Sales Tax Calculator 2026 — State & Local Rates by State

Unlike most industrialized nations that utilize a uniform national Value Added Tax (VAT), the United States has no federal sales tax. Instead, sales tax is governed entirely at the state and municipal levels. Across the 50 US states, sales tax policies vary widely: forty-five states plus Washington, D.C. impose a statewide general sales tax, while five states (New Hampshire, Oregon, Montana, Alaska, and Delaware — known colloquially by the acronym NOMAD) levy no statewide sales tax at all.

Furthermore, state statutory rates are only part of the equation. Over 11,000 local taxing jurisdictions — including counties, cities, and special transit or school districts — add local option sales taxes on top of the state baseline. For example, while California imposes the highest statewide base rate (7.25%), states like Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Washington feature the highest average combined state-and-local tax burdens, often exceeding 9% to 10% on retail transactions.

Understanding sales tax is vital for consumers verifying receipts, shoppers planning major purchases like vehicles or appliances, and e-commerce business owners determining sales tax liability under post-Wayfair economic nexus laws. Our Sales Tax Calculator provides instant calculations across all 50 US states and D.C., supporting forward calculations (adding tax to a sticker price), reverse calculations (extracting tax from a total receipt), exact zip-code tax rate overrides, coupon discount deductions, and state-by-state comparisons.