The US cities where people walk and bike to work
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About 2.4 percent of American workers walk to work and 0.4 percent bike to work. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, 19.2 percent walk. In Davis, California, 11.2 percent bike, which is 28 times the national rate.
| Walk to work | Share | Bike to work | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cambridge, MA | 19.2% | Davis, CA | 11.2% |
| Brookline, MA | 14.9% | Boulder, CO | 8.0% |
| New Brunswick, NJ | 14.7% | Palo Alto, CA | 7.9% |
| Iowa City, IA | 14.6% | Cambridge, MA | 7.8% |
| Columbia, SC | 14.3% | Somerville, MA | 5.4% |
| New Haven, CT | 13.8% | Corvallis, OR | 5.3% |
| Berkeley, CA | 13.6% | Santa Cruz, CA | 5.2% |
| Jacksonville, NC | 13.6% | Berkeley, CA | 4.4% |
Almost every city on both walking and biking lists is a college town
Cambridge has Harvard and MIT. Iowa City has the University of Iowa, New Haven has Yale, Berkeley and Davis have University of California campuses, Columbia has the University of South Carolina, Corvallis has Oregon State, and New Brunswick has Rutgers. Boulder has the University of Colorado and Palo Alto has Stanford.
Students who live near campus and work on it produce short commutes, and the census counts them as workers if they hold a job. Faculty and staff housing near campus adds to the effect. The pattern is strong enough that walking and biking rates work as a rough proxy for the presence of a large university.
Jacksonville, North Carolina is the exception. It is a Marine Corps town next to Camp Lejeune, where service members live on base and walk to work there. It also appears among the most male cities in the country, covered in the cities with the most men and women.
Davis built for it
Davis is a city of 66,978 people with more than 60 miles of bike paths, and it adopted a bicycle circulation plan in the 1960s that separated bike routes from car traffic. Its 11.2 percent is more than double the rate of any city besides Boulder and Palo Alto. The city's flat terrain and mild climate help, but so do Palo Alto's, and Palo Alto reaches 7.9 percent with a fraction of the dedicated infrastructure.
The Boston area appears three times across the two lists. Cambridge, Brookline, and Somerville are all dense, pre-automobile municipalities where a car is often slower than walking. Cambridge is the only city in the country in the top four for both walking and biking, and it also runs 18.0 percent transit, covered in where people take transit to work.
Nationally these two modes have moved in opposite directions. Working from home reduced walking commutes, since many of the office workers who walked now do not commute at all. Biking held closer to flat. Both remain small: combined, walking and biking account for under 3 percent of American commutes, against 68.9 percent who drive alone.
Sources
Figures are from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, table B08301 (means of transportation to work), which records the mode used for most of the distance on the most days in the survey week. Cities shown have at least 50,000 residents. National figures are population-weighted averages across states. Davis bicycle infrastructure figures are from the City of Davis.
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Which US city has the most people walking to work?
Cambridge, Massachusetts, where 19.2 percent of workers walk, among cities with at least 50,000 residents. Brookline, Massachusetts follows at 14.9 percent, then New Brunswick, New Jersey at 14.7 percent and Iowa City at 14.6 percent. The national figure is about 2.4 percent.
Which US city bikes to work the most?
Davis, California, where 11.2 percent of workers commute by bicycle, roughly 28 times the national rate of 0.4 percent. Davis has more than 60 miles of bike paths and adopted a bicycle circulation plan in the 1960s. Boulder, Colorado is second at 8.0 percent and Palo Alto, California third at 7.9 percent.
Why are college towns at the top of both lists?
Students who live near campus and hold jobs there have very short commutes, and the census counts them as workers. Faculty and staff housing nearby adds to the effect. Cambridge, Iowa City, New Haven, Berkeley, Davis, Columbia, Corvallis, New Brunswick, Boulder, and Palo Alto all host major universities.
