St. Louis County, MO Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

The two counts in Chapter 819 are measured in opposite directions, and that is the part providers most often get wrong. The licensing threshold of more than 4 children excludes the children living on the premises, so a provider's own resident children do not push the home over the line into county licensing. The capacity ceiling of 10 works the other way: it includes children related to the provider, so those same resident children reduce how many outside children the home can take, even though they never counted toward the licensing threshold.

The residency requirement ties the license to a home the provider actually lives in rather than a house acquired to run a day care from. Outdoor play space must be adequate, and the home has to pass a county inspection. The 500 foot separation is measured between lot lines rather than between the houses or their front doors, which spreads licensed homes through a neighborhood instead of letting them cluster. Police record checks are run on every household member 18 or older, and residents within 300 feet of the home are notified.

Caring for 4 or fewer children other than the provider's own does not require the county license, though the Missouri state license still applies above its own thresholds.