MOScholars Students by Geography: Geographic Trends of Participating Students, SY 2024-25 to 2026-27
By: Michaela Parisi, Ph.D., Kathryn Coleman, Ph.D., Allison Chandler, and Amy Shelton, Ph.D.
Students who participate in the MOScholars program live across the state of Missouri. This report provides a three-year overview of participating students’ geographic location by region, locale, public school district, and legislative district. This report was prepared by the PRiME Center at Saint Louis University for the Missouri State Treasurer’s Office.
Key Points:
Across SY 2024-25 and SY 2025-26, morethan 80% of MOScholars participants were in the St. Louis and Kansas City metropolitan areas(38% and 35% respectively).
In SY 2026-27,more than 80% of MOScholars participants are projected to be in the St. Louis and Kansas City metropolitan areas (40% and 33% respectively).
Across SY 2024-25 and SY 2025-26, nearly 40% of MOScholars participants lived in City locales and more than 45% lived in Suburb locales.
In SY 2026-27, 36% of participants are projected to live in City locales and more than 45% in Suburb locales.
Although participation increased in every locale from SY 2024-25 and SY 2025-26, the growth in participation in Town and Rural locales (+7,800%) outpaced growth in City and Suburb locales (+135%).
In SY 2026-27,the growth in participation in Town and Rural locales is (+159%) projected to outpace growth in City and Suburb locales (+70%).
Of the 30 school districts that saw the most growth in number of MOScholars participants from SY 2024-25 to SY 2025-26, 11 (38%) are in RegionA, 8 (28%) are in Region C, and 6 (21%) are in Region B (see Figure 1.1 for map of regions).
Of the 30 school districts who are projected to see the most growth in number of MOScholars participants from SY 2025-26 to SY 2026-27, 11 (38%) are in Region C, 6 (21%) are in Region F, and 4 (13%) are in Region D.
In SY 2025-26, every senate district had more than 35 MOScholars program participants, and 160 of Missouri’s 163 house districts had at least one program participant.
In SY 2026-27, all 34 senate districts are projected to have at least 110participants, and all 163 house districts are projected to have at least one participant.
Please Cite As: Parisi, M., Coleman, K., Chandler, A., & Shelton, A. (2026). MOScholars students by geography: Geographic trends of participating students, SY 2024-25 to 2026-27. Policy Research in Missouri Education, 8(13). www.primecenter.org/education-reports-database/mo-scholars-geography