Cape Girardeau County vs Lincoln County

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

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

Cape Girardeau County has the higher population (82,180 vs 61,636 in Lincoln County). Lincoln County has the higher median household income ($85,276 vs $68,912 in Cape Girardeau County). Lincoln County has the higher median home value ($224,800 vs $208,300 in Cape Girardeau County).

Population, income & housing

	Cape Girardeau County	Lincoln County
Population	82,180	61,636
Median age	37.0 yrs	37.5 yrs
Median household income	$68,912	$85,276
Median home value	$208,300	$224,800
Median gross rent	$881	$972
Housing units	35,892	23,600
Homeownership rate	66.0%	78.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	33.9%	18.4%
Unemployment rate	2.9%	3.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cape Girardeau County	Lincoln County
Population	78,491 → 82,180 (+4.7%)	56,477 → 61,636 (+9.1%)
Median household income	$53,732 → $68,912 (+28.3%)	$64,196 → $85,276 (+32.8%)
Median home value	$160,500 → $208,300 (+29.8%)	$163,300 → $224,800 (+37.7%)
Median gross rent	$808 → $881 (+9.0%)	$854 → $972 (+13.8%)

Cape Girardeau County

Population

78,49182,180

Median household income

$53,732$68,912

Median home value

$160,500$208,300

Median gross rent

$808$881

Lincoln County

Population

56,47761,636

Median household income

$64,196$85,276

Median home value

$163,300$224,800

Median gross rent

$854$972

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cape Girardeau County	Lincoln County
Under 5	5.7%	6.8%
5 to 17	15.8%	18.5%
18 to 24	14.0%	7.3%
25 to 34	12.4%	13.8%
35 to 44	11.6%	13.5%
45 to 54	11.0%	12.0%
55 to 64	12.2%	13.8%
65 to 74	9.9%	9.1%
75 and over	7.3%	5.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cape Girardeau County	Lincoln County
White (non-Hispanic)	84.1%	92.1%
Black or African American	8.1%	1.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	1.4%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.3%	0.1%
Two or more races	3.1%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	2.8%	2.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cape Girardeau County	Lincoln County
No high school diploma	7.2%	8.9%
High school graduate	32.1%	40.6%
Some college or associate's	26.9%	32.1%
Bachelor's degree	21.7%	13.4%
Graduate or professional degree	12.2%	5.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cape Girardeau County	Lincoln County
Drove alone	81.2%	81.4%
Carpooled	8.1%	8.4%
Public transit	0.2%	0.3%
Walked	1.5%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.0%	6.6%
Other means	1.1%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cape Girardeau County	Lincoln County
1-unit, detached	70.8%	74.7%
1-unit, attached	2.5%	1.7%
2 to 4 units	8.8%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	10.3%	2.7%
20 or more units	2.9%	0.4%
Mobile home & other	4.6%	16.3%

Poverty & households

	Cape Girardeau County	Lincoln County
Poverty rate	14.1%	10.7%
Average household size	2.41	2.72
Mean commute (minutes)	19	32
Median year structure built	1982	1996