2025 Compare Cities Education:
Mesa, AZ vs Santa Barbara, CA

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Highlights
- Santa Barbara spends 58.1% more per student than Mesa.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 15.2% higher in Santa Barbara than in Mesa. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Santa Barbara had 2.7% fewer residents who had graduated High School compared to Mesa
 Mesa, AZSanta Barbara, CAUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$16,705$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$8,653  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$7,862$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio18.24  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock123874573
 Students per Counselor718  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock7.2%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.5.6%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock88.0%88.9%
 Some College Educ.27.5%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock7.2%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.29.5%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock12.6%9.3%
 Professional Degree1.5%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock3.5%1.5%
Reviews for Mesa    61 Reviews

Mesa is a really good city despite some trouble with Superstition Springs and the failure that is Fiesta Mall, there is nice areas throughout and some areas that need to  More

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Over 2 years ago

As someone who was born in Mesa and has lived here in the 85210 in Dobson Ranch for the last 13 years after moving out from Chandler. I can tell you that most of the  More

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I’m a native to Arizona and growing up here has taught me that people just don’t care, and the Mormon community is huge! It’s normal in the state of AZ for kids to start  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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