Congrats, Oregon: The Beaver State leads the nation in the rate of employees who commute to work by bicycle.



And it's not even close.



About 2.3 percent of Oregon employees age 16 and up reported using their bicycle as their primary means for getting to work, according to five years' worth of estimates recently released by the American Community Survey. That's about 42,000 bikers from a pool of more than 1.8 million commuters.



Oregon's rate is roughly double our closest competitors, the states of Montana, Colorado, California and Hawaii.



If you want to get into technicalities, Washington, D.C., is officially first on the list. But that's because it's a city and not really a state. So whatever. We're crossing it out.



It did get us thinking, though. If Oregon leads the nation in the rate of bike commuters, which cities have pedal-powered Oregon to the top?



What follows is a list of Oregon's highest-ranked cities with at least 10,000 commuters. It's based on the estimated rate of bicycling, by workers, for 2013 through 2017. Each survey respondent was asked, at a random time throughout the year, how he or she got to work in the past week.



The rankings for cities 4 through 10 on this list aren't statistically significant because of very high margins of error. That means the order is mathematically too close to call. Same for the official rankings between second and third place.



But first place? That crown is mathematically sound. And the city might surprise you.

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Allison Milligan

10. Newberg, 1.69 percent

This city, southwest of Portland, had an estimated 188 bike commuters.

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LC- Terry Richard/Staff/2015

9. Grants Pass, 1.7 percent

The Southern Oregon city had an estimated 236 bike commuters.

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KATHRYN SCOTT

8. Milwaukie, 1.89 percent

This inner-ring suburb of Portland had an estimated 202 bike commuters. This man pictured here was a pioneer, commuting from his home in Milwaukie to downtown Portland way back in the 1990s.

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Torsten Kjellstrand

7. Medford, 1.90 percent

Another Southern Oregon locale, this city had an estimated 655 bike commuters. Pictured here is Robert Maddox, who earlier this decade built motorized bicycles in a shop near Medford.

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Stephanie Yao Long

6. Springfield, 1.95 percent

Anyone who has spent time in Eugene should be expecting an appearance by the Emerald City later on this list. But it turns out Springfield has some bike commuters, too, with an estimated 556. This picture, from 2013, displays a bike from a custom maker in Springfield.

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Brent Wojahn

5. Wilsonville, 2.18 percent

Another Portland-area suburb, this one with estimated bike commuters of 235. Pictured are a family at Champoeg State Park.

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Torsten Kjellstrand

4. Bend, 2.78 percent

Central Oregon's high-desert oasis also appears on this list. There's an estimated 1,200 bike commuters in Bend. Pictured is a competitive racer.

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Benjamin Brink

3. Portland, 6.47 percent

If you thought Portland would top this list, you would be wrong. But even though the Rose City doesn't lead the state among ridership rates, it more than anchors the state among total riders.



Portland's estimated number of bike commuters was a whopping 21,673 -- which is essentially half the riders statewide.



In other words, thank Portland for Oregon's ranking.

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THOMAS BOYD

2. Eugene, 6.51 percent

Ah, yes, Eugene. There were an estimated 4,987 bike commuters in this college town. This photo is from 2006.

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Robert Kaiser

1. Corvallis, 12.09 percent

Whoa, now! This other college town is the undisputed champion for the rate of bicycle commuting. An estimated 3,224 commuters got to work in Corvallis via pedaling.



Corvallis has been bike-friendly for a long time. This photo, from 1997, shows bike racks out front of some downtown businesses.



Suggested city motto: "Go by bike!"



-- Brad Schmidt

bschmidt@oregonian.com

503-294-7628

@_brad_schmidt

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