Metro area · Missouri

Cape Girardeau, MO-IL metro area

Cape Girardeau, MO-IL is a metropolitan area of 3 counties in Missouri, Illinois, home to 99,215 residents. Cape Girardeau, MO-IL metro area has a quality-of-life score of 50 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #465 of 925 US metro and micro areas. Among metro and micro areas based in Missouri it ranks #9 of 25. It ranks best on mammography screening (high), pharmacies (high) and preventable hospital stays (low). It ranks worst on high ozone days (high), comfortable days (low) and distance to an airport (high).

50Moderate
Quality-of-life score
#465 of 925 metro and micro areas
Missouri
#9 of 25 in MO
Population
99,215 (2025)
Land area
1,432 mi²
Density
69.3 /mi²
CBSA code
16020

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 67 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map
Location of Cape Girardeau, MO-IL metro area

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US metro and micro areas.

  • Safety38#576/924
  • Economy51#453/925
  • Housing66#315/925
  • Health47#488/925
  • Healthcare79#193/923
  • Environment3#891/917
  • Education68#301/925
  • Infrastructure36#596/925
  • Community64#333/925
  • Leisure & amenities48#481/925

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Cape Girardeau, MO-IL metro area ranks highest and lowest among US metro and micro areas (score = percentile, 100 = best).

Strengths

Weaknesses

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Metro and micro areas like Cape Girardeau, MO-IL metro area five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Cape Girardeau, MO-IL metro area in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

Federal contract spending

Federal grants & assistance

Grants, loans (counted at their subsidy cost), direct payments and insurance, by fiscal year of the action (USAspending.gov, FABS). Reported apart from contracts and never added to them.

Counties in Cape Girardeau, MO-IL

Whole counties, as the U.S. Office of Management and Budget delineates the area. Federal spending below is the exact sum of these counties.

  1. Cape Girardeau CountyCentral county5383,999
  2. Bollinger CountyOutlying county1010,646
  3. Alexander CountyOutlying county154,570

States

The share of the area's residents living in each state.

Principal cities

The cities the area is named for.

  1. Cape GirardeauPrincipal city40,344

Largest cities and towns

By population, for places with most of their residents in the area.

  1. Cape Girardeau40,344
  2. Jackson15,659
  3. Marble Hill1,758
  4. Cairo1,682
  5. Tamms589
  6. Delta532
  7. Olive Branch499
  8. Gordonville473
  9. Thebes353
  10. Oak Ridge298
  11. East Cape Girardeau283
  12. Millersville280
  13. McClure239
  14. Sedgewickville201
  15. Dutchtown187
  16. Burfordville147
  17. Allenville127
  18. Shawneetown122
  19. Old Appleton109
  20. Unity77
  21. Whitewater64
  22. Pocahontas55
  23. Glen Allen50
  24. Zalma50

Other metro and micro areas in Missouri

Areas based in Missouri, best score first.

Neighboring metro and micro areas

Places that share a border, best score first.

Similar metro and micro areas

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

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