About four in 10 families in Missouri and Illinois are living paycheck-to-paycheck, without enough savings to endure a three-month layoff.

So says a report from the Corporation for Enterprise Development, a Washington think tank.

The report said 38 percent of Missourians, and 40 percent of Illinoisans lack a three-month cushion of liquid savings.  The national average was 43 percent

The group issued a state-by-state report card on citizen financial well being.  In general, Missouri ranked high in home ownership and affordability, but a little below average on people with college educations, and far below on early childhood education.  The group gave the state an over-all rank of 29 for financial stability.

Illinois' poverty rate of 12.7 percent was below the nation's 14 percent rate, and its average family net worth of $88,000 was far above the nation's $70,600 mean.  The state also topped the averages in early childhood education and people with college degrees.  But its 7.29 percent home foreclosure rate was above the 4.43 percent national rate.  The state's overall rank was 32.

The corporation prescribes a liberal agenda for improvement, including looser income limits for welfare, state tax credits and daycare subsidies for the working poor and restrictions on payday loans.  It doesn't suggest ways to pay for the credits and subsidies.  It says the state should boost aid to school districts in poor areas and get a better system for teacher evaluation and retention.