2025 Compare Cities Education:
Columbia, MO vs Ames, IA

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Highlights
- Ames spends 19.3% more per student than Columbia.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 14.9% higher in Ames than in Columbia. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Ames had 1.6% more residents who had graduated High School compared to Columbia
 Columbia, MOAmes, IAUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$16,979$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$11,303  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$7,158$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio12.79  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock6004573
 Students per Counselor260  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock0.7%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.2.5%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock97.0%88.9%
 Some College Educ.17.6%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock7.7%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.53.8%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock17.2%9.3%
 Professional Degree4.6%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock9.7%1.5%
Reviews for Columbia    41 Reviews

If you are an active person and love to be outdoors and go to college sporting events, Columbia is a great place to live! I run and bike and go to Mizzou events a lot. I  More

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Over 4 years ago

I've live in CoMo for 20 yrs. NOT sure about this state of the art water park??!! There are great parks but nothing else for families. NO zoo, museum, and definitely no  More

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I lived there for a year and hated every minute. Columbia reminded me of the San Francisco of the Midwest. It is overrun with homeless people. Law enforcement is  More

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Reviews for Ames    12 Reviews

Over 13 years ago

Hello, I am in San Jose Ca, but am seriously thinking of moving somewhere much slower for a better quality of living. I've just turned 59, so I'm kinda preparing for  More

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Over 13 years ago

Like every other city Ames has both good and bad points. The good points are: low cost of living, very friendly people, lots of outdoor activities and quite a few events  More

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Ames enjoys a high quality of life at a very affordable cost, substantially lower than many other communities. The presence of Iowa State University, a large (28,000  More

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