2025 Compare Cities Education:
Columbia, SC vs Ottumwa, IA

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Highlights
- Ottumwa spends 31.7% less per student than Columbia.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 5.6% lower in Ottumwa than in Columbia. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Ottumwa had 4.2% fewer residents who had graduated High School compared to Columbia
 Columbia, SCOttumwa, IAUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$11,720$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$14,952  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$6,352$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio15.36  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock7584573
 Students per Counselor336  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock6.5%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.7.3%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock86.6%88.9%
 Some College Educ.18.8%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock10.7%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.44.7%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock5.7%9.3%
 Professional Degree4.5%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock0.9%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 Ottumwa    5 Reviews

Over 12 years ago

Ottumwa has a seemingly high rate of theft-related crimes as well as drug use which I'm sure correlates to the incidences of assault. For a community of 20-30,000, the  More

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Over 16 years ago

ottumwa, Iowa has no diverse culture. It is not very open especially when it comes to branching out to new ideas of others culture...The idea of culture here is the pro  More

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Over 17 years ago

Pros: 1. Extremely low cost of living and housing 2. Affordable place to live Cons: 1. High crime rate 2. Very poor school system 3. Economically depressed 4.  More

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