Which are the best cities for bicycling?
Bicycling Magazine tries to answer this question every couple of years. Their 2001 rankings are split into three different size categories; with the smallest city population included being 200,000 people. This obviously excludes many smaller cities with high-quality bicycling environments like Davis, CA, Gainesville, FL, Chico, CA, Santa Barbara, CA, and Corvallis, OR.
Another source for bicycle-friendly cities is the League of American Bicyclists. They formally recognize "Bicycle Friendly Communities" and assign Bronze to Platinum ratings based on the "Five Es": Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, and Evaluation. Currently Davis, CA, is the only community rated as platinum, and only the following seven communities are rated as gold:
- Tucson, AZ
- Palo Alto, CA
- San Francisco, CA
- Boulder, CO
- Corvallis, OR
- Portland, OR
- Madison, WI
Another indication of bike-friendliness is the number of people riding. US Census Bureau keeps track of how people get to work. Unfortunately, bicycle, motorcycle, or taxicab, are all included in the same category, and data for many smaller and medium-sized urban areas is not available. Despite those caveats, the 25 urban areas in the US with the highest percentage of journeys to work in this category reported in the 2005 American Community Survey are listed below.
| Rank | Urban Area | Total Commuters | Commuters Using Bicycles, Etc. | Percent of Bicycle, Etc. Commuters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boulder, CO | 55,421 | 4,068 | 7.3 |
| 2 | Eugene, OR | 106,191 | 7,441 | 7.0 |
| 3 | Santa Cruz, CA | 77,054 | 4,245 | 5.5 |
| 4 | Santa Barbara, CA | 92,102 | 4,878 | 5.3 |
| 5 | Iowa City, IA | 48,094 | 2,363 | 4.9 |
| 6 | Champaign, IL | 58,105 | 2,758 | 4.7 |
| 7 | Fort Collins, CO | 114,875 | 4,687 | 4.1 |
| 8 | Madison, WI | 182,716 | 6,843 | 3.7 |
| 9 | Poughkeepsie--Newburgh, NY | 156,983 | 5,680 | 3.6 |
| 10 | San Juan, PR | 727,962 | 24,481 | 3.4 |
| 11 | Anchorage, AK | 108,147 | 3,334 | 3.1 |
| 12 | Medford, OR | 63,890 | 1,895 | 3.0 |
| 13 | El Paso, TX--NM | 248,980 | 7,291 | 2.9 |
| 14 | Burlington, VT | 54,066 | 1,569 | 2.9 |
| 15 | Boise City, ID | 148,050 | 4,157 | 2.8 |
| 16 | Antioch, CA | 103,337 | 2,878 | 2.8 |
| 17 | Atlantic City, NJ | 105,573 | 2,796 | 2.6 |
| 18 | Tucson, AZ | 344,487 | 9,115 | 2.6 |
| 19 | Honolulu, HI | 339,161 | 8,951 | 2.6 |
| 20 | Bremerton, WA | 80,916 | 2,091 | 2.6 |
| 21 | San Francisco--Oakland, CA | 1,479,428 | 37,903 | 2.6 |
| 22 | Hagerstown, MD--WV--PA | 59,316 | 1,499 | 2.5 |
| 23 | South Bend, IN--MI | 119,258 | 2,976 | 2.5 |
| 24 | Tampa--St. Petersburg, FL | 986,846 | 24,528 | 2.5 |
| 25 | Bonita Springs--Naples, FL | 107,947 | 2,676 | 2.5 |
There are also tools available to help you rate the bicycle-friendliness of your community. The Bikability Checklist provides an easy-to-use form to fill out as take a ride around your neighborhood.
