A fast US sales tax calculator that turns a price and a state into the exact tax and total — and shows every step. Pick a state to load its statewide base rate, add your county, city or special-district rate if you know it, and the tool breaks the result into state tax, local tax, the combined rate, and the final total with tax. It is built for shoppers checking a receipt, freelancers and small businesses pricing invoices, and anyone comparing what the same purchase costs across states.
How it works
US sales tax is a percentage added to the pre-tax price at the point of sale. There is no single national rate: each state sets its own statewide rate, and most states let counties, cities and special districts stack local rates on top. The number you actually pay is the combined rate — state plus local. This calculator keeps those two parts separate so you can see exactly where the money goes.
tax = pre-tax amount × (state rate + local rate) and total = pre-tax amount + tax
In forward mode, you enter the pre-tax price; the tool multiplies by the combined rate to get the tax, then adds it back for the total. In reverse mode, you enter a tax-inclusive total and the tool runs the formula backwards — net = total ÷ (1 + combined rate) — to recover the original price and the embedded tax. That reverse calculation is handy for extracting tax from a gross figure on a receipt or for backing into a list price that hits a target out-the-door number. Five states — Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon, plus Alaska at the state level — charge no statewide tax, so the calculator simply returns a zero tax and a total equal to the price unless you add a local rate.
Worked example
Suppose you buy a 250 dollar item in California, where the statewide rate is 7.25%, and the city adds a 1.5% district tax. The combined rate is 8.75%. The tax is 250 × 0.0875 = 21.88 dollars (state portion 18.13, local portion 3.75), and the total is 250 + 21.88 = 271.88 dollars. Run it in reverse: a 271.88 dollar total at 8.75% gives a net of 271.88 ÷ 1.0875 = 250.00 dollars, confirming the math.
| State | State base | + Local | Combined | Tax on $250 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | 7.25% | 1.5% | 8.75% | $21.88 | $271.88 |
| Texas | 6.25% | 2.0% | 8.25% | $20.63 | $270.63 |
| Oregon | 0% | 0% | 0% | $0.00 | $250.00 |
Formula note: rates are applied as decimals (combined percent ÷ 100). Each tax line is rounded to the cent independently, so the displayed state plus local taxes always sum to the displayed combined tax. The reference table’s state base rates are statewide figures; the average-combined column is an approximation — enter your exact local rate for a precise result. Every calculation runs in your browser; no numbers are uploaded.