Cape Girardeau is a city in Cape Girardeau and Scott Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. At the 2020 census, the population was 39,540. The city is one of two principal cities of the Cape Girardeau, MO-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses Alexander County, Illinois, Bollinger County, Missouri and Cape Girardeau County, Missouri and has a population of 97,517. The sliver of the city located in Scott County is part of the Sikeston Micropolitan Statistical Area, and the entire city forms the core of the Cape Girardeau-Sikeston Combined Statistical Area.
Downtown Cape Girardeau
Waterfront of Cape Girardeau along the Mississippi River during the Great Flood of 1993.
Cape Central High School
The Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge.
Cape Girardeau County, Missouri
Cape Girardeau County is located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Missouri; its eastern border is formed by the Mississippi River. At the 2020 census, the population was 81,710. The county seat is Jackson, the first city in the US to be named in honor of President Andrew Jackson. Officially organized on October 1, 1812, the county is named after Ensign Sieur Jean Baptiste de Girardot, an official of the French colonial years. The "cape" in the county's name is named after a former promontory rock overlooking the Mississippi River; this feature was demolished during railroad construction. Cape Girardeau County is the hub of the Cape Girardeau–Jackson metropolitan area. Its largest city is Cape Girardeau.
Old Cape Girardeau County Courthouse in Jackson