Top 10 Most Bikeable U.S. Cities

By Lindsay Machak

In honor of National Bike Month, Walkscore.com in May rolled out a new top 10 list of the most bikeable cities in America.

Portland, Ore., came out on top as the most bike-friendly city, with a score of 70.3 out of 100.

Walk Score calculates a neighborhood’s walkability based on information it pulls from data banks across the nation. About a year ago, the company began calculating bike scores to accompany the walk scores.

While a walk score is available for all areas, bike score numbers have only been crunched for about 125 cities, Walk Score CEO Josh Herst says.

“One of the reasons is because we need to collect bike-lane and bike-infrastructure information from the city governments,” says Herst.

So, unlike a walk score, a bike score includes municipal information that isn’t freely available in databases.

When bike scores first debuted on Walkscore.com, only 10 cities were calculated. The site has since added more than 100 cities over the past year and plans to continue expanding.

The idea to begin including bike scores on the website came as the popularity of using bikes as a form of urban transportation grew, Herst says.

“It’s just sort of a completely natural extension when you think about the way people get around,” he says. “Biking was one of those modes of transportation that sort of naturally fits for us.”