In 2026, PeopleForBikes City Ratings evaluated 3,019 cities across the U.S. alongside 403 cities from 38 countries around the world on how well their bike networks connect people to where they need to go.

Comparing the Best Cities for Bicycling

City Ratings not only allows us to celebrate the best cities for bicycling, but also helps communities measure progress on improving bicycling locally and compare that progress to thousands of other cities both in the U.S. and abroad.

Our City Ratings comparison tool allows you to see how your city and thousands of others across the U.S. compare to their counterparts in Europe. While small U.S. cities tend to score better than those in Europe, the investments being made for better biking in large European cities offer many lessons for metropolitan areas here in the U.S.

SEE HOW YOUR CITY COMPARES

Small Cities: Berkley, Michigan (93) vs. Bicester, England (68)

Berkley and Bicester are both small towns in the orbit of larger cities: Berkley is a Detroit suburb, and Bicester sits just outside of Oxford. Each city does a good job safely connecting residents to everyday destinations, but Berkley’s 91+ Bicycle Network Analysis (BNA) scores for access to people, core services, retail, jobs, and recreation land the midwest city 25 points ahead of Bicester in this matchup. This pattern holds steady across the small-city category, where U.S. towns consistently outscore their international counterparts.

Medium Cities: Hoboken, New Jersey (83) vs. Rijswijk, Netherlands (85)

Hoboken and Rijswijk are each home to about 60,000 people, and both sit right next to a major city: New York City for Hoboken and The Hague for Rijswijk. Hoboken packs its residents into roughly 1 square mile, making it one of the densest cities in the country, and that compact layout works in its favor. Just two points separate the two cities, a sign that U.S. cities can compete with Dutch cities when the street grid and the network line up.

Large Cities: Minneapolis, Minnesota (68) vs. Utrecht, Netherlands (88)

Minneapolis and Utrecht have both made biking central to their city identity. Minneapolis is known for its off-street trail network anchored by the Midtown Greenway, and Utrecht is home to the world’s largest bike parking garage. But the 20-point gap shows how far large U.S. cities still have to go to be on par with the best biking cities in Europe. Utrecht’s low-stress network reaches nearly every corner of the city, while Minneapolis still has gaps, most notably with a high concentration of high-stress streets in the city’s downtown core.

What Your City Can Learn

The best bike networks safely and conveniently connect people to everyday destinations without forcing them onto high-stress streets. Whether your city looks more like Berkley or Minneapolis, the next step is the same. Find your network gaps, push local leaders to invest in addressing those gaps, and use City Ratings to track progress.

SEE HOW YOUR CITY COMPARES