TOPIC I: RATES OF ACTIVE COMMUTING

Active commuting on this page means bicycling, walking, and taking public transit to work as reported by the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Numerous studies have found that people who take public transit walk more than people who drive, with one review finding that transit use was associated with 8 to 33 additional minutes of walking each day.

Cities have a broad range of rates of active commuting. In most cities on this page, public transit has the highest rate of use, followed by walking, and then cycling. However, some cities do not follow that order and have more biking or walking than transit use. Use this page to better understand rates of active commuting and how they’ve changed in cities over time.

Data on this page:

• Rates of Active Commuting
• Workers Commuting by Public Transit over Time
• Workers Commuting by Walking over Time
• Workers Commuting by Bicycling over Time
• Chart: 10 Cities with the Most Bike Commuters

Rates of Active Commuting

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Changes in Active Commuter Modeshare

Workers Commuting by Public Transit over Time

Workers Commuting by Walking over Time

Workers Commuting by Bicycling over Time

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10 Cities with the Most Bike Commuters

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In 2005, only one city had more than 10,000 bike commuters. Pre-pandemic in 2020, there were 8 cities with more than 10,000 bike commuters – including 3 cities with over 20,000 – according to the Census Bureau. 2022 data shows only one city with over 20,000 bike commuters and seven cities with over 10,000. The 11 cities in this chart account for about 25% of all bike commuters nationwide.