The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Cape Girardeau, MO
Cape Girardeau is a city of 46,300 in Cape Girardeau County and the main city of the Cape Girardeau metro area, home to 98,200 · Updated November 2026
Is Cape Girardeau, MO safe?
Yes, crime in Cape Girardeau is low, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of A-. Because most US neighborhoods are safe as well, Cape Girardeau sits near the middle: safer than the neighborhoods where 43% of Americans live. Violent and property crime both grade A- here. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Cape Girardeau run from A+ to F, so check the map below.
A-
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 796 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
43% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Cape Girardeau as a whole, and 57% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Cape Girardeau scores 796.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Cape Girardeau, MO at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Cape Girardeau, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out in Cape Girardeau
Aggravated assault stands out among A-graded cities. For the typical resident of an A-graded US city, the figure is 1.2 aggravated assaults a year per 1,000 residents; Cape Girardeau has 4.8.
Car thefts happen in the morning far more often than nationally. In Cape Girardeau, 45% of reported car thefts happen in the morning (6 am to noon), against 23% nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Cape Girardeau
Low crime is the norm across Cape Girardeau: 86% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 5% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Cape Girardeau run from A+ to F; 48% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
86%
A or B 86%C 9%D or F 5%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Cape Girardeau, the northeast side has the least crime and the southeast side the most.
Is crime going up in Cape Girardeau?
Reported violent crime in Cape Girardeau peaked in 2020 and has fallen 32% since, back near its 2019 level. Property crime is down 30% from 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 5.7 to 6.2 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 35 to 25 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Cape GirardeauUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Cape Girardeau. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Cape Girardeau
Violent, US
Property, Cape Girardeau
Property, US
2016
+5%
+4%
+17%
+15%
2017
+4%
+4%
+10%
+12%
2018
-16%
+0%
+9%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+58%
+4%
-14%
-8%
2021
+16%
+6%
-16%
-10%
2022
+4%
+5%
-31%
-6%
2023
+11%
+2%
-27%
-7%
2024
+8%
-4%
-30%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Cape Girardeau
CrimeGrade™ estimates Cape Girardeau has about 43 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 15% more than the US as a whole and close to Missouri.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
Theft makes up about 40% of crime reported in Cape Girardeau. Assault is less common but costs more, because each one does more harm.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when crime happens in Cape Girardeau
Cape Girardeau has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Cape Girardeau, 67% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often in parking lots and garages: 35% of them, against 31% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (67%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (43%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Parking lots and garages (35%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (51%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (51%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Cape Girardeau compares with nearby cities
Cape Girardeau has the most crime of its 3 nearest cities.
Shops, empty homes and walkability in Cape Girardeau
Two things set Cape Girardeau apart: it has 17.7 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally, and 11.0% of its homes standing empty, against 7.1% nationally. Places like that tend to report more theft; here theft sits near the national middle.
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.17.7 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 94% of US city residents
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.11.0% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 89% of US city residents
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft and assault. 82% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D (16 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 57% of US city residents
Show all 6
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.3.2 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 88% of US city residents
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Cape Girardeau: F (0 of 100).NoneUS: noneLower than for 84% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.60 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Higher than for 76% of US city residents
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs Cape Girardeau
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Cape Girardeau about $1,286 a year per household, 7% more than the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $84 million a year, or $1,814 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$4.2 million
$90
Rape
$1.3 million
$27
Robbery
$400,000
$9
Assault
$9.5 million
$204
Burglary
$1.1 million
$24
Theft
$4.0 million
$87
Vehicle theft
$1.4 million
$31
Arson
$140,000
$3
Vandalism
$2.0 million
$43
Total
$24 million
$519
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Cape Girardeau means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in Cape Girardeau, MO average a SchoolGrade of C+: 44% of students test proficient, against 36% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Cape Girardeau on SchoolGrade
