Bicycle Helmet Laws in America ( by States )

As we roll into the warm weather months, many of us are dusting off our bicycles and getting back into cycling to work or around town. As we all know, cycling can be a great way to exercise and save on transportation costs, but staying safe on the road is essential.

One question that often comes up is whether or not you need to wear a bicycle helmet. This blog post will look at bicycle helmet laws in America by state. We’ll also discuss some of the pros and cons of wearing a helmet while cycling, so you can decide whether or not to strap one on.

Here is a list of states with bicycle helmet laws and their requirements:

Jurisdiction	Ages	Effective
Alabama
State law	Under 16	1995
Montevallo	All ages	1993
Homewood	All ages	1994
Alaska
Anchorage	Under 16	2005
Bethel	Under 18	2004
Juneau	Under 18	2006
Kenai	Under 16	2004
Sitka	Under 18	2005
Arizona
Flagstaff	Under 18	2010
Pima County	Under 18	1995
Sierra Vista	Under 18	1995
Tucson	Under 18	1993
Yuma	Under 18	1997
California
State Law	Passengers under 5	1987
State Law	Riders under 18	1994
Bidwell Park, Chico for off road in middle&upper park	All ages	1991
Connecticut
State Law	Under 16	1993/1997
City of Seymour (Repealed 1998)	All ages	1998
Delaware
State Law	Under 18 *	1996
District of Columbia
District Law	Under 16 *	36617
Florida
State Law	Under 16 **	1997
Georgia
State Law	Under 16	1993
Hawaii
State Law	Under 16	2001
Illinois
Barrington	Under 17	1997
Chicago (messengers)	All ages
Cicero	Under 16	1997
Inverness	Under 16	1999
Libertyville (Incentives only)		1997
Skokie	Under 16	2002
Kansas
Lawrence	Under 16 *	2004
Kentucky
Louisville (Parks)	Under 18 *	2002
Louisville Extreme Park	All ages	2002
Louisiana
State Law	Under 12	2002
Maine
State Law	Under 16	1999
Maryland
State Law	Under 16 *	1995
Allegany County	Under 16	1992
Howard County	Under 16	1990
Montgomery County	Under 18	1991
Sykesville	All ages	1995
Massachusetts
State Law	Passengers under 5	1990
State Law	Riders under 17 *	1994/2004
Michigan
Adrian	Under 15	1998
E. Grand Rapids	Under 18	1995
Farmington Hills	Under 16 *	1999
Kensington Metropark	All ages	1998
Mississippi
Hernando	Under 17 *	2010
Jackson	All ages?	2013
Ridgeland	???	2010
Starkville	All ages *	2010
Missouri
St Louis County	1 to 16 *	Unincorp. areas 2002 Countywide 2008
St Louis County municipalities of:	- - -
Ballwin	Under 17	2006
Bel-Ridge	All ages	2002
Bella Villa	Under 17	2005
Bellefontaine Neighbors	Under 17	2005
Berkeley	All ages	2000
Black Jack	All ages	2008
Calverton Park	All ages	2001
Chesterfield	Under 17	2008
Clayton	Under 17	2005
Creve Coeur	All ages	2000
Ellisville	Under 17	2005
Florissant	Under 17	2003
Glendale	All ages	2008
Grantwood Village	All ages	2003
Hanley Hills	Under 17	2007
Hazelwood	Under 17	2007
Hillside
Moline Acres	Under 17	2008
Normandy	Under 17	2004
Northwoods	Under 17	2003
Norwood Court	Under 17	2004
Olivette	Under 17*	2005
Overland	Under 17	2005
Pagedale	All ages	2002
Riverview	Under 17	2008
Rock Hill	Under 17	2003
St. John	Under 17	2001
Sycamore Hills	All ages	2008
Town & Country	All ages	2002
Velda City	All ages	2006
Velda Village Hills	All ages	2005
Vinita Terrace	Under 21	2001
Webster Groves	Under 17	2004
Wellston
Wilber Park	Under 17	2005
Wildwood	Under 17	2005
St Louis Co Parks	Under 17	2001
- - -	- - -	- - -
Municipalities in other counties
Columbia	Under 16 *	2003
St Charles	Under 16	2006
Montana
Billings	Under 16	2001
Nevada
Duckwater Indian Reservation	Under 17	2001
Reno/Sparks Indian Colony	Under 17	2002
New Hampshire
State Law	Under 16	2006
New Jersey
State Law	Under 17 *	33725
New Mexico
