Jury Duty in Missouri: Pay, Exemptions, Excuses and What to Expect (2026)

Missouri courts summon jurors at random from a master list each county's board of jury commissioners builds from at least two government records, such as voter rolls and driver's license records. To serve you must be a U.S. citizen who lives in the county, and you must be at least 21, not 18.

State law guarantees jurors only $6 a day plus mileage, but many counties add to it; jurors seated on a trial in St. Louis, St. Louis County and Jackson County get $18 a day. Your employer doesn't have to pay you, but it can't fire, discipline or threaten you over a summons, and it can't make you use vacation or sick leave for jury duty. Ignoring a summons can bring a fine of up to $500 or community service. People 75 or older may ask to be excused.

The rules are in chapter 494 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri. Each county runs its own jury office, so your summons and your circuit court's website are the place for local instructions. Everything below is current as of November 2026.

Missouri jury duty at a glance

Who can serve

Every Missouri juror must be a citizen of the state, chosen at random from a fair cross section of the county, and everyone qualified has both the chance and the duty to serve when summoned (§ 494.400). The disqualifications are in § 494.425, which begins:

The following persons shall be disqualified from serving as a petit or grand juror: (1) Any person who is less than twenty-one years of age; (2) Any person not a citizen of the United States; (3) Any person not a resident of the county or city not within a county served by the court issuing the summons;

The list continues. You also can't serve if you:

• were convicted of a felony and haven't had your civil rights restored;
• can't read, speak and understand English, unless the problem is a vision or hearing impairment that auxiliary aids or services can make up for;
• are on active duty in the U.S. armed forces, or are in the organized militia on active duty under the governor's order;
• are a judge of a court of record; or
• in the court's judgment, can't perform a juror's duties because of mental or physical illness or infirmity. A doctor's note can establish this for up to twenty-four months.

Where names come from. The master jury list must be drawn at random from at least two government records, such as personal property tax lists, voter registration lists and driver's license records (§ 494.410). Jackson County, for example, merges voter rolls with Department of Revenue lists of licensed drivers and state ID holders. You don't have to be a registered voter to be summoned, as St. Louis County's FAQ notes.

Answer the questionnaire. The juror qualification form tells you to fill it out and return it within ten days, and a person who doesn't can be ordered to appear and complete it (§ 494.415). Jackson County, St. Louis County and the City of St. Louis all point jurors to the Missouri Courts Juror Portal to respond online.

Exemptions and excuses

Missouri doesn't use the word exemption. Instead, § 494.430 lists people who must be excused if they ask in time:

1. Upon timely application to the court, the following persons shall be excused from service as a petit or grand juror:

The seven groups are:

• anyone who served on a state or federal trial or grand jury in the preceding two years;
• a nursing mother who asks, with a written statement from her physician certifying that she is nursing;
• anyone whose absence from work would, in the court's judgment, materially harm public safety, health, welfare or interest;
• anyone for whom jury service would, in the court's judgment, impose an undue or extreme physical or financial hardship;
• a licensed health care provider who certifies in writing that they are actually treating patients and that serving would harm those patients' health;
• an employee of a religious institution whose religious obligations or constraints forbid jury service (the religious supervisor may certify it); and
• anyone 75 or older.

The age-75 excuse is optional. You have to ask; it isn't automatic. Jackson County, for example, takes the request by email, letter, fax or the online juror portal, and says people 75 and over who want to keep serving are welcome.

Hardship has a narrow meaning. Unless the hardship plainly would keep you from serving well, it counts only if you would have to abandon someone in your care because no substitute caregiver can be found, would face costs that seriously threaten your or your dependents' basic living expenses, or would suffer illness or disease. Missing work, by itself, is not enough (§ 494.430.4-.5). A judge decides, and you must get a ruling before your report date. Expect to provide proof such as tax returns, doctors' statements or proof of dependency; documents are filed under seal, and without them the request is denied (§ 494.430.2-.3, .6). Jackson County says it usually hears hardship requests once jury selection begins in a courtroom, not at the summons stage.

How long an excuse lasts. After two years, an excused person becomes eligible again, unless the judge found the reason permanent (§ 494.430.7).

Postponing jury duty

You have a right to put off your first appearance once. § 494.432.1:

1. Individuals scheduled to appear for jury service have the right to postpone the date of their initial appearance for jury service one time only for reasons other than undue influence or extreme physical or financial hardship.

The postponement must be granted if:

1. you haven't had one before;
2. you ask in person, or by phone, email or in writing to the board of jury commissioners; and
3. the court sets a new date no more than six months away, on a day the court is in session. Full-time students at an accredited school can be moved up to twelve months.

A second postponement is allowed only for an extreme emergency you couldn't have foreseen, such as a death in the family, a sudden grave illness, or a natural disaster or national emergency that involves you personally, and the new date must be within six months (§ 494.432.2).

