A New Measure of Bikeability and What It Reveals About America's Cities

PeopleForBikes' most accurate City Ratings ever find 555 U.S. communities invested in bike networks that work for everyday riders.

BOULDER, Colo., June 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Across the United States, the gap between wanting to ride a bike and being able to do so safely comes down to one thing: whether a city has built the infrastructure to make it possible. New data from the national bicycle advocacy nonprofit PeopleForBikes offers the clearest picture yet of what cities are making the right investments in safe, fun, connected places to ride.

The 2026 City Ratings, released today, evaluated 3,019 U.S. communities on how well their bike networks connect people to everyday destinations: jobs, schools, healthcare, recreation, and shopping. This year's ratings are built on a fundamentally updated methodology, incorporating updated census data, revised safety standards from the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), and more accurate infrastructure classifications. The result is the most precise measure of bikeability the program has ever produced.

Under the new standard, 555 communities score 50 or higher, the threshold at which PeopleForBikes considers a city's bike network connected enough to support easy, accessible, everyday riding.

"Communities of all sizes can make meaningful progress when they prioritize connected networks that work for everyone," said Jenn Dice, president and CEO of PeopleForBikes. "These results show that biking is becoming a practical transportation option, a valuable recreational activity, and an integral part of daily life in more places across the country."

This year's top-scoring large cities include Brooklyn (70), Minneapolis (68), Seattle (66), Queens (63), and San Francisco (61). Among medium cities, Hoboken leads at 83, followed by Rochester Hills, Michigan (80) and Anchorage (72). Three small cities — Mackinac Island, Michigan; Crested Butte, Colorado; and Old Orchard, Pennsylvania — each scored a perfect 100.

"City Ratings is more than a ranking. It's a roadmap," said Dice. "By helping communities understand where they are today and where opportunities exist to improve, we're giving local leaders a powerful tool to build safer, more connected places to ride."

View the complete 2026 City Ratings and see how your community scores at cityratings.peopleforbikes.org.

About PeopleForBikes
PeopleForBikes is a national bicycle advocacy nonprofit and the U.S. bicycle industry's trade association representing more than 340 bicycle industry supplier members and nearly 1.4 million individual supporters. Through our three areas of influence — infrastructure, policy, and participation — we accelerate the construction of safe, fun, and connected places to bike, advance pro-bike and pro-bike-business legislation; and reduce barriers to welcome more people to the joys of riding a bike. Our goal: become the best place in the world to ride a bike. Join us at peopleforbikes.org and donate to support our work.

CONTACT: Mackenzie Lynch, [email protected]

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/a-new-measure-of-bikeability-and-what-it-reveals-about-americas-cities-302802771.html

SOURCE PeopleForBikes