MOUnemployment insurance worksheet
Missouri Unemployment Calculator: Up to $320/Week, 20 Weeks
In Missouri, unemployment pays up to $320 a week for up to 20 weeks; your weekly amount is 4% of the average of your two highest quarters.
Checked against primary sources · updated See the sources
How Missouri works out your amount
Missouri 2026: average the two highest quarters, take 4% and round down, up to $320. Qualification has two wage routes. Each quarter is capped at 26 weekly amounts when calculating credits for the estimated account balance; current duration is at most 20 weeks.
Weekly earnings reduction is not modeled here unless your state source gives a rule. Optional withholding is separate from the gross estimate.
The Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations decides eligibility, base-period wages, payable weeks, reductions, withholding and the final award. Use the official record below to verify this scenario.
Missouri: RSMo 288.060(4) as effective in 2011, plus the current agency brochure's 20-week maximum: 4% of the average of the two highest quarters, rounded down to a whole dollar and capped at $320 (288.038). There are two qualification routes; the 2026 taxable wage base of $9,000 gives a $13,500 alternate threshold. Quarterly wage credits are capped at 26 weekly amounts, and the balance is estimated as the smaller of one-third of credits or 20 weekly amounts. Source review dated October 1, 2026. https://www.revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=288.060&bid=33834 (verified 2026-10-01)
Four percent of the two-quarter average, up to $320
Missouri averages the two highest covered wage quarters, then takes 4% of that average. Section 288.038 rounds a fractional result down to a whole dollar. Algebraically, this is the sum of those two quarters divided by 50. The current state agency confirms a $320 weekly maximum.
A $5,000 quarter and a $4,000 quarter give a $4,500 average and a $180 weekly rate. Two $8,000 quarters reach $320. A qualifying record of $9,000, $3,000, $3,000 and zero produces $240; dividing only the high quarter by 26 would give the wrong result.
Enter all four completed quarters from the DES monetary record, including zeros. A missing quarter remains unresolved and does not silently become zero.
Ordinary qualification and the alternate earnings route
The ordinary monetary route needs at least $1,500 in the highest quarter and total covered base-period wages of at least 1.5 times that quarter. DES describes this as at least $2,250 total, including $750 outside the high quarter, together with the 1.5-times test. These conditions are checked before a positive weekly rate is shown.
Section 288.030 also allows an alternate route with wages in at least two quarters and total wages of at least 1.5 times the taxable wage base. The agency's dated tax table lists a $9,000 taxable wage base for 2026, giving a $13,500 alternate total-wage requirement. That employer tax limit does not mean you should enter only taxable wages in the four-quarter form.
A $1,500 quarter plus $750 in another quarter passes the ordinary screen. One cent less outside the high quarter fails. A $13,000 quarter plus $500 in another quarter can pass the alternate $13,500 route even though its total is below 1.5 times the high quarter. A single paid quarter fails both routes.
Four quarters of $1,500, $250, $250 and $250 pass the ordinary route and produce a $35 weekly result. The published minimum does not waive the wage tests.
Cap every quarter before calculating the claim balance
Missouri's wage credits differ from gross base-period wages. Under effective section 288.060(4), each quarter contributes the lesser of its covered wages and 26 times the weekly benefit amount. The total ordinary account is then limited by both 20 weekly amounts and one-third of those capped credits.
For $5,000 and $4,000 quarters, the $180 rate sets a $4,680 credit limit per quarter. The first quarter therefore contributes $4,680 and the second $4,000: $8,680 of credits. The mathematical balance ceiling is $2,893.33. Using all $9,000 of gross wages would overstate it as $3,000.
Ten full-rate weeks in that example model $1,800. Sixteen model $2,880; a seventeenth modeled week reaches the remaining account ceiling. This calculator shows the mathematical balance to cents because final agency account rounding was not independently verified. Your monetary determination supplies the awarded balance and payable amounts.
Use the effective 20-week rule
The current agency FAQ and filing brochure confirm a maximum of 20 weeks, subject to the wage-credit balance. The Revisor's default section 288.060 page also displays a 2015 amendment with a variable 13–20-week schedule, but marks that enactment unconstitutional after the 2016 Pestka decision. This page uses the effective earlier section and current agency guidance rather than that invalid amendment.
The regular base period is the four completed quarters that precede the most recent one. This worksheet excludes special severance allocation, prior-claim wage reuse, weekly earnings offsets, the waiting week, Shared Work, pension deductions and extensions. DES also decides separation and ongoing eligibility. Optional withholding affects the cash example, not the legal award or final tax liability.
Primary sources reviewed
- RSMo 288.038: two-quarter formula, $320 ceiling and whole-dollar floor.
- RSMo 288.030(22): ordinary and alternate insured-worker definitions.
- Effective 2011 RSMo 288.060(4): quarterly wage-credit cap and total account limit. The default history page identifies the unconstitutional later amendment.
- DES eligibility guidance and 2026 taxable wage table: the current qualification screens.
- Current DES filing brochure and benefit calculation FAQ: $35–$320 weekly range and 20-week maximum.
Reviewed October 1, 2026. File and review your notice through Missouri UInteract; this estimator does not approve a claim.
Worked in a nearby state too?
Each state pays from the wages reported to it, so a claim follows where the covered work was done. If some of your base-period wages were earned in one of these states, open its worksheet, or compare every state on the unemployment benefits calculator.
Supported claim periods and annual handoff
The Missouri wage-estimate calendar supports 2026-01-01 to 2026-12-31. Source dates describe when evidence was checked; they do not create a legal expiration. A blank claim date uses the current local date. After a finite schedule ends, the form shows an explicit official-award worksheet. Enter the weekly award, maximum account and authorized weeks from the determination. An unverified successor rate is never copied from the previous annual table.
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