Small employers. If you work for an employer with five or fewer full-time employees and a co-worker has already been summoned for the same period, the court must automatically postpone and reschedule you, and that doesn't use up your own postponement (§ 494.460.4).

Jackson County takes postponement requests through the juror portal, by phone or by email, and St. Louis County's portal handles them too. Because you get only one, Jackson County reminds jurors that they must serve on the new date.

Juror pay

Missouri's statewide minimum is low, and counties decide whether to add to it. § 494.455.1, as amended in 2025:

1. Each grand and petit juror shall receive a minimum of six dollars per day, for every day the juror may actually serve as a juror, and the mileage rate as provided by section 33.095 for state employees for every mile the juror may necessarily travel going from the juror's place of residence to the courthouse and returning, to be paid from funds of the county or a city not within a county.

How the rest works:

• County supplements. A county's governing body may authorize extra daily pay and mileage. If the county adds at least $6 a day, the state adds another $6, so a juror who actually serves on a trial, or on a grand jury, gets at least $18 a day plus mileage (§ 494.455.2).
• The longer-trial option. Instead, a county may vote to pay nothing for the first two days and $50 a day from the third day of actual service, plus mileage (§ 494.455.3).
• Payment timing. The county must pay within thirty days after the jury office submits the panel's fee statement (§ 494.455.4).

What the largest courts pay, as of November 2026:

• Jackson County (16th Circuit): $6 a day plus 70 cents a mile, and $18 a day for jurors chosen to hear a case. Jurors summoned to Kansas City also get an $8 daily parking stipend while going through selection.
• St. Louis County (21st Circuit): $10 a day plus mileage whether or not you are chosen, rising to $18 a day plus mileage on a trial. The check is mailed about three weeks after your service ends.
• City of St. Louis (22nd Circuit): $12 a day if you aren't chosen and $18 a day if you are, paid on a debit card when your service ends.

Before August 28, 2025, the statute set mileage at seven cents a mile, and the $50-a-day plan was required, rather than optional, in certain large first-class counties without a charter.

Your job is protected

§ 494.460.1 protects jurors from the moment the summons arrives:

1. An employer shall not terminate, discipline, threaten or take adverse actions against an employee on account of that employee's receipt of or response to a jury summons.

The rest of the section adds three things:

• You can sue. An employee fired in violation of the law may sue within ninety days of the firing for lost wages and other damages and for reinstatement, and a winning employee gets a reasonable attorney's fee (§ 494.460.2).
• Your leave is protected too. An employer may not require, or even request, that you use annual, vacation, personal or sick leave for answering a summons, going through jury selection, or serving. The law doesn't create leave you don't otherwise have (§ 494.460.3).
• Small employers get relief. The automatic postponement described above applies when a co-worker at an employer with five or fewer full-time employees has already been summoned (§ 494.460.4).

Pay is another matter. No Missouri law requires employers to pay wages during jury service; it depends on company policy. The St. Louis circuit court encourages employers to keep paying employees, and gives each juror proof of attendance at the end of service.

What happens if you don't show up

§ 494.450 treats a willful no-show as contempt:

A person who is summoned for jury service and who willfully fails to appear and who has failed to obtain a postponement in compliance with section 494.432 or as an excuse pursuant to section 494.430, or to respond to the juror qualification form shall be in civil contempt of court, enforceable by an order directing him or her to show cause for his or her failure to comply with the summons and the juror qualification form.

After the show-cause hearing, the court may fine you up to $500. It can excuse the fine for good cause or in the interests of justice, and it may order community service lasting at least as long as your jury service would have, instead of or in addition to the fine. The section's heading mentions criminal contempt, but its text says civil contempt. Jackson County adds that a no-show is also summoned again.

Your first day

Every circuit runs its own process, so read your summons first. Some typical steps:

• Call the night before. In St. Louis County, call the jury line between 4:00 p.m. the evening before and 7:30 a.m. on your report date to hear whether you're needed. Jackson County lets jurors opt in to text or email notices through eJuror, so you hear if your service is canceled.
• Arrive on time. St. Louis County jurors report at 8:15 a.m. the first day and 8:30 a.m. the second, and those still in the assembly room are released around 4:00 p.m. Late jurors can be held in contempt.
• Plan for parking. Don't park at a meter. St. Louis County validates free parking in the Shaw Park Drive Garage and is a block from the MetroLink Clayton station. The City of St. Louis validates free parking at the Kiel garage and offers free MetroBus or MetroLink rides. In Kansas City you pay for your own parking (with the stipend above); Independence has a free juror lot.
• Dress the part. Business casual is a good rule; Jackson County allows jeans and suggests a sweater. St. Louis County asks jurors not to wear hats, T-shirts, tank tops, tube tops, cut-offs or shorts.
• Bring something to do. Phones, laptops and tablets are allowed in the assembly rooms, but they must be silenced or put away and turned off in a courtroom. St. Louis County and Jackson County offer juror Wi-Fi.
• Expect security screening. Jackson County bars weapons, sharp objects such as knitting needles and scissors, pepper spray and glass containers.
• Bring or buy lunch. Jackson County doesn't provide lunch, and there are restaurants near the big courthouses. St. Louis County has vending machines but no refrigerator.
• Nursing mothers. St. Louis County has a lactation room, and Jackson County provides a private room on request.

