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

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Highlights
- Lake Forest spends 9.3% less per student than Petaluma.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 11.5% higher in Lake Forest than in Petaluma. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Lake Forest had 2.7% more residents who had graduated High School compared to Petaluma
 Petaluma, CALake Forest, CAUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$15,277$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$13,921  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$8,037$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio20.82  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock163834573
 Students per Counselor399  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock3.4%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.4.8%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock93.0%88.9%
 Some College Educ.24.2%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock9.3%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.40.3%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock12.4%9.3%
 Professional Degree3.4%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock1.9%1.5%
Reviews for Petaluma    16 Reviews

I agree with the low star reviews. Been here for 25 years, raised a family and seen everything turn to the left and worse. Weather is glorious, love the old Victorians  More

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We’ve lived here for 3 years and we love it. It has taken some time to grow on us. We moved from SF where we had lived over 15 years, we were not used to one year leases  More

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I’ve lived here a couple of years (after living in others parts of the Bay Area for 15+ years) and I love it! Great neighborhoods, friendly folks, good schools with  More

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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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