I know I’m dating myself, but for me, the Big Ten will always have 10 schools: the lineup that existed between 1949, when Michigan State replaced the University of Chicago, and 1990, when Penn State joined to make it 11. (The Big Ten may be going to 18 soon, with the addition of four West Coast schools.) I’ve always considered a Big Ten town the perfect place to live: thanks to their universities, they have big city culture without big city hassles. Having visited all of the real Big Ten campuses, here is how I rank them.

1. Madison, Wisconsin

Let’s start with the location. In the middle of the isthmus separating Lake Monona and Lake Mendota is the Wisconsin state capitol, with its oversized buff eggshell dome glowing every night. At the other end is the University of Wisconsin campus, including an arboretum with its own small lake. In between are every twee, crunchy, boho business you’d expect to find in a college town: food co-ops, a farmer’s market, an Asian fusion restaurant, alternative bookstores selling “Visualize Whirled Peas” bumper stickers. (There are even more on Williamson Street, a.k.a. Willy Street, which runs north of the capitol.) Madison was the birthplace of public radio, back in 1932. If you like NPR’s vibe, you’ll love this town.

2. Iowa City, Iowa

Iowa City is home to the Midwest’s most Midwestern bookstore, Prairie Lights. (That title used to belong to Borders, in Ann Arbor, but they overexpanded and died.) This is a literary town, since the University of Iowa is home to the Iowa Writers Workshop, where T.C. Boyle, Raymond Carver, Stuart Dybek, and Jane Smiley all learned to write short stories suited for The Iowa Review, the university’s literary magazine. The Hamburg Inn #2 is an always-crowded breakfast diner that serves a Presidential Breakfast (since so many candidates are in Iowa now), and “pieshakes” (Dutch apple, French silk, blueberry.) The Englert Theatre is a concert venue with a classic neon marquee.

3. Ann Arbor, Michigan

Madison is a state capital, but Ann Arbor exists entirely because of the University of Michigan. The bronze “M” on the Diag, the greensward in front of the Harlan Hatcher Library, is the epicenter of town. The football stadium, known as the Big House, is almost big enough to seat all 123,851 Ann Arborites. We mentioned that Borders is gone, but it has been amply replaced by Literati Bookstore, which next month is hosting an event by Bonnie Jo Campbell — the Michigan writer, since the demise of Jim Harrison. No visit to Ann Arbor is complete without a visit to Zingerman’s Deli, although I think its sandwiches are overpriced and overrated. I’d recommend a walk in the Arb, on bluffs overlooking the Huron River.

4. Bloomington, Indiana

Bloomington is not only a top-tier Big Ten town, it’s the highlight of Indiana. Indiana is the quintessential small-town state, and Bloomington is especially quaint, with a square surrounding a domed courthouse. Most of the campus is built of limestone, which is quarried in the area. (That’s why the townies in Breaking Away were known as “Cutters.”) In 1987, Lou Reed joined John Mellencamp for an unadvertised performance at the Bluebird, a Bloomington nightclub. (Both musicians were in town for Farm Aid.) Indiana University professor Glenn Gass buttonholed Reed in an alley and talked him into appearing before his History of Rock class the next day.

5. Columbus, Ohio

Columbus, pop. 905,748, is the biggest Big Ten city, and also Ohio’s state capital. Is it a college town, or a city with a college hidden inside? I asked my niece, Sara, who attends The Ohio State University: “I would say it feels like a mix of both. Columbus is probably most well known for OSU and the attention its football team attracts, but it is still a big city and there is so much to do that has nothing to do with the university. The Columbus Crew (MLS soccer team) interests a lot of Columbus residents, there’s also a great food scene and arts scene.” Sara also recommended the best bars: “For undergrads who can’t get into bars that are strict with IDs, I would say Three’s, Midway, and Ethyl & Tank…Outrinn near campus has a casual atmosphere that’s a mix of indoor and outdoor space (hence the name), cheap drinks ($2 doubles on Thursdays always draws a crowd), and a window to the pizza shop, Sicilia’s, next door. Bars like Standard and Lincoln Social are popular among older undergrads and grad students/young professionals, but they are definitely bougier and have overpriced drinks in my opinion.” The Ohio State Buckeyes football team is usually ranked in the top 10, so “the football atmosphere is intense for sure. Students have been known to start drinking around 6 a.m. for noon games and even later games sometimes. You are basically expected to wear some sort of OSU apparel and at least look at the score on your phone even if you’re not going to the game.” 

