2026 Compare Cities Education:
Columbia, MD vs West Palm Beach, FL

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Highlights
- West Palm Beach spends 27.3% less per student than Columbia.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 21.7% higher in West Palm Beach than in Columbia. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- West Palm Beach had 8.9% fewer residents who had graduated High School compared to Columbia
 Columbia, MDWest Palm Beach, FLUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$13,018$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$16,615  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$6,960$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio13.46  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock7454573
 Students per Counselor331  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock6.9%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.2.0%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock86.8%88.9%
 Some College Educ.14.0%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock9.2%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.62.8%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock9.8%9.3%
 Professional Degree4.8%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock1.4%1.5%
Reviews for Columbia    28 Reviews

Over 6 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 West Palm Beach    51 Reviews

Over 9 years ago

Palm Beach county is getting over crowded at least from point of view. High property taxes and home owners insurance (due to hurricanes) traffic is getting worse.   More

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Over 10 years ago

I couldn't think of a better place to live. There are so many things to do around town. Traffic in not bad, for the most part. There's a good mix of cultural diversity.  More

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Over 10 years ago

Why is Cultural diversity considered a pro for West Palm  More

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