2025 Compare Cities Education:
Lake Forest, CA vs Santa Barbara, CA

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Highlights
- Santa Barbara spends 9.3% more per student than Lake Forest.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 9.5% lower in Santa Barbara than in Lake Forest. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Santa Barbara had 5.4% fewer residents who had graduated High School compared to Lake Forest
 Lake Forest, CASanta Barbara, CAUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$16,705$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$12,911  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$7,862$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio23.21  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock123874573
 Students per Counselor595  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock7.2%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.3.6%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock88.0%88.9%
 Some College Educ.20.5%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock7.2%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.48.7%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock12.6%9.3%
 Professional Degree2.7%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock3.5%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 Santa Barbara    51 Reviews

I moved to Santa Barbara around 23 years ago to study at Brooks, which like most of the Santa Barbara that I knew—has been destroyed. Homelessness, drugs, gangs, high  More

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Over 4 years ago

I fell in love with Santa Barbara about thirty years ago and finally moved here a few years ago. Because of the price of homes, it is an expensive place to live. The  More

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If you like high crime, paying a $4,500 a month mortgage and crazy high taxes, this is the place for you. It’s too bad because it wasn’t always like this. When I moved  More

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