2025 Compare Cities Education:
Santa Barbara, CA vs Petaluma, CA

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Highlights
- Petaluma spends 0.9% more per student than Santa Barbara.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 0.9% lower in Petaluma than in Santa Barbara. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Petaluma had 2.9% more residents who had graduated High School compared to Santa Barbara
 Santa Barbara, CAPetaluma, CAUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$16,850$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$13,158  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$8,508$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio21.01  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock142404573
 Students per Counselor539  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock4.6%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.4.9%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock90.5%88.9%
 Some College Educ.18.5%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock9.4%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.50.5%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock9.9%9.3%
 Professional Degree4.6%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock1.4%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 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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