Missouri Unemployment Calculator
As of October 19, 2026, regular Missouri unemployment pays $35 to $320 a week for 8 to 20 weeks. Enter your wages for the four quarters of your base period to estimate your weekly benefit, your maximum total benefit and which rule capped it.
Maintained by Archie Chang · Formulas and sources checked October 19, 2026 · Methodology & sources
Weekly benefit range (October 19, 2026)
$35 to $320
Effective January 1, 2008
Maximum weeks
8 to 20
Regular state benefits only
State income tax on benefits
Taxable
Federal income tax applies in every state
Missouri unemployment benefit calculator
Which months are my four quarters?
The standard base period is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you file. The quarter you file in, and the one just before it, are left out. Enter the quarters in order, oldest first. Each quarter is three calendar months: January to March, April to June, July to September, October to December.
| If you file in | Your base period is |
|---|---|
| January to March 2026 | October 2024 to September 2025 |
| April to June 2026 | January to December 2025 |
| July to September 2026 | April 2025 to March 2026 |
| October to December 2026 | July 2025 to June 2026 |
Use gross wages (before taxes) from every covered job, in the quarter they were earned. If your wages are too low under this period, many states test an alternate base period made of the last four completed quarters.
Enter your wages above to see your Missouri estimate.
The state also runs its own estimator: DES Unemployment Benefit Calculator.
How much does unemployment pay in Missouri?
Missouri pays 4 percent of the average of your two highest base period quarters, reduced to the next lower dollar, up to a $320 maximum.
Average quarterly wages of $8,000 or more reach the $320 maximum. The statute sets no dependents allowance.
Missouri uses the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters. The pages we could read describe no alternate base period for Missouri, and the DOL comparison does not list one.
Missouri unemployment eligibility: the wage tests
These are the monetary tests only. Missouri also decides whether you lost your job through no fault of your own and whether you are able and available to work.
- At least $1,500 in your highest quarter and base period wages of at least 1.5 times that quarter, or
- wages in two quarters with base period wages of at least 1.5 times the state taxable wage base (about $13,500 at the $9,000 base).
Maximum weeks and maximum benefit amount
Missouri pays up to 20 weeks. The total is the lower of 20 times your weekly amount and one-third of your wage credits, so claims can be shorter when the wage-credit limit binds (DOL lists 8 weeks as the low end). Bills to tie the weeks to the state unemployment rate have been introduced but had not become law in the sources we read.
Working part time while collecting
You can earn the greater of $20 or 20 percent of your weekly amount before your benefit is reduced. Wages above that amount come off your weekly benefit, and the payment is rounded down to the dollar. DES rounds your weekly wages up to the next whole dollar first.
Are Missouri unemployment benefits taxable?
Unemployment benefits are taxable income on your federal return in every state. Missouri includes unemployment benefits in income because its return starts from federal adjusted gross income. The Division of Employment Security says benefits are subject to federal and state income tax and reports them on a Form 1099-G.
How to apply in Missouri
File your claim online with the Division of Employment Security, then request payment every week.
Missouri Division of Employment Security
When this changes: Missouri sets the $320 maximum in statute; watch for legislation that ties the number of weeks to the state unemployment rate. Maximum $320 is fixed in RSMo 288.038; duration is 20 weeks unless a bill tying weeks to the unemployment rate (HB 771 / SB 8 of 2025, HB 1849 of 2026) is enacted.
Frequently asked questions
How much does unemployment pay in Missouri?
Regular Missouri unemployment pays between $35 and $320 a week as of October 19, 2026. Your amount depends on the wages you were paid in your base period. Missouri pays 4 percent of the average of your two highest base period quarters, reduced to the next lower dollar, up to a $320 maximum.
How is the Missouri weekly benefit amount calculated?
Missouri pays 4 percent of the average of your two highest base period quarters, reduced to the next lower dollar, up to a $320 maximum. Average quarterly wages of $8,000 or more reach the $320 maximum. The statute sets no dependents allowance.
How long can I collect unemployment in Missouri?
Missouri pays up to 20 weeks. The total is the lower of 20 times your weekly amount and one-third of your wage credits, so claims can be shorter when the wage-credit limit binds (DOL lists 8 weeks as the low end). Bills to tie the weeks to the state unemployment rate have been introduced but had not become law in the sources we read.
Are unemployment benefits taxable in Missouri?
Missouri includes unemployment benefits in income because its return starts from federal adjusted gross income. The Division of Employment Security says benefits are subject to federal and state income tax and reports them on a Form 1099-G.
Can I work part time and still get Missouri unemployment?
You can earn the greater of $20 or 20 percent of your weekly amount before your benefit is reduced. Wages above that amount come off your weekly benefit, and the payment is rounded down to the dollar. DES rounds your weekly wages up to the next whole dollar first.
Is there a waiting week in Missouri?
Yes. The DES help page says the waiting week is the first eligible week of your claim, which is not paid when you file it, but you must still file a weekly request for it. You may be paid for it as the last payment on your regular claim.
Sources for Missouri
- RSMo 288.038, Maximum weekly benefit amountFormula, $320 maximum, rounding
- RSMo 288.030, DefinitionsInsured worker wage tests and base period
- RSMo 288.060, Benefits, how paid (version effective April 13, 2011)Partial-week rule and wage credits
- Missouri DES: Help topics for unemployed workersWaiting week, partial-benefit example
- Missouri DES: How are my benefits figured?4 percent formula, $320 maximum, 20-week maximum
- U.S. DOL, Significant Provisions of State UI Laws (July 2026)Cross-check of minimum, maximum, weeks and the partial-benefit disregard
Sources checked October 19, 2026.
Verification note: The Revisor of Statutes and labor.mo.gov blocked or timed out on automated requests, so the statute sections and DES pages above were read from Internet Archive copies. The archived RSMo 288.060 page shows the October 2015 text (H.B. 150), which the Missouri Supreme Court held invalid in Pestka v. State (2016); the version in force is the one effective April 13, 2011, which we did not read separately. The partial-week and wage-credit rules we use appear in the archived text, and we treat them as unchanged between the two versions. The DOL July 2026 compilation supplies the $35 minimum (which the 4 percent formula reaches on its own at the $1,500 test), the $9,000 wage base and the one-third of base period wages limit; the sections we read do not state that limit, and the tax sentence comes from a search excerpt of the DES tax FAQ, which we could not open. The statute does not say how to round the one-third figure, so this calculator rounds down to the dollar.