Cape Girardeau County, Missouri

Cape Girardeau County is a county in Missouri, United States, roughly 110 miles south of St.
Louis on Interstate 55. It had a population of 81,710 at the 2020 census, an estimated 83,999 by
2025, and covers 586 square miles (1,518 km2) centred near 37°23′N 89°41′W.

Jackson is the county seat; its postal code is 63755. The county holds 4 cities, 7 incorporated
villages and 27 unincorporated communities — including 4 census-designated places —
across 10 townships, and it runs on Central Time. Its FIPS code is 29031.

Towns & Villages in Cape Girardeau County

Cape Girardeau County has 38 named places on record: 4 cities, 7 incorporated villages, 4
census-designated places (CDPs) and 23 unincorporated communities with no local government of
their own. Missouri’s villages are legally incorporated, so the table below groups them
under Type “Town” alongside the cities; CDP stands for census designated place, and
Unincorp. covers crossroads and rural communities with no formal boundary.

Scott City straddles the county line: most of the city and its 4,346 residents sit in Scott
County, with only its northern edge reaching into Cape Girardeau County, the reverse of the more
familiar pattern where a county-namesake city sits wholly inside its own county. Cape Girardeau,
the county’s largest city, likewise has a small share of its area and population across the
line in Scott County to the south.

ZIP Codes

• 63701 — Cape Girardeau (also serves Gordonville)
• 63702 — Cape Girardeau (a Cape Girardeau PO box ZIP)
• 63703 — Cape Girardeau
• 63705 — Cape Girardeau (a Cape Girardeau PO box ZIP)
• 63755 — Jackson (also serves Shawneetown)
• 63744 — Delta
• 63780 — Scott City
• 63752 — Gordonville
• 63769 — Oak Ridge
• 63745 — Dutchtown
• 63766 — Millersville
• 63779 — Pocahontas
• 63785 — Whitewater
• 63739 — Burfordville
• 63770 — Old Appleton

Allenville, New Wells and the county’s 23 unincorporated communities have no ZIP of
their own; mail is delivered under the nearest incorporated town’s code. Fruitland, five
miles north of Jackson on US 61, ran its own post office from 1886 until it closed in 1968 and
now uses Jackson’s ZIP.

Geography

Cape Girardeau County sits in southeastern Missouri, in the transition zone between the
Ozark foothills and the Mississippi River bottomlands, in the hilly and forested western and
northern part of the county. Of its 586 square miles, 579 are land and 7.8 are water, about 1.3
percent. The Mississippi River forms the entire eastern county line; the flat, once-cotton
country around Delta and Dutchtown sits in the river’s flood plain, while the rest of the
county rises into wooded hills.

Perry County lies to the northwest, Bollinger County to the west, Stoddard County to the
south and Scott County to the southeast. Across the Mississippi River in Illinois, Union County
borders the county to the northeast and Alexander County to the east. Perry County, Bollinger County, Stoddard County, Scott County, Union County and Alexander County all border Cape
Girardeau directly.

Demographics

Cape Girardeau County had a population of 81,710 at the 2020 census, up from 75,674 in 2010,
and the latest estimate puts the county near 83,999 residents. Cape Girardeau and Jackson are by
far the two largest communities, together holding well over half the county’s population.
Median household income runs about $68,464, close to Missouri’s statewide 2023 ACS figure of
$68,545. Population density works out to roughly 141 people per square mile of land, reflecting
a county anchored by one mid-sized city surrounded by farmland, small towns and river bottoms.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 7,360 people,
followed by retail trade at 5,061 and educational services at 4,694. St. Francis Medical Center
and Mercy Hospital Southeast, both in Cape Girardeau, are the county’s two largest single
employers, together accounting for several thousand jobs. Procter & Gamble runs a large
consumer-products plant in Cape Girardeau, and Southeast Missouri State University, also in Cape
Girardeau, is both a major employer and the region’s only four-year public university. The
Cape Girardeau Public School District is another significant local employer. The county’s
river-town heritage and university presence together support a steady calendar of festivals and
riverfront events through the warmer months.

History

Cape Girardeau County was organized on October 1, 1812 as one of five original counties
formed in the Missouri Territory after the Louisiana Purchase. It is named for Ensign Sieur Jean
Baptiste de Girardot, a French officer stationed at Kaskaskia in the 1700s who founded a trading
post on the Mississippi River in 1733 that grew into the present-day city of Cape Girardeau. The
“cape” in the name came from a rock promontory that once overlooked the river; it was
demolished during railroad construction.

Jackson, the county seat, was renamed in honor of Andrew Jackson on August 31, 1819, becoming
the first town in the country to carry his name. A Civil War skirmish was fought there in 1861,
and the Union-held Battle of Cape Girardeau followed on April 26, 1863. The present Cape
Girardeau County Courthouse in Jackson, designed by P.H. Weathers, was completed in 1908 after
an earlier 1818 courthouse burned in 1870. One of Missouri’s oldest unsolved cases dates to
July 2, 1954, when 20-year-old schoolteacher Bonnie Huffman was found murdered in a ditch outside
Delta; the case remains open.

Getting There

Interstate 55 runs the length of the county, passing through Cape Girardeau. U.S. Route 61 and
Missouri Routes 25, 34, 72 and 74 also cross the county.

• St. Louis — roughly 110 miles north
• Sikeston — roughly 30 miles south
• Poplar Bluff — roughly 60 miles southwest
• Carbondale, Illinois — roughly 33 miles northeast

Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, about six miles southwest of downtown Cape Girardeau, offers
Essential Air Service flights to Chicago O’Hare and Dallas-Fort Worth. The nearest Amtrak
station is in Carbondale, Illinois, the southern terminus of the Illini and Saluki routes and a
stop on the City of New Orleans line, with connecting Thruway bus service to St. Louis.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Cape Girardeau County located?
It sits in southeastern Missouri on the Mississippi River, roughly 110 miles south of St. Louis,
bordered by Perry, Bollinger, Stoddard and Scott counties and, across the river, Union and
Alexander counties in Illinois.

What is the population of Cape Girardeau County?
81,710 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 83,999.

How big is Cape Girardeau County?
586 square miles (1,518 km2), of which 579 square miles are land.

What is the county seat of Cape Girardeau County?
Jackson, the first US town named for Andrew Jackson, in 1819.

How many towns and cities are in Cape Girardeau County?
Four cities — Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Scott City (mostly in Scott County) and Delta
— plus seven incorporated villages, four census-designated places and 23 unincorporated
communities.

What ZIP codes does Cape Girardeau County use?
63701, 63702, 63703 and 63705 for Cape Girardeau; 63755 for Jackson and Shawneetown; and separate
codes for Delta, Scott City, Gordonville, Oak Ridge, Dutchtown, Millersville, Pocahontas,
Whitewater, Burfordville and Old Appleton.

What is Cape Girardeau County known for?
The Battle of Cape Girardeau in 1863, Jackson’s status as the first US town named for
Andrew Jackson, and Southeast Missouri State University.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Missouri.