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

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Highlights
- Santa Monica spends 4.3% more per student than Santa Barbara.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 4.0% higher in Santa Monica than in Santa Barbara. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Santa Monica had 7.2% more residents who had graduated High School compared to Santa Barbara
 Santa Barbara, CASanta Monica, CAUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$17,429$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$13,158  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$8,492$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio21.01  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock65654573
 Students per Counselor539  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock3.1%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.4.9%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock94.3%88.9%
 Some College Educ.18.5%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock6.1%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.50.5%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock17.6%9.3%
 Professional Degree4.6%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock4.1%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 Santa Monica    24 Reviews

I moved here to Santa Monica over 10 years ago from Oklahoma City. I was surprised to see that Oklahoma City was ranked higher than Santa Monica on best places. I  More

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I've lived in Santa Monica for over 30 years. It's a Mediterranean climate--sunny and temperate when the rest of the country is under snow! I am walking distance to  More

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I have lived in this city for 4 decades, and it is never been worse than it is now. It is a dangerous disgusting hell hole. Between the crime, the homeless that are not  More

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