2025 Compare Cities Education:
Boulder, CO vs Santa Barbara, CA

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Highlights
- Santa Barbara spends 3.4% more per student than Boulder.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 22.8% higher in Santa Barbara than in Boulder. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Santa Barbara had 9.3% fewer residents who had graduated High School compared to Boulder
 Boulder, COSanta Barbara, CAUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$16,705$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$12,130  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$7,862$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio17.11  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock123874573
 Students per Counselor213  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock7.2%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.1.7%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock88.0%88.9%
 Some College Educ.10.6%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock7.2%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.76.8%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock12.6%9.3%
 Professional Degree5.7%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock3.5%1.5%
Reviews for Boulder    55 Reviews

Outside of the university, Boulder had a very distinctive "wealthy hippy" feel. A lot of alternative medicine and a matching ethos. This is changing some among my  More

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We moved here from Texas about 4 years ago and love it here! The amazing sense of community and high regard for the environment are two of the main reasons we love  More

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Over 5 years ago

Most people do much worse than Boulder. I'm the most critical person I've ever met who is never happy or satisfied -- so that's a pretty huge compliment.   More

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Reviews for Santa Barbara    51 Reviews

I moved to Santa Barbara around 23 years ago to study at Brooks, which like most of the Santa Barbara that I knew—has been destroyed. Homelessness, drugs, gangs, high  More

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Over 4 years ago

I fell in love with Santa Barbara about thirty years ago and finally moved here a few years ago. Because of the price of homes, it is an expensive place to live. The  More

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If you like high crime, paying a $4,500 a month mortgage and crazy high taxes, this is the place for you. It’s too bad because it wasn’t always like this. When I moved  More

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