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

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Highlights
- Tuscaloosa spends 31.0% less per student than Columbia.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 25.3% higher in Tuscaloosa than in Columbia. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Tuscaloosa had 0.4% fewer residents who had graduated High School compared to Columbia
 Columbia, SCTuscaloosa, ALUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$11,846$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$14,952  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$5,597$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio15.36  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock5284573
 Students per Counselor336  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock2.9%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.7.3%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock90.1%88.9%
 Some College Educ.18.8%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock6.8%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.44.7%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock11.0%9.3%
 Professional Degree4.5%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock4.0%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 Tuscaloosa    9 Reviews

This is the deal with Tuscaloosa. If you have strong family support that will keep you on track, you may be okay. Alabama has too many broken, uneducated, poor  More

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We've lived in Tuscaloosa for several years now. It's a diverse, friendly college town -- home of the University of Alabama and it's lovely campus -- that is relatively  More

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Tuscaloosa used to have some character. We had a decent live music scene, an up and coming artist community, affordable housing, and there were even several places for  More

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