How long it lasts. A juror can't be required to attend court for prospective jury service more than twenty days in a year, except to finish a case. In jurisdictions on the nonpartisan court plan, you can't be kept more than two days on one summons unless you are put on a panel or chosen for a case (§ 494.445). St. Louis County says service is normally at least two days and trials average two and a half days; Jackson County says selection usually takes most of a day and trials average about three and a half days.

Grand jury service

Grand juries decide whether to bring criminal charges. The same disqualifications and excuses apply to grand jurors as to trial jurors (§§ 494.425, 494.430), and the pay statute covers each grand and petit juror, including the state-assisted $18 rate for each day a grand juror actually serves during a term (§ 494.455). The City of St. Louis gives grand jurors who serve for an extended time a letter at the end of their service.

Jury duty scams

Scammers call, text or email, claim you missed jury duty, and demand money to avoid arrest or ask for your Social Security number. Missouri courts don't work that way. The St. Louis circuit court says police and the court do not call or email people to demand payment, and Jackson County says it never needs your Social Security number and suggests reporting such calls to the sheriff. Don't pay and don't give personal information; call your county jury office at the number on its official website. The federal courts also keep a juror scam warning.

Recent and pending changes

• S.B. 218 (2025), effective August 28, 2025. Rewrote § 494.455 as part of a court-operations bill. It made $6 a day a minimum rather than a flat rate, replaced the seven-cents-a-mile allowance with the state employee mileage rate, and let any county or the City of St. Louis adopt by majority vote the plan that pays $50 a day from the third day of service. It also moved the pay rules out of § 488.040, which now simply points to § 494.455.

We found no jury-law changes from the 2026 session; as of November 2026, the Revisor's text of chapter 494 shows S.B. 218 as the latest amendment.

Frequently asked questions

How much does jury duty pay in Missouri?

State law guarantees at least $6 a day plus mileage at the state employee rate. Counties may pay more, and when a county adds at least $6, the state chips in another $6, so trial jurors get at least $18 a day. St. Louis County pays $10 a day, or $18 on a trial; the City of St. Louis pays $12 or $18; Jackson County pays $6 or $18.

Can my employer fire me for jury duty in Missouri?

No. An employer can't fire, discipline, threaten or take other adverse action against you because you received or answered a jury summons. If you are fired, you can sue within 90 days for lost wages, reinstatement and attorney's fees. Your employer also can't make you use vacation or sick leave, though it doesn't have to pay you.

How do I get out of jury duty in Missouri?

Ask in time for one of the excuses in § 494.430: you are 75 or older, served on a jury in the past two years, are a nursing mother with a doctor's statement, are a health care provider whose patients would suffer, or face undue physical or financial hardship that you can document. Missing work alone isn't a hardship. If timing is the problem, use your one postponement of up to six months.

What happens if I miss jury duty in Missouri?

If you willfully skip jury duty without a postponement or excuse, or ignore the qualification form, the court can order you to show cause. It may then fine you up to $500, order community service, or both. Jackson County, for one, summons a no-show again, so contact the jury office quickly if you missed your date.

How often can you be called for jury duty in Missouri?

Your name can come up again, but if you served on any state or federal jury in the past two years, you can ask to be excused. A juror also can't be made to attend for prospective service more than twenty days in a year, except to finish a trial.

Is there an age limit for jury duty in Missouri?

You must be at least 21 to serve on a Missouri jury. There's no upper age limit, but anyone 75 or older may ask to be excused. The excuse isn't automatic, so you have to request it, and you're welcome to serve if you prefer.

Where these rules live

• RSMo § 494.425 — disqualifications
• RSMo § 494.430 — excuses, including age 75
• RSMo § 494.432 — postponement
• RSMo § 494.445 — limits on days of service
• RSMo § 494.450 — failure to appear
• RSMo § 494.455 — juror pay and mileage
• RSMo § 494.460 — employer protections
• RSMo chapter 494 — juries
• Missouri Courts Juror Portal

For the rules that govern Missouri civil trials themselves, see the Missouri Rules of Civil Procedure. You can also read about Missouri law schools, or compare states on the jury duty hub.