2025 Compare Cities Education:
Columbia, SC vs Birmingham, AL

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Highlights
- Birmingham spends 23.1% less per student than Columbia.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 25.8% higher in Birmingham than in Columbia. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Birmingham had 2.8% fewer residents who had graduated High School compared to Columbia
 Columbia, SCBirmingham, ALUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$13,194$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$14,952  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$6,493$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio15.36  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock5474573
 Students per Counselor336  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock3.0%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.7.3%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock87.9%88.9%
 Some College Educ.18.8%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock8.4%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.44.7%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock6.8%9.3%
 Professional Degree4.5%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock1.6%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 Birmingham    25 Reviews

Birmingham is better than ever, meaning it is beginning to gain half of the stuff a normal city of its size has. The food scene is definitely an exception and is above  More

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Lived in the Birmingham for years. The small city was divided by the historical train tracks into the north half and the south one. The north section was the  More

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Over 5 years ago

I moved to Birmingham 6.5 years ago for a new job. The city is very boring in my opinion, there isn't much to do over the weekend except shopping or eating out. Summer  More

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