2025 Compare Cities Education:
Rochester, MN vs West Des Moines, IA

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Highlights
- West Des Moines spends 2.8% less per student than Rochester.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 23.2% lower in West Des Moines than in Rochester. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- West Des Moines had 2.4% more residents who had graduated High School compared to Rochester
 Rochester, MNWest Des Moines, IAUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$14,293$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$12,126  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$7,373$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio20.21  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock7994573
 Students per Counselor435  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock1.3%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.2.9%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock96.6%88.9%
 Some College Educ.15.8%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock9.6%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.48.7%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock13.3%9.3%
 Professional Degree5.2%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock1.6%1.5%
Reviews for Rochester    31 Reviews

Roch (and Minnesota) is a great place IF you live off the govt dole; subsidize undesirable things (through generous welfare benefits, lax law enforcement and sentences,  More

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Rochester is very vanilla. As a progressive, this place is not good. The area leans conservative and you'll see Trump signs everywhere... so that tells you the type of  More

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Over 5 years ago

I moved here over 20 years ago from California and I was in shock for the first couple of years that people actually lived in such a cold climate! Winter starts around  More

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Reviews for West Des Moines    4 Reviews

Over 16 years ago

I just moved here from out-of-state a few months ago and have been pleasantly surprised by the broad range of activities and amenities available in this medium sized IA  More

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Over 16 years ago

Am contemplating a move to WDM from the East Coast (NYC). Might there be anyone out there that may have experienced this and could offer guidance or comment. Thanks.   More

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We just moved to West Des Moines and we love it here! We moved here three months ago and every weekend we have been able to do something different and fun. There is  More

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