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Atlanta's made strides building bike lanes and other infrastructure to help people get around on two wheels, according to a national bicycle advocacy group.

Why it matters: PeopleForBikes annually ranks cities around the globe and tracks whether people can realistically use bikes for everyday transportation, not just recreation.

The intrigue: Towns with fewer than 16,000 residents swept the top 10 spots in the 2026 best places to bike list, even under tougher national standards.

Atlanta, one of this year's "eight cities to watch," scored 33 out of 100 points, ranking roughly 39th among large cities with a population of at least 300,000 people.

Senoia, Pine Mountain, Hapeville, St. Simons and Hiram earned the top scores in Georgia.

State of play: This year's rankings use a stricter methodology tied to the 2025 NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide, with tighter expectations for speed limits, lane design and network connectivity, the group said.

PeopleForBikes scores measure the quality of a city's bike network, including protected bike lanes, off-street paths, slow shared streets and safe crossings that let people comfortably get around by bike.

The updated methodology is meant to better capture what biking feels like in real life.

The big picture: Small communities dominated the top 10, suggesting that compact places with connected streets and easy access to daily destinations can outperform much larger cities.

By the numbers: Mackinac Island, Michigan (population 583); Old Orchard, Pennsylvania (2,406); and Crested Butte, Colorado (1,639) topped the list, each scoring a perfect 100.

Big urban areas appear farther down the overall list — Brooklyn, New York, scored 70, followed by Minneapolis, Minnesota (68); Seattle, Washington (66); Queens, New York (63); and San Francisco, California (61).

The bottom line: The new ratings raise the bar for everyone: A bikeable city is one where the average resident can safely reach daily needs by bike, not just one with trails, lanes or a cycling reputation.

Small towns outpace Atlanta in latest bikeability study

Compact communities dominated the latest rankings, while Atlanta landed on a cities-to-watch list.

Illustration of a peach with arms and legs riding a blue bicycle against a teal background.

A heat table that ranks PeopleForBikes' 10 most bikeable U.S. cities for 2026 on a 0-to-100 scale. Mackinac Island, Old Orchard and Crested Butte each score 100. Scores then range from 98 for Washburn to 92 for Springdale, with two 97s, one 95 and two 93s.

Atlanta&#x27;s made strides building bike lanes and other infrastructure to help people get around on two wheels, according to a national bicycle advocacy group.<ul><li>But we have a long way to go.</li></ul>Why it matters: PeopleForBikes <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="annually ranks" data-vars-click-url="https://cityratings.peopleforbikes.org/" data-vars-content-id="de57bc03-fe67-44ab-acb5-d9037bd9776e" data-vars-headline="Small towns outpace Atlanta in latest bikeability study" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://cityratings.peopleforbikes.org/" target="_blank">annually ranks</a> cities around the globe and tracks whether people can realistically use bikes for everyday transportation, not just recreation.

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