BestOnlineCollege.org is an advertising-supported website. Many of the school and program listings that appear on this site are from partners who compensate us, and this compensation may affect how, where, and in what order listings appear (such as featured placements). This compensation does not influence our editorial content, evaluations, or rankings, which are determined independently using publicly available data. We do not review or feature every school or program available in the marketplace. Our goal is to provide accurate, unbiased information so you can make informed decisions. Read our full Advertiser Disclosure.
Cape Girardeau, Missouri has 6 accredited schools offering fire science programs, with tuition ranging from $3,960 to $13,334 per year for indexed programs. Cape Girardeau has a population of about 40,047. Median household income is $54,870 (Census ACS 2023, 5-year). About 36.6% of adults 25+ hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. In Missouri, the top-earning fire science-related role is Fire Inspector and Investigator at a median $77,240 annually (BLS, May 2025).
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer fire science programs near Cape Girardeau, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Cape Girardeau city center. The list is rebuilt from federal IPEDS data on every site update.
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS). To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked against schools at the same credential level:
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score. On this page, schools are ordered by distance from Cape Girardeau. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source: IPEDS / College Scorecard (2023 cohort). Browse all Missouri schools on the Missouri fire science page.
| Occupation | Median Annual Wage (Missouri, statewide) |
|---|---|
| Firefighter | $49,080 |
| First-Line Supervisor of Firefighting and Prevention Workers | $75,970 |
| Fire Inspector and Investigator | $77,240 |
| Emergency Management Director | $75,660 |
Source: BLS, May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes wage data at the metro (MSA) and state level – not by individual city.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 40,047 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B01003) |
| Median household income | $54,870 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B19013) |
| Adults 25+ with bachelor’s+ | 36.6% | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B15003) |
| Regional Price Parity (US=100) | 86.1 (below U.S. average) | BEA RPP 2024 |
Our directory has 6 accredited schools offering fire science programs near Cape Girardeau. The closest is Southern Illinois University-Carbondale in Carbondale, IL (33.6 miles), and the farthest of the schools shown is Frontier Community College (97.6 miles). 5 of the highlighted schools are flagged as offering distance education.
Based on BLS May 2025 state wage data, the top-paying fire science-related roles in Missouri are: Fire Inspector and Investigator ($77,240), First-Line Supervisor of Firefighting and Prevention Workers ($75,970), Emergency Management Director ($75,660). Wages for Cape Girardeau workers will track these statewide medians, adjusted for local cost of living.
Carbondale, IL is 33.9 miles from Cape Girardeau and has its own set of local fire science programs – see the city’s page. For online programs, distance matters less; for hybrid or in-person formats, comparing both can help.
Cape Girardeau’s median household income of $54,870 (Census ACS 2023) is one input. Online programs let students stay in Cape Girardeau while attending lower-cost out-of-state schools, and Missouri public universities often offer reduced in-state online tuition.
Confirm institutional accreditation via the U.S. Department of Education database (U.S. Dept. of Education database), and check for any program-specific accreditation listed by the school.
Compare every accredited online degree program with city-level data for Cape Girardeau:
Data verified: August 11, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
Back to Best Fire Science Schools in Missouri: Online Programs (2026)
