2025 Compare Cities Education:
Council Bluffs, IA vs Des Moines, IA

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Highlights
- Des Moines spends 5.0% less per student than Council Bluffs.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 3.8% higher in Des Moines than in Council Bluffs. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Des Moines had 0.6% fewer residents who had graduated High School compared to Council Bluffs
 Council Bluffs, IADes Moines, IAUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$14,293$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$11,754  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$7,373$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio14.96  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock7994573
 Students per Counselor351  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock6.5%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.8.1%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock87.1%88.9%
 Some College Educ.22.9%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock9.2%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.20.3%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock6.2%9.3%
 Professional Degree1.2%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock0.8%1.5%
Reviews for Council Bluffs    4 Reviews

It's an okay city. Nothing special really. All the fun things to do and good restaurants are across the river in Omaha. I will say CB has some pretty good recreational  More

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Over 9 years ago

Quietly over the years this community has taken untold amounts of riverfront casino tax dollars and converted them into hundreds and hundreds of community improvement  More

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Over 15 years ago

here in council bluffs iowa, we have low crime rate. There have been an increase in shopping areas in the last 2 years and lots of new resturants and three casinos. It  More

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Reviews for Des Moines    53 Reviews

Des Moines is a ok and pretty quiet place but as a teen it could be dramatic because Des Moines do have is fair or violents places to avoid in Des Moines would be the  More

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Dude · 
Over 5 years ago

This city is violent, there are too many gangs especially on the north  More

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Over 6 years ago

Good for the old that like slow pace and cheap buffets. Also good for non-descript mid-westerners that don't like a lot of action. No nightlife or mountains to hike  More

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