Optional. Add your county or city rate if known.
State sales tax is set at the state level and applied at the point of sale — statewide rates range from 0% to 7.25% depending on the state. Counties and cities can add their own local tax on top, so the rate at the till is often higher than the statewide figure alone.
Five states have no statewide sales tax at all: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon. Alaska is a partial exception — it has no state-level tax, but some municipalities charge their own local sales tax, which this calculator doesn't cover since it varies by city and isn't published as a single statewide figure.
Many states exempt groceries entirely or apply a reduced rate to lower the cost of essential food, on the reasoning that a flat sales tax falls disproportionately on lower-income households' food budgets. A handful of states — including Alabama, Hawaii, Mississippi, and South Dakota — still tax groceries at or close to the general rate. What counts as a "grocery" for tax purposes varies by state (prepared hot food and soft drinks are commonly excluded from the reduced rate even where raw groceries are exempt).
Local taxes set by counties, cities, and special districts are added on top of the state rate and can add anywhere from 0% to over 5%, depending on where you are. Because local rates are set independently by thousands of separate jurisdictions and change throughout the year, this calculator doesn't include them automatically — enter your local rate in the optional field above if you know it, or check with your local tax authority for the exact combined rate in your area.
State and local sales tax figures are compiled from published state tax agency rates via the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan US tax policy research organisation. Rates change periodically — check your state's Department of Revenue for the current figure before relying on this for a real transaction.