East Lansing Ranked Among America’s Best Cities for College Basketball Fans

A new list ranking America's "Best Cities for College Basketball Fans" is out, and for East Lansing, it's nothing but net.

East Lansing Ranks Among America's Best College Basketball Cities

The personal finance website WalletHub looked at several metrics in determining the nation's top spots for college hoops in 2026, including metrics like teams’ win-loss records, championships, coaching stability, program quality, and fan engagement.

READ MORE: These Michigan College Towns Rank Among the Best in the Nation

After crunching the numbers, WalletHub found East Lansing — home of the Michigan State Spartans — to be the 6th best city for college basketball fans in the entire country.

The Cities That Beat East Lansing in the Rankings

That No. 6 ranking isn't too shabby, especially when you consider the cities that performed even better in the survey:

1. Los Angeles (home of the UCLA Bruins, USC Trojans and Loyola Marymount Lions);
2. Durham, North Carolina (home of the Duke Blue Devils);
3. Lexington, Kentucky (home of the Kentucky Wildcats);
4. Philadelphia (home of the Villanova Wildcats, Temple Owls, St. Joseph's Hawks, LaSalle Explorers, Penn Quakers, and Drexel Dragons); and
5. Lawrence, Kansas (home of the Kansas Jayhawks).

So what makes East Lansing so special for college basketball fans? Spartan faithful see the intangible things that surveys like those from WalletHub can't measure.

Why Michigan State Fans Make East Lansing Special

Those who bleed green and white will probably point to legendary Spartans' head coach Tom Izzo first. At the helm of Michigan State basketball since the mid-1990s, Izzo has become the winningest head coach in Big Ten history. He hasn't had a Spartans team miss the NCAA Tournament this century — let that sink in.

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The venue where the Spartans play their home games is pretty special too. The energy inside the Breslin Center is nothing short of electric when MSU takes the court.

How Other Michigan College Basketball Cities Fared

East Lansing reigns supreme when it comes to being Michigan's best city for college basketball fans, and it's not even close. Take a look at where some other Michigan college basketball towns landed in this year's rankings.