Photo: Drowzy at English Wikipedia · Public domainCape Girardeau has lower household incomes than 80% of U.S. towns
Cape Girardeau grades C+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. The poverty rate is 20.8%; Missouri has 12.6%. About half work in Cape Girardeau; the top destination outside it is Jackson (5%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Cape Girardeau at work: what stands out
Cape Girardeau is where the jobs are
Cape Girardeau has 24,951 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Cape Girardeau are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 24 across Missouri. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Missouri worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
The four measures behind Cape Girardeau’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cape Girardeau is better than 38% of U.S. towns, #125 of 247 in Missouri. Unemployment holds Cape Girardeau’s grade up (2.6%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down. It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cape Girardeau could be anywhere from C to B−.
Who commutes out of Cape Girardeau, and who commutes in
On a workday 8,423 residents head out to work, 7,358 work right here, and 17,593 people come in from elsewhere.
About 50,000 people are in Cape Girardeau on a workday afternoon, 22% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
A commute of about 16 minutes in Cape Girardeau
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cape Girardeau workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 18,593 commuters (the 8% who work from home are left out). Across Missouri: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The distance from Cape Girardeau to work
About 30% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Where Cape Girardeau’s workers come from
Where Cape Girardeau clocks in
3% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The kinds of work in Cape Girardeau
24,951 jobs are based in Cape Girardeau.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cape Girardeau, 2013 → 2023: 28,611 → 24,951. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Cape Girardeau’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most trips from Cape Girardeau start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cape Girardeau is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns, #75 of 247 in Missouri. Both inputs place Cape Girardeau near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 20,178 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 8.5% of Cape Girardeau households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Cape Girardeau’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 29,000 to 55,000, Cape Girardeau ranks 826th of 1,019 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Wildwood MO | 34,955 | $161K | 2.2% | 2.3% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 51 | Chesterfield MO | 49,309 | $133K | 3.9% | 3.2% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 82 | Ballwin MO | 30,901 | $125K | 4.8% | 2.9% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 824 | University FL | 41,902 | $60K | 27.0% | 8.4% | 9% | C+ |
| 825 | Foothill Farms CA | 36,435 | $68K | 17.6% | 7.1% | 3% | C+ |
| 826 | Cape Girardeau MO | 40,977 | $56K | 20.8% | 2.6% | 47% | C+ |
| 827 | Kiryas Joel NY | 47,147 | $50K | 37.6% | 2.2% | 41% | C+ |
| 828 | Palm Tree NY | 47,147 | $50K | 37.6% | 2.2% | 41% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,019 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Cape Girardeau, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
Cape Girardeau and its neighbors
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cape Girardeau workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Girardeau | – | C+ | B+ | 16 min | $55,658 |
| Jackson | 5% | B+ | C+ | 20 min | $77,105 |
| Scott City | 2% | B− | C | 22 min | $62,599 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Jackson. Darker towns draw more of Cape Girardeau’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Cape Girardeau: questions
What is the median household income in Cape Girardeau?
$55,658 (±$2,313) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cape Girardeau?
20.8%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cape Girardeau?
16 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cape Girardeau work?
47% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jackson (5%, 7 mi), St. Louis (3%, 99 mi), Sikeston (3%, 30 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cape Girardeau walkable?
Cape Girardeau is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cape Girardeau without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cape Girardeau, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cape Girardeau
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.