We’re making biking better in North Dakota through funding local bike projects, supporting pro-bike policies and legislation at the local and state levels and highlighting great hometown routes on Ride Spot.

Photo courtesy of Experience Fayetteville.

Across the Heartland — the 20 states that make up the middle of America — communities of all sizes are proving that great cities for biking aren’t just on the coasts. From the network of protected bike lanes of Minneapolis to the interconnected greenways across Northwest Arkansas, local leaders and advocates are making dedicated investments in bike infrastructure to give more people safe and easy ways to move around their communities. 

The Heartland includes Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin. Image courtesy of Heartland Forward.

This year’s City Ratings, PeopleForBikes’ annual program ranking the bikeability of nearly 3,000 cities across the globe, highlights the growing momentum toward more connected and mobile communities being built across the Heartland. Cities and towns of all sizes throughout the region are committing to safer streets, investing in protected infrastructure, and offering expanded mobility options for residents and visitors alike.


City Ratings scores are evaluated on a scale of 0-100, with a score of 50 seen as the tipping point to becoming a great city for biking.

Minneapolis (72) is a long-time national leader in building high quality bike infrastructure. Last year, Minneapolis ranked as the top large city for biking in the entire U.S. thanks to their  connected network of protected bike lanes, off-street trails, and low-speed neighborhood streets. Just across the river, St. Paul, Minnesota, earned a score of 61, showing that connectivity and bikeability does not stop at city borders.


Meanwhile, other Midwest metropolitan areas like Milwaukee (50) and Detroit (43) are gaining ground by reimagining how streets serve all road users, no matter how they choose to get around. Cleveland (37) rounds out the top five big cities, signaling a growing interest in improved active transportation in numerous states across the Heartland.

Heartland cities in the mid-size category are proving that big progress doesn’t only happen in big cities. La Crosse, Wisconsin (65), saw a four-point rise over last year’s ratings, highlighting an ongoing commitment to investing in safe places to ride that make it easier for residents to get from where they live to where they need to go. In college towns like Ames, Iowa (64), and Madison, Wisconsin (61), city planners are building connections between parks, schools, and downtowns to make commuting by bike an option for everyday trips.


Some of the most exciting stories in City Ratings each year come from the smallest dots on the map. The car-free Mackinac Island, Michigan, leads all U.S. cities — not just those in the Heartland — with the first perfect score of 100 in City Ratings program history. Sauk City, Wisconsin (90), a newcomer to this year’s ratings, and Washburn, Wisconsin (89), both helped the Badger State secure the top spot as the best state for biking in the Heartland, with an average population-weighted score of 48. These small cities are classic examples of communities where people are able to easily rely on bikes for trips to the grocery store, doctor's office, post office, or any everyday destination. 

Fayette, Missouri, and Murdock, Nebraska, both scoring 89, are also punching above their weight. Their success offers a blueprint for other small towns across the U.S. looking to boost livability, health, and economic opportunity through better bike access.

Riders explore the Art Trail at Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, one of many off-street paths connecting residents and visitors to destinations across the city by bike. Photo courtesy of Patty Valencia.

Arkansas continues to build a strong cycling culture, with five cities represented in this year’s regional rankings. Alongside Arkansas’ top city Fayetteville (51), cities like Bentonville (46) — home to world-class mountain bike trails — and Bella Vista (44) are showing how cycling can become a core part of a city's identity. Rogers (38) and Springdale (34) round out the list, showcasing the tremendous work being done to transform the entire Northwest Arkansas region into a haven for biking — both for recreation and transportation.

What unites these Heartland communities isn’t just geography. It’s the shared commitment to creating places where people can move freely, safely, and joyfully. Whether it's a big-city investment in protected bike lanes or a small-town push for a network of slow streets, the efforts all add up to something bigger: a future where everyone can access the countless benefits of biking.

To learn more about PeopleForBikes’ City Ratings and see how your city scored in this year’s ratings, head to cityratings.peopleforbikes.org.


Want to make your community a great place to ride a bike? Improve your city’s score with PeopleForBikes’ resources. Together, we can make biking better for everyone!

Highlights From the Heartland: Communities Building a Better Future for Biking

Our annual City Ratings is a data-driven approach to evaluate, compare, and celebrate the best cities for biking in the U.S. and around the world. Based on data from PeopleForBikes’ Bicycle Network Analysis (BNA), each city receives a City Ratings score on a scale of 0-100. 


