2025 Compare Cities Education:
Rochester, NY vs Ottumwa, IA

Change Cities
Highlights
- Ottumwa spends 56.8% less per student than Rochester.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 23.1% higher in Ottumwa than in Rochester. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Ottumwa had 5.1% more residents who had graduated High School compared to Rochester
 Rochester, NYOttumwa, IAUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$11,720$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$21,397  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$6,352$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio11.78  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock7584573
 Students per Counselor265  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock6.5%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.11.9%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock86.6%88.9%
 Some College Educ.17.8%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock10.7%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.28.8%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock5.7%9.3%
 Professional Degree2.1%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock0.9%1.5%
Reviews for Rochester    79 Reviews

Stay out of the rougher patches, and you'll find a pretty solid city. I live within close proximity to it, and the crime from it DOES rub off on us (auto theft), but  More

   |    Reply

Rochester isn't perfect (I'll detail pros and cons), but it's certainly perfect for me and my husband. We've lived here for 4 years and are getting ready to purchase our  More

   |    Reply

Rochester is a scenic city with so much to offer in terms of things to do and having 4 seasons, except the summer is more like a long spring!! It's a relatively unknown  More

   |    Reply

Start Your Review of Rochester

Reviews for Ottumwa    5 Reviews

Over 12 years ago

Ottumwa has a seemingly high rate of theft-related crimes as well as drug use which I'm sure correlates to the incidences of assault. For a community of 20-30,000, the  More

   |    Reply

Over 16 years ago

ottumwa, Iowa has no diverse culture. It is not very open especially when it comes to branching out to new ideas of others culture...The idea of culture here is the pro  More

   |    Reply

Over 17 years ago

Pros: 1. Extremely low cost of living and housing 2. Affordable place to live Cons: 1. High crime rate 2. Very poor school system 3. Economically depressed 4.  More

   |    Reply

Start Your Review of Ottumwa


Premium Subscription
Includes Cost of Living compares for child care, utilities, transportation, health, taxes, housing for home owners vs renters, weather, insurance premiums and so much more.


The premier source for comprehensive city data for over 30 years.

© Best Places. All rights reserved.