Affordable Daycare in Missouri

69 daycares that accept child care assistance are listed in 34 Missouri towns. Accepting assistance says nothing about a daycare's own prices. A daycare without this tag may still accept assistance; ask.

St Louis, with 24 listed. Next are Ballwin (3) and Columbia (3).

Apply through the Child Care Subsidy Program, run by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. It is for families with a child from birth to age 13 (or a child with special needs or receiving protective services) who need child care to work, search for work, take part in job training, or attend school, and who meet the income rules. Income limits change each year, so check the current limits on the state's site.

Some families can get it. Head Start and Early Head Start are free for children from families who qualify, and some states waive the family's share of the cost for the lowest incomes. Ask your state's child care assistance office what you qualify for.

Not by itself. Accepting assistance means the daycare takes payments from the state program; its own prices vary like any daycare's. Ask whether it charges more than the state pays, and how much you would pay.

Each state runs a child care assistance program, paid for in part by the federal Child Care and Development Fund. Families who qualify by income, and usually by working, looking for work or going to school, get help paying a daycare that accepts it; the help is often called a voucher or subsidy. Most families pay a share called a copayment, set by the state. Apply through the Missouri child care assistance office.

Some families can. States may waive the copayment for families with the lowest incomes, and Head Start and Early Head Start are free for families who qualify. Ask your state's child care assistance office what you qualify for.

Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Childhood licenses daycares in Missouri. It publishes its inspections and the rules it cited, and we copy them onto each listing.