US Sales Tax Calculator
Calculate sales tax by state and county. Enter purchase amount to see total with tax breakdown. Covers all 50 states with local tax rates included.
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Sales Tax
Note:
Sales tax rates shown are state-level averages. Local counties and cities may add additional taxes. Some items (groceries, medicine) may be exempt. Check your locality for exact rates.
Sales Tax Varies Wildly by Location
Five states have no state-level sales tax: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon. Of the 45 with sales tax, rates range from 4% (Hawaii combined low) to over 10% in some Tennessee and Louisiana cities once county and city add-ons stack. The combined rate that actually shows up on your receipt blends state, county, city, and sometimes special district (transit, stadium, tourism).
Tennessee has no state income tax but a 7% state sales tax that climbs to 9.75% in many cities. California's state portion is 7.25% but local additions push some Los Angeles areas to 10.25%. Same product, same price tag, can owe quite different tax depending which side of a city border the cash register sits on.
What Is and Is Not Taxed
Most states tax tangible goods but exempt groceries (sometimes only 'unprepared' groceries), prescription drugs, and certain clothing items. Restaurant meals, prepared food, and soft drinks are usually fully taxed. Some states (Massachusetts) exempt clothing under $175; some (New York) exempt clothing items under $110. Services were historically untaxed, but states are increasingly adding them - hair salons, lawn care, gym memberships, and streaming subscriptions now get taxed in many states.
If you cross a border to shop, the rules vary. Most states require you to self-report and pay 'use tax' on items bought tax-free in another state - in practice almost no one does for personal purchases, and enforcement is limited. Vehicles are different: states track plates and titles, so buying a car in a no-tax state and registering it in your home state will trigger sales/use tax.
Online Shopping Changed in 2018
The Supreme Court's South Dakota v Wayfair decision in 2018 ended the old rule that out-of-state sellers only had to collect tax if they had a physical presence in your state. Now sellers above a state-defined threshold (typically $100,000 of sales or 200 transactions per year) must collect your state's tax even with no in-state office.
In practice, this means Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and most large e-commerce sites now collect sales tax automatically based on your shipping address. Smaller Etsy or Shopify sellers might not, depending on their volume in your state. The 'tax-free shopping online' loophole is essentially dead for major retailers.
Tax-Free Holidays and Special Cases
About 17 states run sales-tax-free weekends, most often before back-to-school season. Florida, Texas, and Mississippi run multi-day events covering school supplies, clothing under a price cap, and computers. Massachusetts has a single weekend in August where most retail is tax-free. Stack these with retailer sales for genuine discount stacking.
Border-state shopping arbitrage works for big-ticket items: a New Hampshire resident buying a $2,000 laptop pays $0 sales tax; the same laptop in Massachusetts is $125 tax. Restaurants near the borders of no-tax states see real volume from out-of-staters. Use the [US State Tax Comparison](/us-state-tax-comparison) to see where overall tax burden (income + sales + property) actually lands.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the tax different at two stores in the same city?
Special taxing districts (stadium, transit, tourism, downtown improvement) add small amounts on top of city/county tax, and not every block sits in every district. The receipt rate at a stadium-adjacent restaurant can be 0.25-0.5% higher than three streets away. Big-box retailer point-of-sale systems use exact addressing to apply the right combined rate.
Can I deduct sales tax on my federal return?
Only if you itemise (which post-2018 most filers do not) AND you choose to deduct sales tax instead of state income tax. The combined SALT deduction is capped at $10,000. For residents of no-income-tax states this can be worthwhile; for high-income-tax-state residents the income tax usually wins.
Do I owe tax on items shipped to another state?
The destination state's rate applies. Ship a gift from California to Texas, the recipient's location determines the tax. Most online retailers handle this automatically. For wedding registries, baby gifts, and so on, the tax shows up at checkout based on the ship-to address.
Are there things never subject to sales tax anywhere?
Federally, no - sales tax is state by state. But essentials like prescription drugs are exempt in nearly every state, gasoline is taxed via separate fuel taxes (not sales tax) in most states, and groceries are exempt or reduced-rate in roughly half the states. Bullion, real estate, and intangible services like legal advice are usually not subject to sales tax.
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