Best College Basketball Cities: Storrs Ranks #2 in USA

In a new analysis of the Best Cities for College Basketball, the hometown of Connecticut’s flagship university, Storrs, earned a slot as #2 in the nation.  Only Durham, North Carolina ranked higher, in the overall ranking of 292 large, midsize and small cities with at least one college (Division 1) team. 

In all, five Connecticut communities earned a ranking, although Storrs stood alone in the top 100.  New Haven ranked at #103 and Hartford at #141.  New Britain was ranked #292.

The analysis, by the financial website Wallet Hub, used nine relevant metrics, and in addition to the overall rankings, divided the list by population:  large cities (more than 300,000 people), mid-size cities (100,000 to 300,000 people) and small cities (fewer than 100,000 people).

In ranking the top 159 small cities, Storrs topped the list at #1, Fairfield was #97 and New Britain was #159.  Among the top 75 mid-size cities, New Haven ranked at #22 and Hartford ranked at #33.

In the overall rankings, after Durham and Storrs, the top 10 included Lexington, KY; Lawrence, KS; Los Angeles, CA; East Lansing, MI; Philadelphia, PA; Chapel Hill, NC; Fayette, MS; and Kingston, RI.    Washington, DC was ranked #14, followed directly by New York and Boston. 

WalletHub compared the 292 U.S. cities with at least one college (Division 1) team using nine relevant metrics, including the number of Division 1 Championships, the number of Conference wins, and the number of Hall of Fame Head Coaches.   Other categories included fan engagement, college basketball stadium capacity, and number of team victories.  Mens and womens teams were included in the analysis.

The data used to create the rankings were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, ESPN, Sports Reference, NCAA.org, each team’s website and social media accounts.