2025 Compare Cities Education:
Columbia, MD vs Bethesda, MD

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Highlights
- Bethesda spends 10.2% more per student than Columbia.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 1.3% higher in Bethesda than in Columbia. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Bethesda had 3.1% more residents who had graduated High School compared to Columbia
 Columbia, MDBethesda, MDUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$19,736$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$16,615  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$10,703$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio13.46  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock4904573
 Students per Counselor331  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock1.1%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.2.0%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock98.1%88.9%
 Some College Educ.14.0%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock1.7%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.62.8%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock28.6%9.3%
 Professional Degree4.8%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock13.1%1.5%
Reviews for Columbia    28 Reviews

Over 5 years ago

Lived here for a while, beautiful opportunities, pays well, overall nice  More

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Been here 30 years was great at first but once they added a transit bus from baltimore to columbia 15-18 years ago that was the beginning of the end. And about 5 years  More

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Columbia can be described in one word: unequal. The neighborhood I live in, River Hill, is jam-packed with almost million-dollar homes, while the neighborhoods of Long  More

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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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