings, People For Bikes is also offering lessons from some of their success stories on improving bicycling locally such as youth engagement, connecting bike networks and building trails for all skill levels.

In addition to the 1,058 cities ranked in the United States, PeopleForBikes analyzed 47 cities in Canada. European and Australian results will be released later this year.