Cape Girardeau is a medium-sized city located in the state of Missouri. With a population of 40,818 people and 11 associated neighborhoods, Cape Girardeau is the 17th largest community in Missouri.

A relatively large number of people in Cape Girardeau telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 7.86% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

Because there are quite a few people attending college in Cape Girardeau, it is thought of as a college town. To the benefit of the many students in the area, Cape Girardeau provides a number of services, amenities and opportunities geared towards their needs and activities.

Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 16.49 minutes getting to work every day.

The citizens of Cape Girardeau are very well educated compared to the average community in the nation: 34.88% of adults in Cape Girardeau have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.

The per capita income in Cape Girardeau in 2022 was $32,930, which is upper middle income relative to Missouri, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $131,720 for a family of four. However, Cape Girardeau contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Cape Girardeau is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Cape Girardeau home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Cape Girardeau residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Cape Girardeau include German, English, Irish, Italian, and Scottish.

The most common language spoken in Cape Girardeau is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French.