2025 Compare Cities Education:
Santa Barbara, CA vs Madison, WI

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Highlights
- Madison spends 5.6% more per student than Santa Barbara.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 37.2% lower in Madison than in Santa Barbara. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Madison had 8.7% more residents who had graduated High School compared to Santa Barbara
 Santa Barbara, CAMadison, WIUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$17,641$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$13,158  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$7,988$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio21.01  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock4344573
 Students per Counselor539  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock2.0%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.4.9%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock95.6%88.9%
 Some College Educ.18.5%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock7.5%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.50.5%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock15.9%9.3%
 Professional Degree4.6%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock5.9%1.5%
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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Reviews for Madison    78 Reviews

Unfortunately, a number of these reviews are politically based. Madison remains the only shining star in Wisconsin’s economy. The economy is broadly based, with  More

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Have been living in Madison for almost 3 years. It’s very safe, ppl generally friendly and for a town of its size it has fair number of good restaurants and interesting  More

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Lacks balance and zero accountability.   More

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