2025 Compare Cities Education:
Columbia, SC vs Raleigh, NC

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Highlights
- Raleigh spends 32.3% less per student than Columbia.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 1.6% lower in Raleigh than in Columbia. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Raleigh had 2.1% more residents who had graduated High School compared to Columbia
 Columbia, SCRaleigh, NCUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$11,618$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$14,952  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$6,316$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio15.36  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock8294573
 Students per Counselor336  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock3.6%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.7.3%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock92.3%88.9%
 Some College Educ.18.8%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock7.3%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.44.7%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock13.7%9.3%
 Professional Degree4.5%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock2.5%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 Raleigh    224 Reviews

I moved to Raleigh in 2018. Before that, I lived in Orange County CA, Boulder CO, South Africa, Northern California, Arizona, and Toronto. I say all this to give  More

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Excellent for a great many people or categories of people. As far as prices: ratio of wage and job opportunity here with housing remains one of the better ones in the  More

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Over 2 years ago

I attended university here in the early 90s and came back around 2005 and never left. I'm surprised at the other negative reviews honestly. Yes, housing is pricey in  More

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