Add sales tax to a price or reverse-calculate the pre-tax amount from a tax-inclusive total. Pick any US state to auto-fill its base rate, or type your own combined rate.
State rates shown are approximate statewide base rates for 2026 and do not include local city or county taxes, which can add several percent. Verify the exact combined rate for your jurisdiction before filing.
| State | Code | Base rate |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | AL | 4% |
| Alaska | AK | No sales tax |
| Arizona | AZ | 5.6% |
| Arkansas | AR | 6.5% |
| California | CA | 7.25% |
| Colorado | CO | 2.9% |
| Connecticut | CT | 6.35% |
| Delaware | DE | No sales tax |
| District of Columbia | DC | 6% |
| Florida | FL | 6% |
| Georgia | GA | 4% |
| Hawaii | HI | 4% |
| Idaho | ID | 6% |
| Illinois | IL | 6.25% |
| Indiana | IN | 7% |
| Iowa | IA | 6% |
| Kansas | KS | 6.5% |
| Kentucky | KY | 6% |
| Louisiana | LA | 5% |
| Maine | ME | 5.5% |
| Maryland | MD | 6% |
| Massachusetts | MA | 6.25% |
| Michigan | MI | 6% |
| Minnesota | MN | 6.875% |
| Mississippi | MS | 7% |
| Missouri | MO | 4.225% |
| Montana | MT | No sales tax |
| Nebraska | NE | 5.5% |
| Nevada | NV | 6.85% |
| New Hampshire | NH | No sales tax |
| New Jersey | NJ | 6.625% |
| New Mexico | NM | 4.875% |
| New York | NY | 4% |
| North Carolina | NC | 4.75% |
| North Dakota | ND | 5% |
| Ohio | OH | 5.75% |
| Oklahoma | OK | 4.5% |
| Oregon | OR | No sales tax |
| Pennsylvania | PA | 6% |
| Rhode Island | RI | 7% |
| South Carolina | SC | 6% |
| South Dakota | SD | 4.2% |
| Tennessee | TN | 7% |
| Texas | TX | 6.25% |
| Utah | UT | 6.1% |
| Vermont | VT | 6% |
| Virginia | VA | 5.3% |
| Washington | WA | 6.5% |
| West Virginia | WV | 6% |
| Wisconsin | WI | 5% |
| Wyoming | WY | 4% |
States with no statewide sales tax: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon. Alaska and Montana still allow some local sales taxes.
Sales tax is a consumption tax charged by state and local governments on the sale of goods and, in many places, certain services. It is calculated as a percentage of the item's price and is collected by the seller at the point of sale, then remitted to the taxing authority. In the United States there is no national sales tax. Instead, 45 states and the District of Columbia levy a statewide sales tax, and thousands of counties, cities, and special districts add their own local rates on top. The combined rate a shopper actually pays is the sum of the state rate and every applicable local rate for that specific location.
Because local rates stack, two stores a few miles apart can charge noticeably different totals for the same product. A statewide base rate of 6% might become 8.5% once county and city taxes are added. This calculator uses the state base rate as a convenient starting point, but you can type in the full combined rate for your address to get an exact figure.
Adding tax to a pre-tax price is straightforward. You multiply the price by the rate expressed as a decimal, then add it back to the original price:
tax amount = price x (rate / 100) total = price + tax amount
Removing tax is the reverse operation and is where people most often make mistakes. If you already have a tax-inclusive total and want to know how much of it was tax, you cannot simply multiply the total by the rate. Instead you divide the total by one plus the rate:
pre-tax amount = total / (1 + rate / 100) tax amount = total - pre-tax amount
The reason is that the tax was applied to the smaller pre-tax base, not to the larger total. Dividing by 1 + rate correctly "backs out" the tax so the numbers reconcile in both directions.
Example 1 — Adding tax in California (7.25%)
You are buying a jacket priced at $120 before tax in a location where the rate is 7.25%. The tax amount is 120 x (7.25 / 100) = $8.70. The total you pay at the register is 120 + 8.70 = $128.70. If a local district tax pushed the combined rate to 9.5%, the tax would instead be 120 x 0.095 = $11.40 for a total of $131.40, which shows how much local rates can matter.
Example 2 — Removing tax from a receipt total
A restaurant receipt shows a total of $54.00 and you know the combined tax rate was 8%. To find the pre-tax food cost, divide: 54.00 / (1 + 0.08) = 54.00 / 1.08 = $50.00. The tax portion was 54.00 - 50.00 = $4.00. This is handy for expense reports where you need to separate the taxable base from the tax you paid.
Example 3 — Comparing two states
Suppose you can buy a $1,000 laptop in Oregon, which has no statewide sales tax, or in Washington at a 6.5% state rate plus roughly 3% local tax for a combined 9.5%. In Oregon the total is $1,000. In Washington the total is 1000 x 1.095 = $1,095. The $95 difference explains why shoppers near state borders sometimes cross the line for large purchases, though use-tax rules may still technically apply in their home state.
States collect sales tax using one of two sourcing rules. In a destination-based state, the rate is determined by where the buyer receives the goods, which is the shipping address for online orders. In an origin-based state, the rate is based on the seller's location. Most states use destination-based sourcing, which is why e-commerce checkouts calculate tax from your delivery address. A handful of states, including Texas for many intrastate sales, use origin-based rules. Following the 2018 South Dakota v. Wayfair decision, online sellers that exceed certain sales or transaction thresholds in a state generally must collect that state's tax even without a physical presence there, a concept known as economic nexus.
Sales tax rules vary widely by state on what counts as taxable. Many states exempt or reduce tax on groceries, prescription drugs, and medical devices because these are considered necessities. Clothing is exempt in a few states and taxed in most others. Digital products such as streaming subscriptions and downloaded software are increasingly taxed as states modernize their codes. Services were historically untaxed but a growing number of states now tax specific services. Because of this variation, the safest approach is to confirm the taxability of your specific item with your state's department of revenue, and to treat this calculator as a fast estimate rather than tax advice.