The Best Biking Cities in the U.S.

Editor's Note: This story originally appeared on LawnStarter.

Where can you best get around on two wheels instead of four?

LawnStarter has ranked 2023’s Best Biking Cities in the U.S.

We compared the 200 biggest U.S. cities based on 27 key indicators of a cyclist-friendly lifestyle, such as access to bike trails and bike rentals, the share of bike commuters, the presence of cycling clubs, and the number of bike races and tours.

Cycle through the most bike-friendly cities in our ranking below. To learn how we ranked the cities, see our methodology at the end.

1. San Francisco, CA

• Overall Score: 67.21
• Access Rank: 1
• Ride Quality Rank: 1
• Safety Rank: 27
• Climate Rank: 8
• Community Rank: 9
• Events Rank: 12

2. New York, NY

• Overall Score: 62.69
• Access Rank: 2
• Ride Quality Rank: 3
• Safety Rank: 13
• Climate Rank: 108
• Community Rank: 1
• Events Rank: 80

3. Portland, OR

• Overall Score: 61.60
• Access Rank: 3
• Ride Quality Rank: 2
• Safety Rank: 30
• Climate Rank: 31
• Community Rank: 5
• Events Rank: 31

4. Seattle, WA

• Overall Score: 59.05
• Access Rank: 6
• Ride Quality Rank: 4
• Safety Rank: 24
• Climate Rank: 40
• Community Rank: 4
• Events Rank: 75

5. Washington, D.C.

• Overall Score: 56.42
• Access Rank: 7
• Ride Quality Rank: 16
• Safety Rank: 22
• Climate Rank: 76
• Community Rank: 3
• Events Rank: 36

6. Denver, CO

• Overall Score: 54.84
• Access Rank: 10
• Ride Quality Rank: 18
• Safety Rank: 9
• Climate Rank: 187
• Community Rank: 8
• Events Rank: 42

7. Boston, MA

• Overall Score: 52.43
• Access Rank: 24
• Ride Quality Rank: 13
• Safety Rank: 3
• Climate Rank: 84
• Community Rank: 16
• Events Rank: 68

8. Chicago, IL

• Overall Score: 52.26
• Access Rank: 11
• Ride Quality Rank: 21
• Safety Rank: 19
• Climate Rank: 181
• Community Rank: 10
• Events Rank: 57

9. San Diego, CA

• Overall Score: 51.83
• Access Rank: 16
• Ride Quality Rank: 74
• Safety Rank: 6
• Climate Rank: 4
• Community Rank: 19
• Events Rank: 37

10. Minneapolis, MN

• Overall Score: 51.00
• Access Rank: 90
• Ride Quality Rank: 9
• Safety Rank: 5
• Climate Rank: 166
• Community Rank: 12
• Events Rank: 9

11. Madison, WI

• Overall Score: 50.84
• Access Rank: 39
• Ride Quality Rank: 29
• Safety Rank: 25
• Climate Rank: 164
• Community Rank: 7
• Events Rank: 28

12. San Jose, CA

• Overall Score: 50.31
• Access Rank: 44
• Ride Quality Rank: 27
• Safety Rank: 14
• Climate Rank: 8
• Community Rank: 33
• Events Rank: 86

13. Los Angeles, CA

• Overall Score: 49.97
• Access Rank: 40
• Ride Quality Rank: 50
• Safety Rank: 7
• Climate Rank: 33
• Community Rank: 17
• Events Rank: 77

14. Sacramento, CA

• Overall Score: 49.65
• Access Rank: 19
• Ride Quality Rank: 41
• Safety Rank: 8
• Climate Rank: 37
• Community Rank: 26
• Events Rank: 87

15. Eugene, OR

• Overall Score: 48.92
• Access Rank: 38
• Ride Quality Rank: 17
• Safety Rank: 21
• Climate Rank: 67
• Community Rank: 21
• Events Rank: 68

Methodology

First, we determined the factors (metrics) that are most relevant to rank the Best Biking Cities in the U.S.:

• Number of Bike Trails
• Bike-Sharing Program Present
• Bike-Rental Facilities per Square Mile
• Bicycling Supply Shops per Square Mile
• Bike Repair and Maintenance Shops per Square Mile
• Bike Score
• Number of Top-Rated Bike Trails
• Average Consumer Rating for Bike Trails
• Average Number of Reviews per Bike Trail
• Share of “Moderately Difficult” and “Hard” Biking Trails
• Friendliness of State Bicycling Laws
• Cycling-Related Fatalities per 100,000 Residents
• Vision Zero Program Present
• Bike Thefts per 100,000 Residents
• Natural Hazards Index
• Historical Number of Extremely Cold Days
• Historical Number of Extremely Hot Days
• Historical Average Monthly Inches of Precipitation
• Historical Average Percentage of Sunshine
• Median Air Quality Index
• Share of Bike Commuters
• Number of Bicycling Clubs
• Number of Bicycling Meetups
• Number of Bike-Friendly Businesses
• Total Points for Bicycle Friendly America Awards
• Number of Cycling Races and Events
• Number of Bike Tours per 100,000 Residents

We then assigned a weight to each factor based on its importance and grouped those factors into six categories: Access, Ride Quality, Safety, Climate, Community, and Events.

For each of the 200 biggest U.S. cities, we then gathered data on each factor.

Finally, we calculated scores (out of 100 points) for each city to determine its rank in each factor, each category, and overall. A city’s Overall Score is the average of its scores across all factors and categories. The highest Overall Score ranked “Best” (No. 1).