The Best and Worst States for Bikes

The bike-friendliest state in America? Washington, according to the League of American Bicyclists. The state earned that title by funding bike infrastructure, making and enforcing bike safety laws, and taking other concrete steps to encourage bike ridership.

The League's 2017 "Bicycle Friendly State Ranking," released this week, evaluates every state in the United States on these and more criteria. States are scored in five categories: infrastructure and funding, education and encouragement, legislation and enforcement, policies and programs, and evaluation and planning. "Bicycle-friendly actions" taken in the last year are also tallied—Complete Streets policies, for example.

The study provides more detailed analysis, including past performance data to contextualize the year's developments. Washington has consistently scored in the League's top 10; other high-scoring states include Minnesota, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Colorado. But several states took no bike-friendly actions at all this year, while both Oklahoma and North Dakota scored red in four of five categories.