Photo: Drowzy at English Wikipedia · Public domainCape Girardeau’s library runs 19 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Municipal Library District of the City of Cape Girardeau serves Cape Girardeau’s 36,170 residents. Last year it lent 203K books, movies and e-books and logged 119K visits.
What stands out about Cape Girardeau’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Cape Girardeau’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Cape Girardeau is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns, #90 of 229 in Missouri. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Civic life counts registered nonprofits, library visits and online volunteering groups, so it can miss civic life that runs through congregations, mutual aid or neighbors looking out for each other.
Library visits: IMLS Public Libraries Survey, FY2024. Nonprofits: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, October 2026. Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. How TownRatings grades civic life →
147 community nonprofits are registered in Cape Girardeau
3.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
Community nonprofits, by kind
Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (56 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
13.0%
13.0% of Cape Girardeau’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 9.3% in the typical Missouri town and 7.5% nationally.
Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. ZIP-code figures, weighted by where Cape Girardeau’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Municipal Library District of the City of Cape Girardeau serves 36,170 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 57 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
203K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 93K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.6 times last year, on average.
50,946 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 7 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Cape Girardeau last year.
Find it
Municipal Library District of the City of Cape Girardeau, 711 N Clark St., Cape Girardeau.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Cape Girardeau? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.32 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Cape Girardeau cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.4M budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
Retail prices are typical, rounded down: a new book $17, a kids’ book $12, an e-book or e-audiobook $15, a movie rental $4, a class or program $10, a computer or Wi-Fi session $3. The average cardholder’s month = the library’s yearly loans, attendance and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ its 19,339 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Girardeau | Municipal Library District of the City of Cape Girardeau | 5.6 | 68 | B+ |
| Jackson | Riverside Regional Library | — | 57 | A |
| Scott City | Scott City Branch | — | 33 | B |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average; libraries are compared with others serving about as many people. How TownRatings uses library figures →
Questions about the library and civic life in Cape Girardeau
Does Cape Girardeau have a public library?
Yes. Municipal Library District of the City of Cape Girardeau, 711 N Clark St., serves Cape Girardeau’s 36,170 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 68 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Municipal Library District of the City of Cape Girardeau fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Cape Girardeau’s library?
It logged 3.3 visits and lent 5.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Cape Girardeau’s civic life grade?
B+ Cape Girardeau is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns on civic life, #90 of 229 in Missouri. The grade combines library visits per resident, community nonprofits per 1,000 residents and the share of adults 25–44 in volunteering groups. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Cape Girardeau.
Libraries: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024. Each library reports its own numbers. Distances are straight-line from the town center. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.