An interactive map, fueled by data from the American Community Survey, shows all of the U.S. counties color-coded by the percentage of bicycle commuters. The lightest color represents places where less than 0.1 percent commute by bicycle, and the darkest color represents places with 10% or more. You can also click on a county to find out the number of people who walk, take transit or drive alone.
The American Community Survey is an annual count that replaced the Census Long Form, the results of which were released in 2001. The ACS became official in 2005 and thus 2009 was the first year that they were able to release a five-year data set. The five year report is a sample that is large enough to drill down the commute to work data to the Census Tract level as well as every county in the U.S.
The county with the highest percentage of bicycle commuters was Gunnison County, Colorado, where an impressive 10.2% of all commuters travel to work by bicycle. Mercer County performs better than most of the rest of New Jersey, although being in the “0.5% – 1.0%” category means that there is still considerable room for improvement on our home turf.