Sales Tax Calculator
Add tax to a price, find the price before tax, or work out the tax rate you were charged — plus every state's base rate.
Calculate Sales Tax
Have a price and a tax rate — get the tax amount and total.
US State Sales Tax Rates (Reference)
Base state rate only — most cities and counties add their own local sales tax on top of this, so the rate you actually pay at checkout is often higher. Confirm your exact local rate before relying on it.
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How This Calculator Works
Add Tax — multiply your price by the tax rate to get the tax amount, then add it to the price: Total = Price × (1 + Rate). Use the Quantity field if you're buying more than one of the same item.
Remove Tax — if you only know the final total (like on a receipt), divide it by (1 + Rate) to back out the pre-tax price: Price = Total ÷ (1 + Rate).
Find Rate — if you know both the pre-tax price and the total, the difference tells you the tax rate that was actually charged: Rate = (Total − Price) ÷ Price.
On the Add Tax and Remove Tax tabs, picking a state fills in that state's base sales tax rate automatically — you can still edit it if your local combined rate is different.
Understanding Sales Tax in the United States
Unlike many nations that enforce a single federal Value-Added Tax (VAT), the United States has no national sales tax. Instead, sales taxes are governed independently by individual states, counties, cities, and local jurisdictions.
State vs. Local Sales Tax Rates
When you purchase goods at checkout in the U.S., the total tax rate you pay is typically composed of multiple layers:
- State Base Rate: Set by state legislature (e.g., California's 7.25% or Texas's 6.25%).
- County Sales Tax: Added by county governments to fund regional services.
- City & Municipal Tax: Local city surcharges for emergency, police, and road infrastructure.
- Special District Taxes: Additional fractional percentages supporting public transit or school systems.
Because of these overlapping layers, two stores located just across a street boundary in different cities can charge different total tax rates on the exact same merchandise.
The NOMAD States: 5 US States With No Statewide Sales Tax
There are five U.S. states that do not impose a statewide sales tax, easily remembered by the acronym NOMAD:
- New Hampshire (N): 0% state sales tax (funds government through property and business taxes).
- Oregon (O): 0% state sales tax.
- Montana (M): 0% state sales tax (some resort towns levy small local tourist taxes).
- Alaska (A): 0% state base rate, though local boroughs and cities may levy local taxes (typically 2% to 7%).
- Delaware (D): 0% state sales tax (uses gross receipts taxes on businesses instead).
Frequently Asked Questions
Multiply the price by the tax rate (as a decimal) to get the tax amount, then add it to the price for the total. For example, $100 × 7.25% = $7.25 tax, for a total of $107.25.
Divide the total by (1 + tax rate as a decimal). For example, $107.25 ÷ 1.0725 = $100.00 before tax.
No. Five states (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon) have no statewide sales tax, often remembered by the acronym NOMAD. However, Alaska allows local municipalities to levy local sales taxes.
Most states allow cities, counties, and special transit districts to add local sales taxes on top of the statewide base rate, resulting in a higher combined checkout tax rate.
Following the Supreme Court's 2018 South Dakota v. Wayfair ruling, states can require out-of-state online retailers to collect state and local sales tax based on the delivery destination.