2025 Compare Cities Education:
Columbia, MD vs Petaluma, CA

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Highlights
- Petaluma spends 5.9% less per student than Columbia.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 54.7% higher in Petaluma than in Columbia. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Petaluma had 4.9% fewer residents who had graduated High School compared to Columbia
 Columbia, MDPetaluma, CAUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$16,850$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$16,615  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$8,508$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio13.46  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock142404573
 Students per Counselor331  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock4.6%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.2.0%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock90.5%88.9%
 Some College Educ.14.0%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock9.4%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.62.8%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock9.9%9.3%
 Professional Degree4.8%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock1.4%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 Petaluma    16 Reviews

I agree with the low star reviews. Been here for 25 years, raised a family and seen everything turn to the left and worse. Weather is glorious, love the old Victorians  More

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We’ve lived here for 3 years and we love it. It has taken some time to grow on us. We moved from SF where we had lived over 15 years, we were not used to one year leases  More

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I’ve lived here a couple of years (after living in others parts of the Bay Area for 15+ years) and I love it! Great neighborhoods, friendly folks, good schools with  More

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