2025 Compare Cities Education:
Lake Forest, CA vs Merced, CA

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Highlights
- Merced spends 6.2% less per student than Lake Forest.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 4.4% lower in Merced than in Lake Forest. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Merced had 20.2% fewer residents who had graduated High School compared to Lake Forest
 Lake Forest, CAMerced, CAUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$14,332$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$12,911  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$7,391$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio23.21  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock61024573
 Students per Counselor595  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock14.1%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.3.6%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock74.3%88.9%
 Some College Educ.20.5%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock9.4%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.48.7%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock4.0%9.3%
 Professional Degree2.7%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock1.1%1.5%
Reviews for Lake Forest    16 Reviews

I've lived in Lake Forest for over a decade, before that elsewhere in OC and also up in LA. Lake Forest isn't perfect but it's really improved over the past decade,  More

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As a retired senior who has lived in Lake Forest (formerly El Toro) since 1977 I think LF is a great place if you can afford it. When we moved here in June '77 homes  More

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I’ve lived here for 2 years. Ok, it’s more like a 4 but there are so many idiots downplaying what it’s like here and giving Lake Forest ones and twos. There are a lot of  More

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Reviews for Merced    44 Reviews

Merced is totally slept on - you want a little bit of everything CA has to offer, at a fraction of the price of other CA cities? Merced is the place to go. The town  More

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Over 5 years ago

Good place to live. More affordable than most of california. The city is growing and there is alot of business and growth here. Moved from the Bay area years ago and  More

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Great place to live. Lots of progress and changes coming to the city. Great place to raise a family. UC Merced is expanding and businesses are investing. Downtown is  More

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