Answer: Enter your values and the Sales Tax Calculator returns the exact result instantly — formula, worked example, and a plain-English explanation are included below the tool.
A sales tax calculator adds or removes tax from a price, working both pre-tax to post-tax and reverse-extracting the tax portion from a total.
Calculate sales tax by state
Five states levy no statewide sales tax: Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Alaska (local taxes in some Alaska and Montana cities). Most other states set a base rate between about 4% and 7%, and local governments layer county, city, and special-district taxes on top — which is why the rate you actually pay is often higher than the state figure. California has the highest state-level rate at 7.25%, but the highest combined state-plus-local averages sit elsewhere: Louisiana leads 2026 at 10.11%, followed by Tennessee at 9.61% and Washington at 9.51% (Tax Foundation). Always check local rates — city and county taxes can add 1-4 percentage points on top of the state base.
| State | State rate | Combined avg. (state + local) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 7.25% | ~8.82% | Highest state base rate |
| New York | 4.00% | ~8.53% | NYC combined 8.875% |
| Tennessee | 7.00% | ~9.55% | High local option rates |
| Texas | 6.25% | ~8.20% | Local up to 2% |
| Massachusetts | 6.25% | ~6.25% | Few local add-ons |
| Colorado | 2.90% | ~7.77% | Low state, high local |
| Delaware / MT / NH / OR | 0% | ~0% | No statewide sales tax |
Rates are approximate combined averages and change with local legislation; use the calculator with the exact rate printed on a local receipt for precision. The Tax Foundation publishes updated combined-rate averages by state each year.
The arithmetic is one multiplication: tax = price × rate, total = price + tax. A $250 purchase in NYC at 8.875% adds $22.19, for a total of $272.19. What complicates real transactions is which price is taxable. Discounts and coupons usually reduce the taxable base, but mail-in rebates generally do not — tax is typically charged on the pre-rebate amount. Shipping charges are taxable in some states (notably New York and Texas, when the item itself is taxable) and exempt in others, like California, when separately stated. Trade-ins reduce the taxable price on car purchases in most states, a meaningful exception worth hundreds of dollars on a vehicle deal.
Categories carve up the base. Unprepared groceries are exempt or reduced-rate in most states, though a handful tax them fully. Restaurant meals and prepared food are almost universally taxed at full rate, and some cities add an extra meals tax. Clothing is exempt in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and New Jersey, and exempt under $110 per item in New York. Prescription drugs are exempt nearly everywhere; over-the-counter drugs vary. Services — haircuts, repairs, legal work — are taxable in some states and not others, which is why a barber and a mechanic can face different tax rules in the same town.
Since the Supreme Court's 2018 South Dakota v. Wayfair decision, states can require remote sellers to collect sales tax once the seller crosses an economic nexus threshold, commonly $100,000 in annual sales or 200 transactions into the state. Before Wayfair, online retailers without physical presence often did not collect, leaving buyers technically responsible for declaring a complementary "use tax" on their state income tax return — an obligation that predates the internet and still applies to untaxed out-of-state purchases, including those from small sellers below nexus thresholds. Marketplace facilitators like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy now collect on behalf of their third-party sellers in nearly all states that have sales tax.
Holiday-specific wrinkles also matter: many states run sales-tax holidays — most commonly a back-to-school weekend in August exempting clothing, school supplies, and sometimes computers below price caps — and during those windows the register applies the exempt rate automatically. A further caveat for comparisons: "combined average" figures weight local rates by where spending happens, so a specific address can sit above or below the state average; the only exact number is the rate for the specific jurisdiction of the sale, which state revenue department lookup tools provide.
Businesses face the mirror-image problem: collecting the right rate, on the right base, in every jurisdiction they ship into — which in states with home-rule local taxation can mean thousands of distinct rate combinations. Most states that require seller collection also require filing returns monthly or quarterly, and late filings carry penalties and interest even when the tax itself was collected. Small sellers under nexus thresholds in a given state generally need not register or collect there, but the moment they cross the threshold, registration obligations typically begin with the next sale period.
How do I calculate sales tax? Multiply the price by the combined rate as a decimal — $100 at 8.875% adds $8.88. The combined rate includes state, county, city, and district taxes where they apply.
Which states have no sales tax? Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon have no statewide sales tax, though parts of Alaska and Montana permit local taxes.
Are coupons and rebates taxed differently? Discounts usually reduce the taxable price; mail-in rebates generally do not — you pay tax on the full pre-rebate amount in most states.
Is shipping taxed? Depends on the state: taxable in states like New York and Texas when the goods are taxable, generally exempt in California when separately stated.
Do I owe tax on online purchases that weren't collected? Yes, as use tax on your state income tax return — an obligation that still applies to purchases from sellers below nexus thresholds.