2025 Compare Cities Education:
Santa Monica, CA vs Richmond, VA

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Highlights
- Richmond spends 11.3% less per student than Santa Monica.
- The Student Teacher Ratio is 34.1% lower in Richmond than in Santa Monica. (lower means fewer students in each classroom).
- Richmond had 7.0% fewer residents who had graduated High School compared to Santa Monica
 Santa Monica, CARichmond, VAUnited States
 Expend. per Student  Unlock$15,456$15,905
 Educ. Expend. per Student$14,374  Unlock$13,142
 Instr. Expend. per Student  Unlock$8,210$7,999
 Pupil/Teacher Ratio21.86  Unlock16.23
 Students per Librarian  Unlock2414573
 Students per Counselor380  Unlock530
 Grade School Educ.  Unlock4.7%4.8%
 Some High School Educ.2.6%  Unlock6.3%
 High School Educ.  Unlock87.7%88.9%
 Some College Educ.12.4%  Unlock20.0%
 2 yr College Grad.  Unlock5.0%8.7%
 4 yr College Grad.67.8%  Unlock33.7%
 Masters Grad.  Unlock12.1%9.3%
 Professional Degree7.7%  Unlock2.2%
 Doctorate Degree  Unlock2.2%1.5%
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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Reviews for Richmond    109 Reviews

Over 3 years ago

Lived here for a year and it’s not perfect but it’s constantly improving now (areas redevloped, more businesses, job growth). Cost of living is great compared to  More

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Over 4 years ago

We love Richmond so much that when we talk about where we'd like to live if we could live anywhere in the US, we always come back to RVA. We live in the city proper  More

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Over 4 years ago

I'm an out-of-towner but am coming up on 1 year in Richmond. I would summarize it this way: the best thing and the worst thing about Richmond is its location. I'll  More

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