East Lansing is a city in Ingham County Michigan, although a small portion lies in Clinton County. It is best known as the home of Michigan State University.

As of the Census of 2000, there were 46,525 people, 14,390 households, and 5,094 families residing in the city. The median age was 22 years old. The median income for a household in the city was $28,217, and the median income for a family was $61,985.

Michigan State University, a member of the Big Ten Conference, is the largest education institution in the State of Michigan. It is the sixth largest in the United States. MSU has more than 200 programs of study including three medical schools, a law school, and numerous PhD programs.

East Lansing Public Schools is a medium sized suburban school district. The 12.5 square miles includes most of the City of East Lansing, and small portions of Lansing, Lansing Township, and Meridian Township. During the 2005-06 school year, 3,420 students were educated in six elementary buildings: 4(k-4) buildings, 2 (5-6) buildings one middle school (7-8), and one high school (9-12).

There are many neighborhood parks with playground equipment, picnic tables, and sporting fields. There are also 4.5 miles of paved trails through East Lansing. Community events in East Lansing include: Art Festival, Project Pride, East Lansing Film Festival, Great Lakes Folk Festival, Summer Solstice, Jazz Festival and Winter Festival and Chili Cook-Off among others.

The settlement of East Lansing began around 1847, the same year that Lansing became the capital of Michigan. Downtown East Lansing was an important junction of two major Native American Trail the Okemah Road and the Park Lake Trail. By 1850, the Lansing and Howell Plank Road improved travel between Detroit and Lansing. Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University) was founded in 1855 and established in what is now East Lansing in 1857.

For the first four decades, the students and faculty lived almost entirely on the college campus. That changed in 1887, when professors William J. Beal and Rolla C. Carpenter created Collegeville, along what is now Harrison, Center, and Beal streets north of Michigan Avenue. At the time the post office address was “Agricultural College, Michigan” A school district encompassing the community was created in 1900. In 1907, incorporation as a city was proposed under the name “College Park”, the legislature approved the charter but changed the name to “East Lansing”.