2025 Compare Cities Education:
Columbia, SC vs Bakersfield, CA

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Highlights
- Bakersfield spends 11.4% less per student than Columbia.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 47.3% higher in Bakersfield than in Columbia. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Bakersfield had 9.9% fewer residents who had graduated High School compared to Columbia
 Columbia, SCBakersfield, CAUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$15,207$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$14,952  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$7,403$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio15.36  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock352994573
 Students per Counselor336  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock9.3%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.7.3%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock81.5%88.9%
 Some College Educ.18.8%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock8.8%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.44.7%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock5.6%9.3%
 Professional Degree4.5%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock0.7%1.5%
Reviews for Columbia    50 Reviews

Over 2 years ago

I love living in Columbia! I recently graduated from USC and plan to stay. I read the reviews posted here and it shows that like many cities, your experience will depend  More

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Loved living in Columbia, SC prior to my job transfer. It's the perfect size - plenty to do, but still a laid back place. People are extremely friendly, there are  More

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Columbia is such a unique and underrated place. It has a lot of character and history, and good nature trails. Everything feels accessible (by car) and you can get from  More

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Reviews for Bakersfield    75 Reviews

I am a millennial, born and raised here. As someone who wrestled with staying for years, there are a lot of valid reasons to not come to Bakersfield. Air quality, summer  More

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Over 4 years ago

I have lived here all of my life. 40+ years. It used to be fun and kinda safe but now it is so scary to go outside. We are literally a homeless dumping ground and there  More

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I moved here from Seattle 25 years ago, when it had a population of 200,000, and practically the only place to get coffee was a place called “Duke’s Ranch”. Why did I  More

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