Cape Girardeau vs Jackson

A side-by-side comparison of Cape Girardeau and Jackson: population, income, housing, and more.

Cape Girardeau and Jackson are places in Missouri. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Cape Girardeau has the higher population (40,047 vs 15,532 in Jackson). Jackson has the higher median household income ($80,435 vs $54,870 in Cape Girardeau). Jackson has the higher median home value ($227,600 vs $186,100 in Cape Girardeau).

Population, income & housing

	Cape Girardeau	Jackson
Population	40,047	15,532
Median age	34.2 yrs	34.7 yrs
Median household income	$54,870	$80,435
Median home value	$186,100	$227,600
Median gross rent	$855	$955
Housing units	18,590	6,267
Homeownership rate	52.2%	69.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	36.6%	35.7%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cape Girardeau	Jackson
Population	39,566 → 40,047 (+1.2%)	14,872 → 15,532 (+4.4%)
Median household income	$45,733 → $54,870 (+20.0%)	$64,497 → $80,435 (+24.7%)
Median home value	$151,800 → $186,100 (+22.6%)	$164,800 → $227,600 (+38.1%)
Median gross rent	$794 → $855 (+7.7%)	$880 → $955 (+8.5%)

Cape Girardeau

Population

39,56640,047

Median household income

$45,733$54,870

Median home value

$151,800$186,100

Median gross rent

$794$855

Jackson

Population

14,87215,532

Median household income

$64,497$80,435

Median home value

$164,800$227,600

Median gross rent

$880$955

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cape Girardeau	Jackson
Under 5	5.5%	6.0%
5 to 17	11.7%	21.7%
18 to 24	21.4%	8.4%
25 to 34	12.3%	14.2%
35 to 44	10.6%	14.5%
45 to 54	8.5%	10.3%
55 to 64	11.0%	8.9%
65 to 74	9.9%	8.7%
75 and over	9.1%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cape Girardeau	Jackson
White (non-Hispanic)	74.6%	88.0%
Black or African American	15.0%	1.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	2.6%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.1%
Some other race	0.5%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.5%	4.2%
Hispanic or Latino	3.4%	4.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cape Girardeau	Jackson
No high school diploma	8.4%	5.3%
High school graduate	29.0%	30.3%
Some college or associate's	26.0%	28.7%
Bachelor's degree	21.6%	22.9%
Graduate or professional degree	14.9%	12.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cape Girardeau	Jackson
Drove alone	79.9%	79.0%
Carpooled	8.7%	8.8%
Public transit	0.2%	0.2%
Walked	2.4%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.1%	10.9%
Other means	1.6%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cape Girardeau	Jackson
1-unit, detached	62.6%	74.6%
1-unit, attached	2.0%	5.5%
2 to 4 units	12.2%	9.7%
5 to 19 units	16.5%	6.7%
20 or more units	4.4%	3.4%
Mobile home & other	2.2%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Cape Girardeau	Jackson
Poverty rate	20.7%	8.7%
Average household size	2.23	2.57
Mean commute (minutes)	16	21
Median year structure built	1975	1991