If you're considering biking to work, there's a list of benefits to trading in your car keys for a set of pedals, including a reduced carbon footprint, daily exercise and saved money on gas. Where you live in the U.S, however, may greatly impact how efficient it would be.
That's according to real estate brokerage Redfin, which determined the top 10 most "bikeable" U.S. cities for 2020. The ranking is based on data from Bike Score, a tool operated by a Redfin-owned company. It considered factors like access to bike lanes and hilliness for cities with populations over 300,000.
Cities where daily errands can be accomplished on a bike scored 90 points and above, cities where biking is convenient for most trips scored between 70 to 89 points and cities that have some bike infrastructure scored between 50 to 69 points.
Here are the top 10 cities for biking:
10. Long Beach, California
- Bike score: 69
- Change in bike score from 2018: +8
- Previous rank: 16
9. Washington, D.C.
- Bike score: 69
- Change in bike score from 2018: +2
- Previous rank: 9
8. New York, New York
- Bike score: 70
- Change in bike score from 2018: +2
- Previous rank: 8
7. Seattle, Washington
- Bike score: 70
- Change in bike score from 2018: +0
- Previous rank: 6
6. Boston, Massachusetts
- Bike score: 70
- Change in bike score from 2018: +1
- Previous rank: 7
5. San Francisco, California
- Bike score: 72
- Change in bike score from 2018: +1
- Previous rank: 5
4. Denver, Colorado
- Bike score: 73
- Change in bike score from 2018: +2
- Previous rank: 4
3. Chicago, Illinois
- Bike score: 73
- Change in bike score from 2018: +1
- Previous rank: 3
2. Portland, Oregon
- Bike score: 82
- Change in bike score from 2018: +1
- Previous rank: 2
1. Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Bike score: 84
- Change in bike score from 2018: +2
- Previous rank: 1
Although over 830,000 people in the U.S. decide to pedal their way into the office versus other means of transportation, like driving or public transit, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, no city scored above 90 points. Among those who ride their bike to work include Clif Bar & Company CEO Kevin Cleary and former Booking.com CEO Gillian Tans.
As for the top two most bike-friendly cities for 2020, Minneapolis and Portland, local governments are committed to creating new bike infrastructure for environmental, health, affordability and safety reasons, according to Redfin.
"Fair-weather bikers like myself are out in full force during the summer months in Minneapolis, but you still see bike commuters with ski goggles year round," local Redfin agent James Garry said.
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