Bicycle commute share, explained
Share of workers who biked to work as their primary commute mode. Source: ACS B08301.
What it measures
The biking share is the percentage of workers 16 and older who bike as their primary means of transportation to work. The numerator includes both pedal-only and e-bike commutes; the Census does not distinguish between the two. The denominator is the same as the other commute-mode metrics.
Why it matters
Bike commuting is small in the aggregate US figure but consequential in specific markets that have invested in protected bike infrastructure. Portland, OR; Minneapolis, MN; Davis, CA; Boulder, CO; Cambridge, MA; and a handful of other bike-friendly cities have bike commute shares above 5%. The metric is one of the cleanest indicators of cycling infrastructure quality at the metro level, protected lanes, off-street paths, and bike-friendly traffic patterns are the precondition for the rate to rise meaningfully.
Top US places by biked to work
Top 25 per geography type from the latest ACS vintage. See the full ranking links for the complete eligible universe.
Top states (2024)
SEE ALL 51 →Top metro areas (2024)
SEE ALL 925 →Top counties (2024)
SEE ALL 3,144 →Top cities (2024)
SEE ALL 6,826 →Top ZIP codes (2024)
SEE ALL 16,889 →How the Census measures it
ACS Table B08301. CensusEasy uses the "bicycle" cell.
How to read the numbers
The US bike commute share is about 0.5%. Among large cities, the leaders (Portland, OR; Minneapolis; Washington DC; San Francisco; Seattle; Berkeley) sit in the 3-6% range. College towns can exceed 10%. A city bike commute share above 2% indicates meaningful protected-infrastructure investment; above 5% indicates one of the strongest bike-commuting markets in the country.
Caveats and limitations
The metric has been roughly flat or modestly declining at the national level since the late 2010s, even as e-bikes have surged in popularity. Some of this reflects pandemic-era shifts away from in-office commuting; some reflects the difficulty of growing bike share without sustained infrastructure investment. The metric also includes only commute trips, not the larger universe of recreational and errand cycling.