How much does a first-time surrogate earn in Missouri?
If this is your first surrogacy, Private Label Surrogacy pays $60,000 base compensation (proposed, up from $55,000), and a typical total package of roughly $68,000 to $78,000 once allowances and milestone payments are added. If you have carried for another family before, base compensation is $65,000 to $70,000.
Those figures are the same whether you live in St. Louis, Kansas City or a small town between them. PLS pays one base in every state where it recruits. What Missouri changes is the legal route the intended parents take and the clinic where you do your monitoring.
All PLS figures on this page are pending final confirmation by Nancy Block, RN, and stay marked until she confirms them.
I am Natalie Gaudio-Fricano, a PLS case manager. I was a three-time egg donor, then a gestational surrogate. I delivered a boy for an international couple in October 2016, after a first transfer that worked, and I have worked in medicine since 2002.
What is in the full compensation package?
"Typical" means a singleton pregnancy with the standard allowances and milestone payments. The final number depends on how many months your journey runs, whether you pump, and the lost wages you document.
| Payment | Amount | Starts when | Paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base, first-time surrogate | $60,000 (proposed) | Heartbeat confirmed | In installments over the pregnancy |
| Base, experienced surrogate | $65,000 to $70,000 | Heartbeat confirmed | In installments over the pregnancy |
| Monthly allowance | $300 a month | Agreement signed | Monthly |
| Medication start | $500 | Injectable medications begin | Once, at the start |
| Embryo transfer | $1,000 | Each transfer | At transfer |
| Maternity clothing | $750, or $1,000 for multiples | Pregnancy confirmed | Once |
| Housekeeping | $90 a week | 32 weeks | Weekly until delivery |
| Pumping | $200 a week | You choose to pump after delivery | Weekly |
| Twins | $5,000 on top of base | Twins confirmed | With base installments |
| Triplets | $10,000 on top of base | Triplets confirmed | With base installments |
| Lost wages, you and your partner | Documented actual wages | Journey-related time off | As incurred |
| Life insurance | Extended policy up to $750,000 | Before transfer | Premium paid by intended parents |
Payment triggers and timing: confirm schedule with Nancy.
An illustration for twins, first journey: base $60,000, plus $5,000 for twins, plus about 12 months of allowance at $300 ($3,600), medication start $500, one transfer $1,000 and maternity clothing at the multiples rate of $1,000. That is $71,100 before housekeeping, lost wages and pumping. This is an illustration, not a quote; your agreement sets your figures.
Travel costs are separate from compensation. When you travel to the intended parents' clinic, they pay from escrow for flights, hotel, meals, mileage, child care, and lost wages for you and a companion.
Support counts too. You have access to mental-health support from independent licensed professionals. Julie Bendix, MPH, RD, LD, CLC, a registered dietitian and lactation counselor, meets with you at least six times for nutrition consults. Your own attorney is paid by the intended parents. If your health insurance excludes surrogacy, the intended parents purchase a policy for you.
When is each payment made and who holds the money?
You are paid as each stage happens.
- Signing. The monthly allowance starts.
- Medications. $500 when your injections begin.
- Transfer. $1,000 for each one.
- Heartbeat. Base installments begin and run through the pregnancy.
- Week 32. Weekly housekeeping support begins.
- Delivery and after. The last base installment, then pumping support if you choose to pump.
If a transfer fails, the allowance, medication-start payment and transfer fee you have received are yours to keep. Base compensation starts only with a confirmed pregnancy.
The money sits with an independent licensed escrow agent, never with PLS. The intended parents deposit $10,000 at match and the rest before your medications start. The escrow agent releases each payment under your agreement. Have your attorney confirm the full balance is funded before you begin injections.
This is not a technicality. The Surro Connections agency collapsed in late 2025, with a federal indictment in August 2026. The SEAM escrow failure involved more than $16 million. Between 2025 and 2026, PLS took on three stranded surrogates from failed agencies, pro bono. See how escrow works.
What are the requirements to become a surrogate in Missouri?
The PLS criteria are the same in Missouri as in every state. You should be 21 to 43 years old, a US citizen or permanent resident, at a BMI under 33, and a non-smoker. You need at least one healthy full-term pregnancy behind you and a child you are raising now. You cannot be on government assistance, you need a stable home, and you cannot be currently taking antidepressants.
Screening is seven steps: application, interview, records review, background check, insurance review, a psychological evaluation by an independent licensed professional, and medical screening at the intended parents' clinic. Mark Silverberg, DDS, MD, reads your prenatal and delivery records himself and writes a physician medical summary for the clinic. Once your records arrive, screening takes several weeks.
Where do Missouri surrogates do monitoring and transfer?
Missouri surrogates matched through PLS do their monitoring at a clinic in St. Louis or Kansas City. If you live outside those two areas, the nearest monitoring option for you is being confirmed. Monitoring means bloodwork and ultrasounds before the transfer and in early pregnancy, and the intended parents pay for it.
For medical screening and the embryo transfer, you travel to the intended parents' fertility clinic, which may be in another state. A companion can come with you. Escrow covers the travel, meals, child care and lost wages. Your pregnancy test is 9 to 11 days after the transfer.
Once the fertility clinic releases you, your own OB takes over near home, and you deliver at a local hospital.
What does Missouri law mean for you as a surrogate?
Gestational surrogacy is legal and practiced in Missouri, and you may be paid compensation. Missouri has no surrogacy statute. Courts grant parentage orders to intended parents, pre-birth in some jurisdictions and post-birth in others, and courts have been more consistent when at least one intended parent is genetically related to the baby.
This summary is pending review by Missouri counsel.
What that means for you: the intended parents' attorney handles parentage, and you sign nothing until your own attorney has reviewed the agreement. That attorney is paid by the intended parents and works only for you. Ask whether the order is expected before or after the birth, so you know what the hospital will have on file. The parents' side of Missouri law is on surrogacy in Missouri.
How to apply with PLS
- Check your eligibility against the criteria above.
- Apply and interview with a case manager.
- Share your records for Dr. Silverberg's review.
- Complete the background check, insurance review and psychological evaluation.
- Match. Nancy Block runs matching herself. It averages about 6 months and depends on intended-parent demand for your state and profile.
From match to delivery, Jenni Symons or I am your case manager. We have both been surrogates. Compare packages on surrogate compensation in Illinois or the national surrogate compensation page.
Sources
- PLS compensation schedule (proposed), pending confirmation by Nancy Block, RN.
- Missouri court practice on parentage in gestational surrogacy; no Missouri surrogacy statute. Pending review by Missouri counsel.