High-scoring cities often perform well across six factors captured in the acronym SPRINT: safe speeds, protected bike lanes, reallocated space for biking and walking, intersection treatments, network connections, and trusted data.


For 2025, we ranked nearly 3,000 cities worldwide, including 209 new U.S. cities. This year’s ratings feature the return of our best city for biking — the car-free Mackinac Island, Michigan — which boasts the first perfect score in City Ratings history. We also welcome a brand new best large U.S. city for bicycling — Brooklyn, New York — narrowly edging out Minneapolis, Minnesota, which took home the top spot in last year’s rankings. In our European ratings, the tremendous work done to improve bicycling in Paris boosted the French capital to our top international city for bicycling, showing that dedicated investments directly translate to improved City Ratings scores.

Medium U.S. Cities (50,000–300,000 population)

Photo Credit: Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau

PeopleForBikes’ annual City Ratings is a data-driven program to identify, evaluate, and compare the best cities and towns for bicycling in the U.S. and across the world. Based on data from PeopleForBikes’ Bicycle Network Analysis (BNA), each city receives a City Ratings score on a scale of 0-100. 

For 2024, we ranked more than 2,500 cities worldwide, including 816 new U.S. cities and 133 new cities across the U.K. and Australia.

Medium Cities (50,000-300,000 population)

A quick update on pro-bike policies from across the U.S.

Every year, PeopleForBikes monitors more than 200 state legislative bills to track the national bicycling landscape and quickly rally our supporters to back proposed improvements that could benefit bike riding in areas like infrastructure, funding, incentives and safety regulations.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic required many legislatures to adjust their sessions to accommodate virtual settings, many pro-bike bills across the U.S. still progressed through the legislative process. A few recent examples of these bills can be found below.

Model electric bicycle legislation: These bills define electric bicycles using the three-class system, establish rules of the road similar to human-powered bicycles and exempt electric bicycles from the registration, licensing or insurance requirements that apply to motor vehicles. Model electric bicycle legislation was passed in Alabama (HB 99), Iowa (HF 493), Minnesota (HF 10), Missouri (SB 176), Mississippi (HB 1195), Nevada (SB 369), North Dakota (HB 1148) and Vermont (SB 66) this year.

Safe passing: These bills typically require the driver of a vehicle to provide at least three feet of space when passing a bicycle traveling the same direction on a roadway. Safe passing laws were passed in North Dakota (HB 1290) and Georgia (HB 353) this year.

Idaho stop: These bills typically allow bike riders to treat a stop sign as a yield sign and a red light as a stop sign in certain situations. Idaho stop laws were passed in North Dakota (HB 1252), Oklahoma (HB 1770) and Utah (HB 142) this year.

Vulnerable users: These bills typically help protect vulnerable road users, such as bike riders and pedestrians, by establishing fines that discourage and punish careless driving. A vulnerable users law was passed in Maryland (HB 118) this year.

Sustainable Transportation: This legislation supports decreasing the transportation sector’s greenhouse gas emissions by investing in bicycle infrastructure and electric alternatives to combustion vehicles. Sustainable transportation laws were passed in Colorado (SB 260) and Washington (HB 1091) this year.

PeopleForBikes works diligently to track bills at all levels of government that improve bike riding and support bike businesses nationwide. Check out our policy finder to stay up to date on what we’re currently tracking and sign up for our newsletter to receive an alert when a pro-bike policy is proposed in your area. Any additional questions? Contact PeopleForBikes Regulatory and Policy Analyst Ashley Seaward at ashley@peopleforbikes.org for more information.

PeopleForBikes’ 2021 Mid-Year Legislative Recap

Two-thirds of U.S. states now define and regulate electric bicycles in three-class system 

PeopleForBikes is pleased to announce that 36 states have now signed our model electric bicycle legislation into law, eight of which occurred just this year. We’re seeing increased momentum in states passing this model legislation that clarifies the use and regulation of electric bicycles, making the law easier for retailers, riders and decision makers to understand. Thank you to all of our partners who have supported this initiative so far.

The eight states that signed this model legislation into law in 2021 include Alabama, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota and Vermont. Each state has subtle differences in its laws, but fundamentally, these bills do the following:

Define electric bicycles using the three-class system.

Regulate electric bicycles like bicycles, meaning the same rules of the road apply to both electric bicycles and human-powered bicycles.

Exempt electric bicycles from the registration, licensing or insurance requirements that apply to motor vehicles.

There are still 14 states that have not adopted model legislation. Four of these states lack a specific vehicle classification for electric bicycles and the remaining 10 states recognize electric bicycles in some form, but do not utilize the three-class system. 

