City safety & data profile

Cape GirardeauMO

Cape Girardeau, MO is a 39K-resident city in Cape Girardeau County with a median household income of $55,658.

Cape Girardeau County, Missouri. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Cape Girardeau, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Cape Girardeau has a population larger than 73% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $196,300, and 3 hospitals serving the surrounding area.

Data updated 2026-09-04

39K
Population (place)
Top 27%
By size
$55,658
Median income (place)
$196,300
Median home (place)
20.8%
Poverty rate (place)
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The read on Cape Girardeau

Cape Girardeau posts a median household income higher than 16% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 3 hospitals serve the Cape Girardeau area.

Bottom 17%
by median income, US cities
3
hospitals in & near Cape Girardeau

Where Cape Girardeau income ranks nationally

Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)

$55,658 Bottom 16% higher than 16% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles

Cape Girardeau $0 $260,000 every profiled place, bucketed by value

Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year

Largest cities in MO

Population among 83 MO places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.

residents

What this shows Kansas City is the largest MO city on this list; Town and Country leads median income.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

Highest median incomes in MO

Median household income among the same 83-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.

median

What this shows Town and Country posts the highest place-level median income in MO; Kansas City is largest by headcount.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

The quick read

Reading Cape Girardeau, MO beyond the headline numbers

Cape Girardeau sits inside Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, at roughly 37.31°N, -89.52°W. Population 39,462, $55,658 median household income. Median home value $196,300, median rent $876. Poverty rate 20.8%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.

3 hospitals in/around Cape Girardeau, 2.5/5 avg rating, 2 with an ER.

20.8% of Cape Girardeau, MO residents live below the poverty line, placing it in the hardest-hit quarter of reporting cities. Read every median on this page against that: half the households are above it, and a large minority are far below.

The median home in Cape Girardeau costs roughly 3.5 times median household income, below the midpoint for reporting cities, so ownership remains reachable on a typical local wage.

Only 7.9% of Cape Girardeau workers report working from home, the lowest quarter of reporting cities -- an economy still built around showing up somewhere.

Among the CDC measures on this page, frequent mental distress departs furthest from its peer median: 19.6% in Cape Girardeau, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.

Cape Girardeau's median age is 34.5 years, in the youngest quarter of reporting cities.

Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Cape Girardeau from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.

Population (place)
39,462
Cape Girardeau · Census Place
Median Income (place)
$55,658
-38% vs avg
Median Home Value (place)
$196,300
-53% vs avg
Median Age (place)
34.5
years · ACS place

10-Year Trends 2013–2024

County-level trend (Cape Girardeau County): Cape Girardeau's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.

20132024
Population
83K+8%
Median Income
$68,464+47%
Median Home Value
$220,700+61%
Poverty Rate
13.9%-12%
Unemployment
2.3%-68%

Economics

Economics indicators for Cape Girardeau, MO
IndicatorValue
Median Rent
$876/mo
Poverty Rate
20.8% +68% vs avg
Unemployment 2.6%
Bachelor's Degree+ 34.9%
Work From Home 7.9%
Public Transit 0.2%

Population

White 76.4%
African American 13.2%
Asian 2.6%
Two or More Ethnicities 4.1%

Health Profile 15 measures

Health Indicators

Short Sleep Duration
38.4%
Obesity
35.5%
High Blood Pressure
35.2%
Physical Inactivity
30.5%
Frequent Mental Distress
19.6%
Binge Drinking
16.1%
Current Smoking
15.8%
Frequent Physical Distress
14.5%
Diabetes
11.5%
Current Asthma
11.1%

Preventive Care

Dental Visit 55.2%
Annual Checkup 78.3%

Other Measures

Lack of Health Insurance
9.5%
Coronary Heart Disease
6.6%
Stroke
3.6%

Hospitals 3 total

Rating Distribution
★★★★★
0
★★★★
0
★★★
1
★★
1
★
0
Average Rating
2.5/5
Total Hospitals
3
With ER
2
SAINT FRANCIS MEDICAL CENTER
CAPE GIRARDEAU · Acute Care Hospitals · ER
★★★☆☆
MERCY HOSPITAL SOUTHEAST
CAPE GIRARDEAU · Acute Care Hospitals · ER
★★☆☆☆

What alerts and safety updates affect Cape Girardeau?

No area-tagged alerts are on record for Cape Girardeau right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.

City alert dispatch desk

Sheet MO-CAPE-GIRARDEAU · Cape Girardeau

Cape Girardeau: no area-tagged alerts on record — state hubs carry the live CAP stream.

  • FEED-QUIET No tagged alerts
  • LEAD-NONE Feed idle
  • DESK-IDLE Awaiting feed

Counts reflect published articles tagged to Cape Girardeau; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse Missouri state hubs · Methodology

Read with this city profile

Tracking Safety Alerts in Your Area

How Areazine tags Cape Girardeau in the CAP feed
All safety guides →

Frequently Asked Questions 6

What is the population of Cape Girardeau, MO? ▼
Cape Girardeau, MO has a population of 39,462 people, located in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri.
What is the median household income in Cape Girardeau? ▼
The median household income in Cape Girardeau, MO is $55,658 per year, per the U.S. Census ACS. The poverty rate is 20.8%.
What is the median home value in Cape Girardeau? ▼
The median home value in Cape Girardeau, MO is $196,300. Median rent is $876/month.
What are the top health concerns in Cape Girardeau? ▼
The top health indicators in Cape Girardeau include Short Sleep Duration (38.4%), Obesity (35.5%), High Blood Pressure (35.2%). Data from CDC PLACES.
How many hospitals are in Cape Girardeau? ▼
Cape Girardeau has 3 hospitals with an average rating of 2.5/5 stars. 2 have emergency departments.
What is the median age in Cape Girardeau? ▼
The median age in Cape Girardeau, MO is 34.5 years. 34.9% of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher.

Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8

Two ACS-derived peer sets for Cape Girardeau, both outside Missouri so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.

Similar poverty rate

Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside MO (20.8% here).

South Bend, IN 20.8% Bossier City, LA 20.8% Covington, KY 20.8% Shawnee, OK 20.8%

Similar median income

Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside MO ($55,658 here).

Galveston, TX $55,631 Battle Creek, MI $55,693 Greenfield, MA $55,614 Laramie, WY $55,613

Compare Cape Girardeau with another city

Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.

Quick picks:

Nearby Cities 8

Jackson, MO 15K Sikeston, MO 16K Carbondale, IL 26K Herrin, IL 13K Marion, IL 18K Paducah, KY 25K Union City, TN 11K Farmington, MO 18K
All cities in Missouri → Compare Cape Girardeau vs Jackson → All comparisons → Browse all cities

Using Cape Girardeau's profile

Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.

  • Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the Cape Girardeau area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
  • Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
  • Compare Cape Girardeau against Missouri peers on any ranking lens. Explore Missouri

Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.

Data Sources

All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (Cape Girardeau County) where that is the smallest published unit.

Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.