Access Across America: Biking 2022

Top US cities for biking accessibility experience significant declines on most medium-stress networks

Access Across America: Biking 2022 provides comparisons with first post-pandemic accessibility data from 2021 in ranking the 50 largest US metros for connecting workers with jobs via bicycle. Transportation planners and policymakers can use these findings to better coordinate investments in bicycle facilities with the location of jobs and housing to improve job accessibility.

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This year’s rankings are the second year based on data collected after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The direct and indirect impacts of COVID included altered travel behavior due to stay-at-home orders, economic changes, and especially greatly increased rates of telework. Reports of increased bike travel during this period emphasize the importance of understanding access by bike.

The study incorporates traffic stress and cycling comfort in its evaluation of access to destinations by bicycle. According to the study, low-stress routes are separated bike lanes and paths. Medium-stress routes include all bike infrastructure — including on-street unprotected bike lanes, certain shared lanes, and bicyclists mixing with traffic on some non-arterial streets.

Notable changes were observed in certain cities compared to the previous study: access to jobs by medium- stress bicycle routes increased during the past year in only a quarter of the top 50 metro areas. Access to jobs by medium-stress bicycle routes in #1 ranked Memphis rose by 79% and in #2 ranked Virginia Beach by 30%. However, each of the top ten metro areas for access to jobs by bike on medium-stress networks declined from 2021 by 12% to 42%. Top-ranked New York dropped the most, by 42%, and #6 Seattle dropped by 12%.

For the average-length bike commute, the Twin Cities ranks 12th nationally by low- and medium-stress bike access to jobs. But similar to other top metro areas for access to jobs by bike on medium-stress networks, Minneapolis dropped from 2021 by 35%. On average, Twin Cities workers using medium-stress bicycle facilities can reach approximately 39,070 jobs within 30 minutes by bike.

The overall number of bicycle commuters, though only 0.5% of all commute trips, has increased nearly 22% since 2010.

Top Metro Areas for Greatest Accessibility to Jobs by Bike: Medium-Stress Networks

  1. New York
  2. San Francisco
  3. Los Angeles
  4. Boston
  5. Chicago
  6. Seattle
  7. San Jose
  8. Washington
  9. Denver
  10. Philadelphia

Top Metro Areas for Greatest Accessibility to Jobs by Bike: Low-Stress Networks

  1. New York
  2. San Francisco
  3. Boston
  4. Seattle
  5. Los Angeles
  6. Chicago
  7. Washington
  8. Denver
  9. San Jose
  10. Philadelphia

Top Metro Areas for Greatest One-Year Increase in Job Accessibility by Bike: Medium-Stress Networks

  1. Memphis
  2. Virginia Beach
  3. Houston
  4. Birmingham
  5. Riverside
  6. Providence
  7. Hartford
  8. Dallas
  9. Sacramento
  10. San Antonio

More information

The research is sponsored by the National Accessibility Evaluation Pooled-Fund Study, a multi-year effort led by the Minnesota Department of Transportation and supported by partners including the Federal Highway Administration and additional state DOTs.