Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Perryville earns a D, 212th among Missouri's 247 graded towns, mostly because of incomes and health. The median household income is $52K, and 19% of residents live below the poverty line. Residents are less healthy than 78% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. What it does well: it has 12 miles of trail. 43% of working residents work locally in Perryville, against 13% in Missouri’s towns and 8% across U.S. towns. Perryville's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) is stronger than in 97% of U.S. towns. Perryville has 5 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Shelby-Nicholson-Schindler House and Doerr-Brown House.
Where Perryville beats most towns.
Shelby-Nicholson-Schindler House
Census counts: 177 in 1850, 8,555 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1856 and 2 maps from 1923 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Missouri), ordered by how far Perryville is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Perryville, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Perryville.
Perryville draws workers from Cape Girardeau and beyond, fares better on crime within Missouri than nationally and is healthier than towns with similar incomes.
The biggest place to walk is County Lake State Wildlife Management Area, 310 acres with 3.1 miles of trail. The concentration of trails for Perryville comes to 1.5 miles per square mile. Parks and preserves locally: 4, covering 452 acres.
| Perryville | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 1.5 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 8.8% | 2.1% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. County Lake State Wildlife Management Area | 3.1 mi | 310 |
| 2. Perryville City Park | 1.9 mi | 101 |
| 3. The Bank of Missouri Soccer Complex | 1.2 mi | 37 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Perry Co. 32 school district. Of its 7 schools, two are listed below, each with the reason. The largest public high school is Perryville SR. High, with 743 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perryville Primary CenterLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–2 | Grades PK–2 | 492 | – |
| Perryville SR. HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 743 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MO on state tests and graduation
6,229 jobs are based in Perryville, 1.5 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in Perryville dropped by 973, to 6,229. The town’s mean commuting time is 20 minutes. The top destinations are Cape Girardeau (6%), St. Louis (2%) and Ste. Genevieve (2%). 6.5% of Perryville workers work remotely from home.
| Perryville | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $52,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 6.5% | 9% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Against the 6,421 U.S. towns with household incomes like Perryville’s, it is less healthy than 52%, so that grade isn’t only a matter of income.
33% of adults get no exercise outside work in Perryville. Among adults in the town, 16% report frequent physical distress and 40% sleep under 7 hours.
| Perryville | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 30% | 25% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 15% | 14% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 38% | 36% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 22% | 19% |
| What stands out | Perryville | MO |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 23.8% | 15.8% |
| More adults with COPD | 9.8% | 8% |
| More adults with heart disease | 8% | 6.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The national flood insurance program has paid 4 claims in Perryville since 1986. Compared with just over four fifths of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage in the town is higher. FEMA puts 34% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to earthquakes, and 17% to strong winds.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The range runs from 24° on a January night to 88° on a July afternoon, with about 5 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
59.6% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 45.6% across Missouri.
Home values are up 7.8% over the year to September 2026. The share of households in Perryville who are owner-occupiers: 63%. For Perryville, the going rate for rent is $944 a month.
| Perryville | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 63% | 64% | 73% |
| Median rent | $944 a month | $972 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
At 21.7 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 56% of Missouri’s graded towns.
The rate of reported violence in Perryville is 3.7 per 1,000 residents. The town’s rate of thefts and burglaries stands at 6.7 per 1,000 residents.
| Perryville | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.7 per 1,000 residents | 2.2 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 6.7 per 1,000 residents | 12.5 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
None within 15 miles of Perryville; the nearest are
About 4 of every 100 Perryville residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Missouri.
8.8% of the town is conserved land, across 4 parks and preserves.
5 places in Perryville on the National Register of Historic Places.
5 notable people were born in Perryville.
City in Missouri, U.S.
Perryville is a city in and the county seat of Perry County, Missouri, United States. The population was 8,555 at the 2020 United States census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Perryville.
| Town | MO rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perryville | #212 | D | B− | C+ | C+ | C− |
| Shakertowne | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Shakertowne isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Perryville with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Perryville grades D overall, better than 13% of U.S. towns and #212 of 247 in Missouri. It grades C− for health, C+ for safety and C+ for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a D.
That is 3.8 years of the area's median household income ($62,981 across the county). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
5 notable people were born here, including Chris Janson and Thomas E. Noell.