6. East Lansing, Michigan

East Lansing is a college town distinct from the state capital to its west. The Red Cedar River flows through campus, past flower gardens that are reminders of Michigan State University’s origins as Michigan Agricultural College. On spring days, when the wind blows north, it carries the scent of manure from the college’s farms. In front of the Breslin Center, home of the Spartan basketball, is a statue of Magic Johnson, who also worked at Quality Dairy, a local party store. Students riot over basketball: the tradition of burning couches dates back to 1999, when MSU lost to Duke in the Final Four. Grand River Avenue is the main drag, running past all the eternal East Lansing businesses: Beggar’s Banquet restaurant, Rick’s American Cafe nightclub, Pinball Pete’s video arcade, Campbell’s Smoke Shop, and El Azteco, a Mexican restaurant.

7. Champaign-Urbana, Illinois

If you like cornfields and vast prairie skies, the University of Illinois has the campus for you. (Let’s be clear that the most important campus buildings — the Illini Union, the National Soybean Research Laboratory — are in Urbana. The football stadium is in Champaign.) U of I’s best known alumni are journalists and writers: Dave Eggers, Bill Geist, Hugh Hefner, Roger Ebert. Outside the Virginia Theater, which hosts the annual Ebertfest, is a statue of the chubby critic sitting in a theater seat, giving a thumbs up. (Empty seats on either side allow tourists to be Siskel.) For beers here, I’d recommend the Blind Pig Brewery, which sells take-home growlers. Another U of I claim to fame: REO Speedwagon formed there, which is why Champaign’s Main Street is Honorary REO Speedwagon Way. Champaign-Urbana is comically called Shampoo Banana, which is the best nickname of any Big Ten town.

8. Evanston, Illinois

Since it’s right next to Chicago, Evanston feels as much like a tony North Shore suburb as a college town. Lakefront mansions, not dumpy student rentals. Except for that spirit shop full of purple sweatshirts, Orrington Avenue could get along fine without Northwestern. That said, the lakefront campus is one of the most beautiful in the Big Ten. Everyone should run around the lagoon once, and linger in the courtyard of Walter Netsch’s brutalist library, which was designed to look as though books are pulled off the shelf. Evidence that Evanston is not a college town is the acrimonious fight over building a new Ryan Field (the football stadium named after the university’s biggest donor, insurance billionaire) that would also host concerts. Ann Arborites would never fight U of M like that.

9. Minneapolis

There’s a lot to see in Minneapolis. The Mary Tyler Moore statue. A giant spoon with a cherry on the end. Target Field, the limestone ballpark of the Twins. Minneapolis is not, however, a college town. The University of Minnesota’s campus, on the banks of the Mississippi River, is not Minneapolis’s most important feature. Bobby Zimmerman of Hibbing enrolled in “the U” in 1959, and left a year later as Bob Dylan, a name he adopted before performing at the 10 O’Clock Scholar, a folk music club in Dinkytown, a neighborhood adjacent to the campus. The 10 O’Clock Scholar has been raised, but Dylan fans can see his old fraternity house, and the apartment building where he lived after getting bored with the fraternity.

10. West Lafayette, Indiana

I conducted a social media survey on Big Ten college towns. The home of Purdue University was universally panned. I’ve only been to West Lafayette once, and don’t remember anything about it (which ought to tell you something), so I’ll share the comments: “West Lafayette just felt like a concrete nothing. I visited a bunch of big ten schools way back when I was figuring out where to go and it stood out as the most depressing by far.”… “West Lafayette is pretty bad but Lafayette proper, which is walkable from campus, is a beautiful and dynamic small(ish) town.” … “West Lafayette has improved over the years, but is not an Ann Arbor or an Evanston.”… “West Lafayette doesn’t suck, but it’s the kind of city that’s populated by 40,000 engineering students. It lacks the weirdness that most people associate with college towns. But it’s pleasant. Low ceiling, but a higher floor than comparable towns.”