If you’ve ever biked to work, you know the distinct pleasure of cruising down a bike lane or path while commuter cars sit in gridlocked traffic. You likely also know that commuting to work isn’t always as safe or as easy as it should be - which can be a big deterrent as to why more people opt for motorized vehicles to get to and from the office.
It’s not uncommon for larger metro areas to sponsor “Bike to Work Day” or even “Bike to Work Week” at points throughout the year to encourage daily commuters to swap four wheels for two and to educate motorists about how to safely interact with cyclists on the road.
For more than 7 percent of workers in the town of Corvallis, Oregon, which lies 85 miles south of Portland, biking to work isn’t just a day or week out of the year - it’s a lifestyle.
Marketing agency DesignRush recently compiled new research about which U.S. towns and cities have the highest adoption rates of regular biking to work habits, and the 60,000-person town of Corvallis topped the list, with 7.36% of workers in this Pacific Northwest town opting to pedal to the office.
The study compiled by DesignRush surveyed nearly 46,500 workers in Corvallis and just over 3,400 noted that their preferred method of commuting to work is by bike.
Others may think of Portland, Eugene or Bend as Oregon’s most bike-forward towns, but Corvallis reigns supreme and was awarded the Gold-level Bicycle Friendly Community designation by the League of American Bicyclists in February 2024.
The top five U.S. towns and cities with the most bike commuters are:
To learn more about how to bike commute and if there are established routes near you, check out PeopleForBikes.org.