Is Cape Girardeau Safe? (St. Louis, Jackson: where to stay, apartments, houses)

[dakota79]

I am considering several small-mid size cities in the MO-ARr--KY-TN region, and was wondering if Cape Girardeau is fairly safe?

I used to live in Missouri and have a desire to return to the region.

It sounds like everyone who goes there for school or who grew up there really enjoys the city.

I have read some things about racial tension in the city. Is there a part of town I should avoid? Can a person walk without the fear of being robbed, stabbed, or shot? The City-Data stats don't show very many murders over the years. Is that accurate?

Any info will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in adavnce!

[midwesterner7]

It's a nice mid-size town. The University is a great school. The Good Hope area of town should probably be avoided. All you have to do is drive around there and you pretty much get the idea of where to stay away from. Read the on-line newspaper and you'll get a good idea about crime. There isn't that much compared to a lot of places. It's easy to get to the St. Louis airport. It's a fairly quiet community but you need to be careful there just like anywhere. The downtown area and the riverfront is very well kept and the townspeople have a lot of pride in the riverfront.

[dakota79]

Thanks for your help!

What area is considered the "Good Hope" part of the city? If I am looking at a map, what streets surround that area?

[midwesterner7]

William Street and south of there is Good Hope Street. I guess what you'd call the South part of town would be the less desirable part of town. Also, I would not recommend the area east of the Mississippi River. The North and the West parts of Cape are the better parts of town. The area around the University is pretty good. The towns of Jackson and Scott City are close by and are probably fairly good places to live also. If you've never visited Cape, you need to go. It's a nice mid-sized town. The downtown area has a nice riverfront for viewing the barge and riverboat traffic on the Mississippi. And hopefully, there will never be a casino on the Cape Girardeau riverfront. Missouri has enough riverfront casinos.

[dakota79]

Thanks for clarifying about the whole "Good Hope" thing. I did not realize it was a street. I definitely would not be living across the river in Illinois.

I am actualy now planning a trip there the week before Thanksgiving to check the area out because it seems to fit a lot of what I am looking for. It has a lot for a city its size, and yet most live a simple life. It is close enough to St Louis and Memphis for any big events.

I hopeully will be able to transfer with my job in retail since we have a store there. I would be working in the west part of town, near all the other shopping venues. It is nice that it is only 3 miles from there to downtown. I know the economy there (and a lot of other places) is not very good, but hopefully a transfer will still be possible. Retail is still a high turnover field, especially in a college town, and my schedule would not be limited by class schedules.

[midwesterner7]

Good for you! Go for it. Graduated from SE Mo State. Had a great time there. Would like to live back in that area myself again sometime soon - maybe next summer! God Bless You and your endeavors.

[midwesterner7]

Goodness......just finished reading the 11/5/08 Cape on-line newspaper. Shootings last night AND on Sunday in the very neighborhood I was telling you about......no suspects.

[dakota79]

Yes, I saw those stories too. And I guess there were also shots heard on Monday night, but no one was known to have been hurt that night. All three nights on the same street, Hanover.

This news has me a bit concerned, as it appears from the white pages that most of the apartments in Cape are in that general area within a 5-10 block radius. Only a few aren't.

[collected_eve]

I lived on S. Lorimier for a bit over 2 years & though it is a less desirable end of town, I never had problems. At times there were people with 40s in their hand roaming the streets, but generally they waved & said HI.
I never witnessed violence, shootings or anything of that nature & on my down time I would sit on my stoop & enjoy the view....could almost see the river! I loved listening to the train at select times of the day & my fav passtime was walking down to the Mississippi. Though muggy, quite beautiful!
I am currently in AZ & my hubby & I are planning to move back to Cape after our new baby is born in March. I am anticipating the move!

[djkkt6]

Cape is pretty safe for the most part. The south part of town should be avoided. But there really isn't anything there but houses anyways, so there's no reason to go there. Southeast Missouri has a pretty big meth problem in general, that's another thing to consider. But outside of that, Cape is a fine place to raise a family. Not much to do in terms of nightlife though.