Average US movie ticket price

As movie tickets have gotten more expensive, New Yorkers have taken more Citi Bike trips, a correlation that suggests either that the price of cinema is driving people outdoors or that both metrics are simply measuring the cost of being alive in a city where everything gets more expensive every year. The correlation spans ten years and sits at 0.956, which is the kind of statistical relationship that makes you wonder whether the best response to a fifteen-dollar movie ticket is to pedal away from the theater entirely.

Movie ticket prices rose steadily from about $8.10 in 2013 to over $10.50 by 2022, driven by premium formats and general inflation. Citi Bike trips grew from about 6 million in its 2013 launch year to over 30 million by 2022, driven by station expansion, e-bike introduction, and the pandemic-era shift toward outdoor transportation. Both metrics are urban inflation indicators: the movie ticket reflects the rising cost of entertainment, while Citi Bike ridership reflects the growing density and infrastructure of New York's cycling network. Both are also measuring the same affluent, urban consumer who can afford both a movie ticket and a bike membership and makes choices between them based on weather and mood.

Ten years of movie tickets and bike trips climbing together in New York City is a portrait of urban life getting simultaneously more expensive and more active. The tickets cost more, the bikes go farther, and the city charges for both. The correlation is just Manhattan doing what Manhattan does: everything, all at once, at a premium.