Cape Girardeau County, Missouri

Cape Girardeau County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the population was 68,693. Its is. The county was organized in and the name derives from a district located in the area when the Spanish controlled the region.

Origin of name
The Cape in the county name was a rock promontory overlooking the, named after Ensign Sieur Jean Baptiste de Girardot (also spelled Girardeau or Girardat). Girardeau built a trading post at this location in about ; he was a soldier stationed at -. The original cape rock was destroyed by railroad construction.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,518 (586 ). 1,499 km² (579 sq mi) of it is land and 20 km² (8 sq mi) of it (1.31%) is water.

Adjacent counties

 * (north)
 * (northeast)
 * (east)
 * (southeast)
 * (south)
 * (west)

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 68,693 people, 26,980 households, and 17,941 families residing in the county. The was 46/km² (119/sq mi). There were 29,434 housing units at an average density of 20/km² (51/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 92.13%, 5.28% or , 0.36% , 0.75% , 0.03% , 0.31% from , and 1.15% from two or more races. 0.91% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 26,980 households out of which 31.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.80% were living together, 9.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.50% were non-families. 27.30% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.96.

In the county the population was spread out with 23.40% under the age of 18, 13.40% from 18 to 24, 27.80% from 25 to 44, 21.60% from 45 to 64, and 13.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 93.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.00 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $36,458, and the median income for a family was $45,518. Males had a median income of $32,371 versus $20,833 for females. The for the county was $18,593. About 6.70% of families and 11.10% of the population were below the, including 11.40% of those under age 18 and 10.10% of those age 65 or over.

2005 census estimates placed the Latino population of the county at 1.2%. Non-Hispanic whites constituted 90.6% of the population. African-Americans were now 5.9% of the population, with people reporting two or more races holding steady at 1.1% this indicates the growth in other groups was from real change and not identification reassesment as in some places. Asians now constituted a full 1% of the population.