Sales tax risk in 2026 is not theoretical. It is already on your calendar.
States are adjusting sales tax rates almost every month, local jurisdictions are layering on their own percentages, and remote seller rules mean even a small but growing business can have obligations in dozens of states. Get one rate wrong in one high volume jurisdiction and you are looking at under collected tax, interest, penalties, and a messy clean up with customers.
If you sell across state lines, you need two things:
- A clear view of sales tax by state
- A realistic plan for keeping those rates current without living in spreadsheets
This guide gives you both. It outlines standard state level sales tax rates as of January 1, 2026, shows how local ranges work, and explains where sales tax automation fits into a scalable compliance strategy.
Before you dive into the numbers, it helps to understand what this chart is and what it is not.
- State rate is the standard statewide sales and use tax rate on general taxable goods and services.
- Range of local rates shows the typical minimum and maximum added by cities, counties, and special districts. Your real rate is state plus the applicable local stack.
- Local rates apply to use tax tells you whether local taxes also apply to out of state purchases where you owe use tax, not just in state sales.
Important context:
- Sales and use tax rates change frequently, especially at the local level.
- Many states have non standard rates for items like groceries, lodging, motor vehicles, telecommunications, or digital goods.
- Some states have no state level sales tax but allow local sales tax, which still creates compliance obligations.
Use this as a planning level reference and pair it with sales tax automation that pulls current rates at the address or rooftop level for actual calculation.
2026 Sales Tax Rates by State
As of January 1, 2026
Note: This table is a high level reference for standard state rates. Always verify current rates before filing or billing, especially for local jurisdictions and special tax categories.
| State / Jurisdiction |
State rate |
Range of local rates |
Local rates apply to use tax? |
| Alabama | 4% | 0 – 9% | Yes / No |
| Alaska | 0% | 0 – 7% | Yes / No |
| Arizona | 5.6% | 0 – 7% | Yes / No |
| Arkansas | 6.5% | 0 – 4.5% | Yes |
| California | 7.25% | 0 – 4% | Yes |
| Colorado | 2.9% | 0 – 7% | Yes / No |
| Connecticut | 6.35% | No local sales tax | N / A |
| Delaware | 0% | 0% | N / A |
| District of Columbia | 6% | 0% | N / A |
| Florida | 6% | 0 – 2% | Yes |
| Georgia | 4% | 1 – 5% | Yes |
| Hawaii | 4% | 0 – 0.5% | N / A (GET) |
| Idaho | 6% | 0 – 3% | No |
| Illinois | 6.25% | 0 – 5.75% | Yes / No |
| Indiana | 7% | 0% | N / A |
| Iowa | 6% | 0 – 1% | No |
| Kansas | 6.5% | 0 – 3% | Yes |
| Kentucky | 6% | 0% | N / A |
| Louisiana | 5% | 0 – 8.5% | Yes |
| Maine | 5.5% | 0% | N / A |
| Maryland | 6% | 0% | N / A |
| Massachusetts | 6.25% | 0% | N / A |
| Michigan | 6% | 0% | N / A |
| Minnesota | 6.875% | 0 – 3% | Yes |
| Mississippi | 7% | 0 – 1% | No |
| Missouri | 4.225% | 0.5 – 8.013% | Yes / No |
| Montana | 0% | 0% | N / A |
| Nebraska | 5.5% | 0 – 2% | Yes |
| Nevada | 6.85% | 0 – 1.525% | Yes |
| New Hampshire | 0% | 0% | N / A |
| New Jersey | 6.625% | 0% | N / A |
| New Mexico | 4.875% | 0 – 2.875% | No |
| New York | 4% | 0 – 5% | Yes |
| North Carolina | 4.75% | 0 – 2.75% | Yes |
| North Dakota | 5% | 0 – 3% | Yes |
| Ohio | 5.75% | 0 – 3% | Yes |
| Oklahoma | 4.5% | 0 – 5.5% | Yes / No |
| Oregon | 0% | 0% | N / A |
| Pennsylvania | 6% | 0 – 2% | No |
| Puerto Rico | 11.5% | 0% | Yes |
| Rhode Island | 7% | 0% | N / A |
| South Carolina | 6% | 0 – 3% | Yes |
| South Dakota | 4.2% | 0 – 3% | Yes |
| Tennessee | 7% | 1.5 – 2.75% | Yes |
| Texas | 6.25% | 0 – 2% | Yes |
| Utah | 4.85% | 1 – 5.2% | Yes |
| Vermont | 6% | 0 – 1% | No |
| Virginia | 4.3% | 1 – 2.7% | Yes |
| Washington | 6.5% | 0.5 – 4.1% | Yes |
| West Virginia | 6% | 0 – 1% | Yes |
| Wisconsin | 5% | 0 – 2.9% | Yes / No |
| Wyoming | 4% | 0 – 5% | Yes |
Remember that these are base values. Your actual rate at a specific address often differs from any simple state average, especially in states with many city and special district taxes.
Why This Chart Is Helpful, But Not Enough
A state by state sales tax chart is useful for:
- Budgeting and pricing strategy
- Estimating gross margin impact in high tax versus low tax states
- Explaining to leadership why effective tax rates vary on similar products
It is not enough for:
- Calculating tax on live transactions
- Filing accurate returns by jurisdiction
- Managing sales tax on telecom, utilities, or other special categories
- Handling special local sales tax rules or tax holidays
Sales tax by state is only the starting point. Real compliance happens at the jurisdiction and address level, and that is where sales tax automation becomes essential.
If you are operating in more than a handful of states, manual rate management will eventually break down.
Sales tax automation tools like CereTax are designed to:
- Pull current rates at the rooftop or address level, not just state level
- Apply correct sales tax by state, county, city, and district based on sourcing rules
- Track which local rates apply to use tax and which do not
- Keep up with monthly rate changes without requiring your team to key them in
- Feed that data directly into returns, so you file what you actually collected
Think of this 2026 reference guide as the compass. Sales tax automation is the GPS that recalculates in real time when states or jurisdictions change direction.
Quick Internal Check: Are You Using State Rates Safely?
Use these questions for self assessment:
- Are any of your systems still using a single “state rate” field to calculate tax, without layering in local rates?
- Do you have a central view of all tax jurisdictions where you are collecting, not just states?
- When a state or local rate changes, can you confirm where and when that update was applied in your systems?
- Can you explain rate differences on customer invoices in high overlap states like Louisiana, Colorado, or Texas without pulling multiple spreadsheets?
If any answer is no or “I am not sure”, it is a signal that your sales tax by state view needs to be backed by a more robust automation layer.
Curious what that would look like for you? Share your current footprint and tech stack with us and we will map out how to pair this 2026 state rate view with a sales tax automation strategy that actually scales. Book a Strategy Call.
