What Makes a Typical Strava User?

Strava’s community is made up of 100M+ people from around the globe. Everyone knows that Strava users are active  - whether they’re a once a week (or less!) runner, a weekend cyclist, the nightly Peloton or Zwift user, or an elite ultrarunner or triathlete. But who makes up this community of active people? And can we identify any commonalities? Other than, you guessed it, being active…

Using GWI data, we’ve looked at notable traits of typical Strava users, from their socioeconomic characteristics to interests and even opinions.

Important note: these are not based on our own surveys or analysis of any personal or public Strava data, but from research surveys taken by GWI to their core audience around the world. All data taken from GWI Core survey responses, 2022-2023.

We’ve summarized the key findings to help brands understand a bit more about our unique community. When we have highlighted a characteristic, this is based on Strava users typically “over-indexing” when compared to a control group of all internet users – i.e. they are more likely to agree with a statement or share a characteristic than those not on Strava.

Purchase behaviour

It's official: Strava users significantly over-index when it comes to online purchases. Strava users love to buy sports products, particularly apparel! But one key stat stands out: users are 218% more likely to buy products to access the community around them. Making great products is one thing, but our users want to support brands that nurture great communities.

This, combined with the significant over-indexing for premium products, digital content and vacations, gives a clear picture of an audience that combines purchasing power, digital expertise and a desire to better themselves.

Demographics

When it comes to demographics, the data guides us to a view that Strava users are significantly more likely to be professionally successful, tech-savvy and affluent.

We love the stats on early adoption and trend-setting. And we know that our brand partners do, too. Strava athletes aren't just potential customers, they are micro-influencers that positively affect their friends and family, promoting new behaviours, routines and, yes, brands.

To summarize, GWI data obviously does not represent all Strava users. But some clear trends emerge from this fascinating dataset, and brands looking to reach ambitious potential customers can be confident that they live their active lives on Strava.