Cape Girardeau County, Missouri: Stable Rural Right county. In 2024, voted R+46%. Republican peak: R+50 in 2016.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+46MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Stable Rural RightAkashic typology
- Population
- 82,7352024 5-year
- Median household income
- $68,4642024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 84.6%2024 5-year
- Black
- 7.4%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.9%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+18 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+50 in 2016MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Madison County, GA · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Cape Girardeau CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Cape Girardeau County, with each precinct boundary colored by Democratic-vs-Republican margin.
—
Margin—
Turnout—
Harris +50Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
presidential history
Presidential margin, 1876–2024
Democratic minus Republican, by election
| Year | Margin (D minus R) |
|---|---|
| 1876 | No data |
| 1880 | No data |
| 1884 | No data |
| 1888 | No data |
| 1892 | −4.5% |
| 1896 | −0.2% |
| 1900 | −8.7% |
| 1904 | −16.5% |
| 1908 | −12.5% |
| 1912 | +6.6% |
| 1916 | −11.1% |
| 1920 | −24.1% |
| 1924 | −9.5% |
| 1928 | −14.7% |
| 1932 | +18.2% |
| 1936 | +9.3% |
| 1940 | −3.6% |
| 1944 | −9.8% |
| 1948 | +5.3% |
| 1952 | −15.0% |
| 1956 | −16.4% |
| 1960 | −16.2% |
| 1964 | +13.1% |
| 1968 | −18.9% |
| 1972 | −42.8% |
| 1976 | −9.4% |
| 1980 | −25.4% |
| 1984 | −40.6% |
| 1988 | −35.3% |
| 1992 | −13.6% |
| 1996 | −20.3% |
| 2000 | −35.2% |
| 2004 | −38.3% |
| 2008 | −33.6% |
| 2012 | −43.7% |
| 2016 | −49.7% |
| 2020 | −44.9% |
| 2024 | −46.3% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 10,561 | 29,315 | 40,537 | ||
| R | 10,760 | 28,907 | 40,426 | ||
| R | 8,492 | 27,017 | 37,311 | ||
| R | 9,728 | 25,370 | 35,829 | ||
| R | 12,208 | 24,768 | 37,355 | ||
| R | 10,568 | 23,814 | 34,565 | ||
| R | 9,334 | 19,832 | 29,859 | ||
| R | 9,957 | 15,557 | 27,622 | ||
| R | 9,605 | 13,464 | 28,355 | ||
| R | 7,904 | 16,583 | 24,556 | ||
| R | 7,346 | 17,404 | 24,750 | ||
| R | 8,625 | 14,861 | 24,549 | ||
| R | 10,440 | 12,607 | 23,164 | ||
| R | 6,280 | 15,693 | 21,973 | ||
| R | 6,656 | 10,298 | 19,305 | ||
| D | 11,431 | 8,776 | 20,207 | ||
| R | 8,172 | 11,331 | 19,503 | ||
| R | 7,633 | 10,638 | 18,271 | ||
| R | 7,933 | 10,729 | 18,684 | ||
| D | 7,872 | 7,084 | 14,971 | ||
| R | 6,845 | 8,339 | 15,195 | ||
| R | 8,642 | 9,297 | 17,978 | ||
| D | 8,892 | 7,374 | 16,330 | ||
| D | 8,394 | 5,796 | 14,307 | ||
| R | 5,464 | 7,344 | 12,829 | ||
| R | 4,967 | 6,076 | 11,666 | ||
| R | 4,584 | 7,537 | 12,273 | ||
| R | 2,993 | 3,753 | 6,873 | ||
| D | 2,587 | 2,203 | 5,854 | ||
| R | 2,621 | 3,381 | 6,091 | ||
| R | 2,187 | 3,090 | 5,487 | ||
| R | 2,318 | 2,778 | 5,283 | ||
| R | 2,473 | 2,482 | 5,004 | ||
| R | 1,996 | 2,203 | 4,606 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
25.2%
English
10.4%
Irish
8.6%
American
7.1%
French
1.7%
Scottish
1.7%
Italian
1.4%
African American
5.9%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander combined.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity that overlaps the race categories, so these shares can total more than 100%. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
2024 ACS
Age distribution by sex
Median age: 37.1 in this county, 39.1 nationally
Male
Age
Female
85+
75–84
65–74
55–64
45–54
35–44
25–34
18–24
5–17
<5
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Median household income
Inflation-adjusted dollars
$68,464
Cape Girardeau County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Cape Girardeau County$68,464
Missouri$70,702
United States$80,734
Cape Girardeau County ranks near the middle of US counties by median household income.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
13.9%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1814.0%
Working age (18–64)14.3%
Seniors (65+)10.5%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
96.4%
speak English only
Spanish1.2%
Other Indo-European1.2%
Asian & Pacific Islander1.1%
Other languages0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 41.5% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Cape Girardeau County anchors the state's southeastern corner along the Mississippi River, where a mid-sized regional hub surrounded by rural townships has produced Republican presidential margins exceeding 40 points in consecutive cycles.
The Republican margin here reached fifty points in 2016. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved one point toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was forty-six points.
A population of 82,735, a 85% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $68,464 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Madison County and Woodford County.
Most similar counties
Compare two places, side by side
Twelve curated comparisons line up election history, demographics, and the divergence story for two places at a glance. Browse all comparisons →
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Cape Girardeau County, Missouri. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/29031/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More stable rural right counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Cape Girardeau County, Missouri vote in 2024?
In 2024, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri voted Republican by 46.3 points (R+46), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 40,537 votes cast, 10,561 went Democratic and 29,315 went Republican.
What is Cape Girardeau County, Missouri's political typology?
Akashic places Cape Girardeau County, Missouri in the "Stable Rural Right" typology — Mountain, Plains, and rural Republican counties already near their ceiling, with little further room to swing. The typology is a data-driven cluster built from vote share, vote swing, race and ethnicity, income, language spoken at home, religion, and ancestry. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the county has voted Democratic 5 times, Republican 29 times, and other 0 times.
When did Cape Girardeau County, Missouri last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Cape Girardeau County, Missouri voted Democratic was 1964.
How many people live in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri?
Cape Girardeau County, Missouri has a population of 82,735 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri?
Median household income in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri is $68,464 — below the national median of $80,734. The Missouri state median is $70,702.
What is the political history of Cape Girardeau County, Missouri?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 5 went Democratic and 29 went Republican. The county's typology — "Stable Rural Right" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.