83,658 people (2024 Census estimate, +2.2% since 2020)
579 square miles of land · 145 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
21 active community water systems list Cape Girardeau County in the area they serve, reporting 71,320 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| CAPE GIRARDEAU PWS groundwater · local government · MO4010136 | 39,941 served |
| JACKSON PWS groundwater · local government · MO4010404 | 15,000 served |
| CAPE PERRY COUNTY PWSD 1 SOUTH groundwater · local government · MO4024096 | 8,545 served |
| CAPE GIRARDEAU COUNTY PWSD 2 groundwater · local government · MO4024097 | 2,913 served |
| CAPE GIRARDEAU COUNTY PWSD 4 groundwater · local government · MO4024100 | 1,743 served |
| HILLCREST UTILITY OPERATING COMPANY INC groundwater · private · MO4036038 | 700 served |
| CAPE GIRARDEAU COUNTY PWSD 5 groundwater · local government · MO4021532 | 485 served |
| DELTA PWS groundwater · local government · MO4010211 | 480 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 223 people were held in Cape Girardeau County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2021), or 418 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2016 it was about 233.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
5 school districts have their office in Cape Girardeau County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $64 million — $58.3 million to run schools, about $10,205 per student, plus $1.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $35 million local (mostly property tax), $31.1 million state, $7.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $36.9 million.
Spent $69.2 million — $53.1 million to run schools, about $12,129 per student, plus $9.6 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $36.9 million local (mostly property tax), $20.9 million state, $14.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $57.3 million.
Spent $4.4 million — $4 million to run schools, about $11,181 per student, plus $221,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.1 million local (mostly property tax), $2.2 million state, $753,000 federal. Long-term debt: $3.5 million.
Spent $4.7 million — $3.7 million to run schools, about $15,008 per student, plus $297,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.9 million local (mostly property tax), $1.7 million state, $604,000 federal. Long-term debt: $91,000.
Spent $5 million — $3.2 million to run schools, about $14,455 per student, plus $1.6 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.5 million local (mostly property tax), $2.7 million state, $894,000 federal. Long-term debt: $2 million.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively Moderate compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Cape Girardeau County about $68 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
371 bridges in Cape Girardeau County: 137 in good condition, 221 fair, and 13 poor (3.5%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| US 61 S over IS 55 IS 55 · built 1961 | 7,017 vehicles a day |
| MO 34 E over DILLARD CR · built 1932 | 4,384 vehicles a day |
| MO 25 S over DRAIN DTCH NO 25 · built 1926 | 4,210 vehicles a day |
| RT Z E over HUBBLE CR · built 1936 | 2,729 vehicles a day |
| RT Z E over HUBBLE CR OVRFL · built 1936 | 2,729 vehicles a day |
| US 61 S over ERLIDE CR · built 1922 | 1,592 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $42.7 million of work in Cape Girardeau County in fiscal 2025, about $523 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for Missouri are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Cape Girardeau County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Cape Girardeau County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Missouri: the state government and every county in Missouri.
Nearby counties: Bollinger County (19 mi) · Alexander County, IL (23 mi) · Perry County (23 mi) · Scott County (24 mi) · Union County, IL (25 mi) · Jackson County, IL (32 mi).