State Law	Under 18 *	2007
Los Alamos County	Under 18	1995
New York
State Law	Passengers under 5	1989
State Law	Riders under 14*	1994/2004
Eastchester	Under 19 *	2004
Erie County Parks	All ages	1993
Greenburgh	All ages	1994
Guilderland	Under 14	1992
Onondaga County-Syracuse	Under 18	2001
Rockland County	All ages	1992
Suffolk County	14 to 17	2000
North Carolina
State Law	Under 16	2001
Black Mountain	All ages	1996
Boone	All ages	1995
Carolina Beach	Under 16	1994
Carrboro	Under 16	1997
Cary	Under 16	2001
Chapel Hill	Under 16	1992
Charlotte	Under 16 *	2002
Cornelius	Under 16 *	2001
Greenville	Under 16	1998
Matthews	Under 16	2001
Ohio
Akron	Under 16	2001
Beachwood	Under 16	1990
Bexley	Under 16	2010
Blue Ash	Under 16	2003
Brecksville	Under 18 *	1998
Brooklyn	Under 14	2001
Centerville	Under 18	1999
Cincinnati	Under 16 *	2004
Columbus	Ages 1-17 *	2009
Dayton	Under 13	2004
East Cleveland	Under 18 *	2004
Enon	Under 16 *	2004
Euclid	Under 14	2001
Glendale	Under 19 *	2000
Kettering	Under 16 *	2004
Lakewood	Under 18	1997
Madeira	Under 17 *	2002
Marietta	Under 16 *	2004
Orange Village	Ages 6 to 15	1992
Pepper Pike	Under 18	2000
Shaker Heights	All ages over 5 inc. passengers	1997
South Euclid	Under 14	2000
Strongsville	Under 12	1993
Waynesville	Under 17 *	2000
Oklahoma
Norman	Under 18	2003
Oklahoma City (city property)	All ages	1999
Oregon
State Law	Under 16 *	1994
Pennsylvania
State Law	Riders under 12	1995
Rhode Island
State Law	Under 16 *	1996/ 1998/ 2007
Tennessee
State Law	Under 16	1994/2000
Clarksville	Under 16	1993
Texas
Arlington	Under 18	1997
Austin	Under 18	1996/97
Bedford	Under 16	1996
Benbrook	Under 17	1996
Coppell	Under 15	1997
Dallas	Under 18	1996/2014
Fort Worth	Under 18	1996
Houston	Under 18	1995
Southlake	Under 15	1999
Virginia
Albemarle County	Under 15
Alexandria	Under 15	1994
Amherst County	Under 15	1993
Arlington County	Under 15	1993
Blacksburg	Under 15	1994
Clarke County	Under 15
Fairfax County	Under 15	1993
Fairfax City	Under 15	2016
Falls Church	Under 15	1993
Floyd County	Under 15
Front Royal	Under 15	1996
Hampton	Under 15	1999
Harrisonburg	Under 15
James City County	Under 15	1999
Luray	Under 15
Manassas	Under 15	1995
Manassas Park	Under 15	1997
Newport News	Under 15	1997
Norfolk	Under 15	2001
Orange County	Under 15
Petersburg	Under 15	2000
Prince William Co.	Under 15	1995
Radford	Under 15	2000
Roanoke	Under 15	2000
Salem	Under 15	2000
Stafford County	Under 15
Vienna	Under 15
Virginia Beach	Under 15	1995
Williamsburg	Under 15	2001
Wise	Under 15
York County	Under 15	1994
Washington State
Aberdeen	All ages	2001
Auburn	All ages	2005
Bainbridge Island	All ages	2001
Bellevue	All ages	2002
Bremerton	All ages	2000
Des Moines	All ages	1993
DuPont	All ages
Duvall	All ages	1993
Eatonville	All ages	1996
Enumclaw	All ages	1993
Fircrest	All ages	1995
Gig Harbor	All ages	1996
Hunts Point	All ages	1993
Island County (Recommendation only.)	All ages	1997
Kent	All ages	1999
King County	All ages	1993
Lakewood	All ages	1996
Milton	All ages *	1997
Orting	Under 17	1997
Pierce County	All ages	1994
Port Angeles	All ages	1994
Port Orchard	All ages	2004
Poulsbo	Under 18	1995
Puyallup	All ages	1994
Renton	All ages	1999
Seatac	All ages over 1 yr	1999
Seattle	All ages	2003
Snohomish repealed	All ages	2002
Snohomish skate park only	All ages	2002
Snoqualmie	All ages	1996
Spokane	All ages *	2004
Steilacoom	All ages	1995
Tacoma	All ages *	1994
University Place	All ages	1996
Vancouver	All ages	2008
West Virginia
State Law	Under 15	1996
Clarksburg	Under 18	1993
Morgantown	All ages	1993
South Charleston	Under 18	1994
St. Albans	Under 18	1995
Wisconsin
Port Washington	Under 17	1997

