Which state has the most people biking to work?
🔎 Skip to the answer (ranking table)Guess
Some grown-ups get to work by pedaling. Out of every 100 workers, which state has the most who usually ride a bicycle to work? Tap the states most-to-least.
Tapping assigns 1→3 in order
California has the most people, so I’m guessing California! 🐾
Answer
The real order is…
Oregon — 1.3 out of every 100 workers ride a bike to work. That sounds tiny, until you see the figure for the whole country: 0.4. Oregon's share is more than three times the national one, and about 1.3× second-place Montana (1.0). And the state Biscuit picked? California comes in at 0.7 — not even in the top five. California has the most people, but this quiz counts out of every 100 workers, so a big state gets no head start. Oregon does have a bike law with a nickname. The Oregon Department of Transportation writes that “The Oregon Legislature passed ORS 366.514, aka the Bike Bill, in 1971,” and that “The bill requires facilities for people walking and biking wherever a road, street or highway is built or rebuilt.” ODOT does not say that this law is why Oregon leads, and neither do we. And why Montana in second place? These numbers cannot explain that one either — it is a mystery worth keeping.
📚 Background Oregon has a bike law with a nickname. The Oregon Department of Transportation writes that “The Oregon Legislature passed ORS 366.514, aka the Bike Bill, in 1971,” and that “The bill requires facilities for people walking and biking wherever a road, street or highway is built or rebuilt.” The law itself also lists some exceptions — for example where such paths would be unsafe, would cost far too much for how much they would be used, or are not needed. ODOT does not say that this law is why Oregon leads this quiz, and neither do we — it is a question worth asking, not an answer. (Oregon Department of Transportation, Bicycle and Pedestrian Program; Oregon Revised Statutes 366.514(2)) (opens in a new tab)
🔍 Explore more: 🚲『Why doesn’t a rolling bike fall over?』→ California has the most people, so I’m guessing California! 🐾
Compare
Workers who usually bike to work (% of workers 16+, ACS 2020–2024 5-year)
Most: Oregon (1.3 %). At the bottom, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee are each at 0.1 — about 1 worker in a thousand.
Note: from the American Community Survey, which the Census Bureau sends to a sample of addresses, not to every home — so every number here is an estimate published with a give-or-take. These are the five-year estimates (2020–2024), which average five years of answers. Oregon's (±0.1) and Montana's (±0.1) do not overlap, so Oregon stays on top even after both published margins of error are applied; Montana's and Colorado's ranges overlap, so the second and third places shown are too close to call — and Hawaii comes out at 0.9, the same as Colorado. The survey asks how a worker usually got to work last week, and a worker whose trip mixes more than one kind of transportation marks just one: the kind used for the longest part of the distance. Kids biking to school are not part of this survey question. The 50 states are shown; the District of Columbia is not ranked. U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020–2024 5-year estimates.
Pedal power, Oregon style! 🐾
Recap
🏅 Today's discovery
🏅 Oregon is the USA's #1!
🐕 States in Numbers
Quiz a friend!
📋 See the ranking table (top 50)
| Rank | State | Value |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Oregon | 1.3 % |
| #2 | Montana | 1 % |
| #3 | Colorado | 0.9 % |
| #3 | Hawaii | 0.9 % |
| #5 | Massachusetts | 0.8 % |
| #5 | New York | 0.8 % |
| #7 | Alaska | 0.7 % |
| #7 | California | 0.7 % |
| #7 | Idaho | 0.7 % |
| #7 | Vermont | 0.7 % |
| #7 | Wyoming | 0.7 % |
| #12 | Washington | 0.6 % |
| #13 | Arizona | 0.5 % |
| #13 | Florida | 0.5 % |
| #13 | Illinois | 0.5 % |
| #13 | Minnesota | 0.5 % |
| #13 | New Mexico | 0.5 % |
| #13 | Utah | 0.5 % |
| #13 | Wisconsin | 0.5 % |
| #20 | Indiana | 0.4 % |
| #20 | Pennsylvania | 0.4 % |
| #20 | Rhode Island | 0.4 % |
| #23 | Delaware | 0.3 % |
| #23 | Iowa | 0.3 % |
| #23 | Kansas | 0.3 % |
| #23 | Louisiana | 0.3 % |
| #23 | Maine | 0.3 % |
| #23 | Maryland | 0.3 % |
| #23 | Michigan | 0.3 % |
| #23 | Nebraska | 0.3 % |
| #23 | Nevada | 0.3 % |
| #23 | New Jersey | 0.3 % |
| #23 | North Dakota | 0.3 % |
| #23 | Ohio | 0.3 % |
| #23 | South Dakota | 0.3 % |
| #23 | Virginia | 0.3 % |
| #37 | Arkansas | 0.2 % |
| #37 | Connecticut | 0.2 % |
| #37 | Georgia | 0.2 % |
| #37 | Kentucky | 0.2 % |
| #37 | Missouri | 0.2 % |
| #37 | New Hampshire | 0.2 % |
| #37 | North Carolina | 0.2 % |
| #37 | Oklahoma | 0.2 % |
| #37 | South Carolina | 0.2 % |
| #37 | Texas | 0.2 % |
| #37 | West Virginia | 0.2 % |
| #48 | Alabama | 0.1 % |
| #48 | Mississippi | 0.1 % |
| #48 | Tennessee | 0.1 % |
| 🇺🇸 USA (national figure) | 0.4 % |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2020–2024 (ACS 5-year estimates))
Sources
Data as of: 2020–2024 (ACS 5-year estimates)
U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year subject table S0801_C01_011E (means of transportation to work — bicycle) (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-07) — Official published survey estimates (the committed raw file is the API response, unchanged). The American Community Survey goes to a sample of addresses, not to every home, so every figure here is an estimate published with a margin of error; these are the 5-year estimates, which average five years of answers (2020–2024). The question asks how a worker usually got to work, so each worker lands in one row. The figures cover the 50 states.
↳ On data.census.gov, open subject table “S0801” (Commuting Characteristics by Sex) for the 2020–2024 ACS 5-year estimates and read S0801_C01_011E (Workers 16 years and over — Means of transportation to work — Bicycle) by state.