Our goal is to clearly define electric bicycles and provide sensible rules for their use. We strive to pass our model legislation in all 50 states to ensure that:

Outdated vehicle regulations are updated to reflect technological advances.

Low-speed electric bicycles are regulated similarly to traditional bicycles.

Consumers and retailers are not confused about their state’s electric bicycle laws.

The public is encouraged to take advantage of the benefits that electric bicycles offer.

PeopleForBikes believes that electric bicycles are the future of bike riding due to the immense benefits they can provide in improving communities' health and decreasing carbon emissions by replacing trips that would be otherwise taken by car. Electric bicycles are replacing single vehicle trips, helping people ride their bikes further with more convenience and making them happier and healthier in the process.

You can find details on your state’s specific electric bicycle law here. Any additional questions? Contact PeopleForBikes Regulatory and Policy Analyst Ashley Seaward at ashley@peopleforbikes.org for more information.

Model Electric Bicycle Laws Now in 36 States

Due to the constantly changing dimensions of the COVID-19 crisis, we encourage you to follow all current CDC guidelines as well as local travel advisories and recommendations. Take care of yourselves and loved ones. We’re all in this together.

Cities that score well in Safety have low traffic fatality and injury rates and are places where people feel safe riding a bike. We know that people ride more not only when they are safe, but also when they feel safe. 

We develop our  City Ratings Safety score using  three sources of data. 

Bike and all mode fatality rates. The Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) reports on the number of fatalities associated with motor vehicle traffic crashes across the U.S.  Because the number of fatalities at the city level can vary significantly from year to year, we average fatality rates across a five-year period.

Bike and all mode injury rates. The City Snapshot records the number of type A injuries (incapacitating; requiring ambulance transport) on an annual basis. Focusing on type A injuries provides a standard definition that allows us to compare across cities.

Perceptions of safety. The PlacesForBikes Community Survey measures how people feel about bike riding in their communities. We know that many people won’t get on bikes if they don’t feel safe.

Lawrence has a long history of planning for bicycles, dating all the way back to their first Pedal Plan developed in 1976. Recently, the Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (NTMP), established in December of 2018, has played a major role in making the city safer for biking.

“The NTMP is a comprehensive program designed specifically to improve the environment and quality of life in Lawrence through driver awareness, management and control of traffic on neighborhood streets,” says Jessica Mortinger, Lawrence’s transportation planning manager. “This comprehensive approach to traffic management should make neighborhoods more comfortable places to walk and bike for all residents.”

The Lawrence Bikes Plan, completed in August of 2019, is also a big player when it comes to safer streets. The plan includes a matrix to help evaluate the level of comfort people have on different bikeways (shared use path, bike lane, etc.) which is then used to shape appropriate infrastructure concepts. The plan also overlaps with the Safe Routes to School Plan, which is working to identify projects that can be used to increase the level of comfort and safety for students biking to school.

Prior to the year 2000, Grand Forks focused primarily on recreational cycling. After a historic flood in 1997, the city shifted during a rebuilding period, constructing a well-connected, shared-use trail system to benefit both recreational riders and commuters.

Grand Forks recognized that early education is key in preparing bike riders for a lifetime of safety on two wheels. Safe Kids Grand Forks, part of Safe Kids Worldwide, a global network of organizations dedicated to preventing accidental injuries for youths, provide annual safe cycling classes to all Grand Forks third graders.

Grand Forks’ Greenway (built after the flood in ‘97) provides more than 20 miles of off-road paths and trails along both sides of the Red River to move around town — and even into neighboring Minnesota — without ever interacting with vehicular traffic. “The bikeway system provides routes through natural areas featuring rivers, coulees, woodlands and prairies for a diverse landscape setting,” says Stephanie Halford, senior planner for the City of Grand Forks. “Connectivity between residential and business sectors makes choosing cycling for commuter travel easier, safer and much more attainable.”

Locations

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Medora ND - Mixed Surface (Paved/Gravel)

Distance: 36 Miles

2 Rivers Bicycle and Outdoor

Maah Daah Hey Trail | IMBA EPIC

Distance: 93 Miles

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PeopleForBikes Work in North Dakota

News

Highlights From the Heartland: Communities Building a Better Future for Biking

2025’s Best Places to Bike

2024’s Best Places to Bike

PeopleForBikes’ 2021 Mid-Year Legislative Recap

Model Electric Bicycle Laws Now in 36 States

2020 City Ratings: Safety