Read more: Our Favourite Bikes for Big Guys

Other safety factors to consider

Around 75% of fatal or serious cyclist accidents happen in urban areas ( SOURCE ). It’s essential to understand the situation if you get into an accident without wearing a helmet in a state where you are obliged to wear one.

For example, if you are in a city where the law requires cyclists to wear a helmet, and you end up getting a head injury after a collision with a vehicle, you will probably have a more difficult time getting compensation from the driver.

Since the law requires you to wear a helmet, your violation of that law automatically makes you negligent in connection with the accident.

In my opinion, you should wear a bicycle helmet when riding a bike. Whether you ride your bike to work only, lurk around the college campus, or try to lose weight with it if you are a big guy.

This is especially true for kids and teenagers, who are even more vulnerable to injuries. If you ride an electric bike, the helmets are even more critical because of the higher speed you will achieve.

The bicycle helmet laws are a work in progress because they change yearly. The following are the current state-by-state bicycle helmet laws for cyclists of all ages as of 2025.

Which countries have mandatory bicycle helmet laws?

The obligatory use of helmets has often been discussed and disputed worldwide. Only a few countries require and enforce universal helmets for cyclists: Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand.

In France, only children are required to wear bike helmets all the time. It’s important to note that where cycling is safest and very popular, it typically has high cycling rates but low helmet wearing.

Japan introduced a mandatory helmet law for everybody on a bicycle, with the revised Road Traffic Act into effect on April 1, 2023. From now on, all cyclists are required to attempt to comply with the ordinance. However, no penalties will be given for any violations.

In what year were helmets made mandatory for pro cyclists?

The UCI ( Union Cycliste Internationale ) made wearing helmets in professional races compulsory in 2003 after the death of Andrei Kivilev at Paris–Nice.

Can you get a ticket for not wearing a helmet on a bicycle?

Depending on the state or municipality, there may be laws requiring cyclists to wear helmets. In some cases, not wearing a helmet may result in a fine. In others, it may only be enforced if the cyclist is stopped for another infraction.

Is there a law that you have to wear a bike helmet?

There is no federal law to wear a bike helmet, but many states require riders to wear a helmet. Only 21 states and the District of Columbia have statewide bicycle helmet laws for younger cyclists.

What year did bike helmets become law?

In 1986, the first state law was proposed to reduce injuries and deaths among bike riders. This idea became popular later on as more states started adopting bicycle helmet safety measures in 1987. In fact, it wasn’t until two years before when California passed this very same bill that made them one of few early adopters of these regulations- along with Virginia (1986) and Michigan(1987).

Who is required to wear a bicycle helmet in Florida?

The law states that all bicycle riders, including passengers under 16 years old, must wear helmets. The safety standards for these helmets are rigorous and require them to be fastened securely upon your head with straps.

Who is required to wear a bicycle helmet in California?

In California, if you are aged 18 or under and operating a bicycle in any way. Children aged five and under who are passengers on bikes with adult riders must also follow these safety rules for protection.

Can you get a ticket for riding a bike without a helmet in California?

Yes, you can get a ticket for riding a bike without a helmet in California. The fine for violating the state’s bicycle helmet laws is $25.

Recommended Reads on Bicycle Safety

How Can You Prevent Injury While Cycling – Tips & tricks on how to prevent the most common cycling injuries

Why The Dutch Don’t Wear Bicycle Helmets – We found four reasons why the Dutch don’t wear bike helmets in the Netherlands. Learn all the facts about this topic.