America's Most Bicycle-Friendly Cities

Brooklyn, New York, is the most bicycle-friendly large city in the U.S., according to NGO PeopleForBikes. For the first time last year, the ranking split the five New York boroughs up, leading to Brooklyn overtaking former top city Minneapolis, now in rank 2.

Brooklyn scored 73 points, while Minneapolis achieved 72, Seattle won 66 and San Francisco as well as Queens, New York, were rated at 63 points each. The highest possible score for bike-friendliness was 100 with the ranking rating the city's bike network, i.e. protected bike lanes, off-street paths, slow shared streets and safe crossings.

Even though both Seattle and San Francisco have hilly terrain that is challenging for cyclists, they were rewarded high scores in the ranking, showing what smart routings can achieve. Seattle as well as New York overall (in rank 7) show that even cities in colder climates can be good cycling locations.

While larger cities tend to make bigger investments in infrastructure in order to support their higher population densities, some small cities achieved even higher scores according to the release. This includes Davis, Calif., at a score of 81, and Berkeley, Calif., at 73 points. Even smaller places that achieved high scores were Provincetown, Mass., (96 points), Crested Butte, Colo. (87 points), Jackson, Wyo. (80 points) and Big Sky, Mont. (76 points).