2025 Compare Cities Education:
Santa Maria, CA vs Bakersfield, CA

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Highlights
- Bakersfield spends 9.0% less per student than Santa Maria.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 7.7% higher in Bakersfield than in Santa Maria. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Bakersfield had 31.1% more residents who had graduated High School compared to Santa Maria
 Santa Maria, CABakersfield, CAUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$15,207$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$13,158  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$7,403$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio21.01  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock352994573
 Students per Counselor539  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock9.3%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.10.0%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock81.5%88.9%
 Some College Educ.20.4%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock8.8%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.13.6%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock5.6%9.3%
 Professional Degree0.8%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock0.7%1.5%
Reviews for Santa Maria    12 Reviews

Over 6 years ago

I live in Orcutt which is a town of around 35,000 on the south side of Santa Maria. Santa Maria has, as everyone has noted, the best climate in the world. It never  More

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I have lived in Santa Maria / Orcutt for several years, but it is time to leave. I have no issues with the weather. Our climate is mild and comfortable with no extremes.  More

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The weather is very mild without a huge temperature change with the seasons. The winters are chilly but not cold and the summers are warm but not hot. Of course there  More

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Reviews for Bakersfield    75 Reviews

I am a millennial, born and raised here. As someone who wrestled with staying for years, there are a lot of valid reasons to not come to Bakersfield. Air quality, summer  More

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Over 4 years ago

I have lived here all of my life. 40+ years. It used to be fun and kinda safe but now it is so scary to go outside. We are literally a homeless dumping ground and there  More

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I moved here from Seattle 25 years ago, when it had a population of 200,000, and practically the only place to get coffee was a place called “Duke’s Ranch”. Why did I  More

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