2026 Compare Cities Education:
Bethesda, MD vs Lake Forest, CA

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Highlights
- Lake Forest spends 22.6% less per student than Bethesda.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 70.3% higher in Lake Forest than in Bethesda. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Lake Forest had 5.2% fewer residents who had graduated High School compared to Bethesda
 Bethesda, MDLake Forest, CAUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$15,277$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$16,697  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$8,037$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio13.63  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock163834573
 Students per Counselor292  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock3.4%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.0.8%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock93.0%88.9%
 Some College Educ.5.0%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock9.3%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.87.9%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock12.4%9.3%
 Professional Degree17.5%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock1.9%1.5%
Reviews for Bethesda    12 Reviews

Bethesda is awesome if you want to live near DC and in a relatively safe city that has few parking issues. Montgomery county has parking lots in downtown Bethesda and  More

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Amenities are plentiful, but costs continue to rise as do local and state taxes. Overall not a friendly place to  More

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Essentially an upscale suburb of Washington DC. Public transport is easy, there's plenty to do (though with none of the edginess of living closer in DC) and it's minutes  More

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Reviews for Lake Forest    16 Reviews

I've lived in Lake Forest for over a decade, before that elsewhere in OC and also up in LA. Lake Forest isn't perfect but it's really improved over the past decade,  More

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As a retired senior who has lived in Lake Forest (formerly El Toro) since 1977 I think LF is a great place if you can afford it. When we moved here in June '77 homes  More

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I’ve lived here for 2 years. Ok, it’s more like a 4 but there are so many idiots downplaying what it’s like here and giving Lake Forest ones and twos. There are a lot of  More

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