2025 Compare Cities Education:
Santa Maria, CA vs Half Moon Bay, CA

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Highlights
- Half Moon Bay spends 20.2% more per student than Santa Maria.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 5.8% lower in Half Moon Bay than in Santa Maria. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Half Moon Bay had 41.2% more residents who had graduated High School compared to Santa Maria
 Santa Maria, CAHalf Moon Bay, CAUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$20,087$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$13,158  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$9,271$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio21.01  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock80554573
 Students per Counselor539  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock8.5%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.10.0%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock87.9%88.9%
 Some College Educ.20.4%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock7.7%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.13.6%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock13.6%9.3%
 Professional Degree0.8%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock4.4%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 Half Moon Bay    3 Reviews

HMB has one of the best climates in the world. It also has some very good restaurants. You have the ocean on one side and scenic foothills to the east.It would be heaven  More

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Over 19 years ago

Rural coastal living in a great community close to San Francisco and Silicon  More

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Over 20 years ago

I lived in HMB for 17 years and loved (almost) every minute there. Beautiful hills to the east of the town and the Pacific ocean to the west. Close to San Francisco,  More

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