2025 Compare Cities Education:
Merced, CA vs Fort Dodge, IA

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Highlights
- Fort Dodge spends 2.2% more per student than Merced.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 33.2% lower in Fort Dodge than in Merced. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Fort Dodge had 20.4% more residents who had graduated High School compared to Merced
 Merced, CAFort Dodge, IAUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$14,653$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$12,556  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$7,814$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio22.2  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock14274573
 Students per Counselor512  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock2.0%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.11.7%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock89.4%88.9%
 Some College Educ.23.7%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock11.1%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.16.7%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock3.7%9.3%
 Professional Degree0.9%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock0.7%1.5%
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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Reviews for Fort Dodge    4 Reviews

Corrupt politicians always scheming to funnel public money to wealthy private interests, creating a welfare dependent economy that will be imploding sooner than later,  More

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Over 10 years ago

Before moving to the Fort Dodge area please consider other options. The city is a decaying town, streets have definitely seen better days and are filthy. There are not  More

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Over 15 years ago

I see that everyone is rather hard on Fort Dodge. I grew up and lived there until I married and (like a failed pioneer) moved east to Gettysburg, Pa. It was the best  More

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