Five US states have no statewide sales tax: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon. Four of them charge no general sales tax at any level. Alaska is the exception, because its cities and boroughs can levy their own, and those local rates average 1.82% across the state according to the Tax Foundation’s figures for July 1, 2026.
Every other state and the District of Columbia charges a state rate between 2.9% in Colorado and 7.25% in California, and local add-ons push the combined rate past 10% in Louisiana. The first table covers the five states with no sales tax and what each taxes instead; the full sales tax table for all 50 states follows further down.
| # | State | State sales tax | Local sales tax | What it taxes instead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska | 0% | 1.82% average local | Local sales taxes set by cities and boroughs |
| 2 | Delaware | 0% | 0% | Gross receipts tax paid by businesses |
| 3 | Montana | 0% | 0% | 8% lodging tax; resort-area taxes up to 3% |
| 4 | New Hampshire | 0% | 0% | 8.5% meals and rooms tax |
| 5 | Oregon | 0% | 0% | Corporate activity tax; 0.5% vehicle privilege tax |
The 5 States With No Sales Tax and What Each Charges Instead
No state goes without revenue. The five that skip a general sales tax lean on taxes aimed at businesses, visitors or income, and those choices decide who actually saves money at the register.
1. Alaska: No State Tax, but Local Rates up to 7.85%
State rate: 0% · Average local rate: 1.82% · Highest local rate: 7.85%
Alaska has no statewide sales tax, but it is the only one of the five that lets local governments add their own. Anchorage, the largest city, charges no general sales tax, while Juneau and many smaller towns do, with local rates as high as 7.85%. That patchwork is why the population-weighted average works out at only 1.82%.
Online sellers are not exempt. After the Supreme Court’s 2018 Wayfair decision allowed states and localities to tax remote sales, many Alaska municipalities formed the Alaska Remote Seller Sales Tax Commission to collect their local taxes from out-of-state retailers through a single registration.
2. Delaware: Businesses Pay a Gross Receipts Tax Instead
State rate: 0% · Local rate: 0% · Main substitute: gross receipts tax on sellers
Delaware charges no sales tax at the state or local level, so nothing is added at the checkout. The state instead taxes the gross receipts of businesses. For retailers the rate is under 1% of receipts, and the first $100,000 a month is excluded, so small sellers owe nothing.
Because the gross receipts tax falls on the seller, shoppers never see it as a line on the receipt, though it can be built into prices. Delaware’s tax mix also makes it a common name in retirement planning, as our guide to the best places to retire in the US notes.
3. Montana: Tax-Free Shopping, Taxed Hotel Stays
State rate: 0% · Lodging tax: 8% · Resort-area tax: up to 3%
Montana has no general sales tax, but visitors pay on where they sleep. Hotels, motels, campgrounds, vacation rentals and short-term rental platforms collect a 4% lodging facility use tax plus a 4% lodging sales tax, 8% in total on the price of the stay.
Ten designated resort areas, including Big Sky, Whitefish, West Yellowstone and Red Lodge, also levy a local resort tax of up to 3% on lodging, restaurant meals, drinks, ski and recreation passes and gift or luxury items. Groceries, medicine, hardware and other necessities are exempt, the tax is run by each community rather than the state, and national sales tax tables, including the one further down this page, leave it out.
4. New Hampshire: No Sales Tax and No Income Tax
State rate: 0% · Meals and rooms tax: 8.5% · Income tax on wages: none
New Hampshire has no general sales tax, but it charges an 8.5% Meals and Rooms (Rentals) Tax on restaurant meals, alcohol, hotel rooms and car rentals. The rate fell from 9% to 8.5% on October 1, 2021.
New Hampshire also repealed its tax on interest and dividends from January 1, 2025, leaving it with no general sales tax and no income tax at either the state or the local level, a combination no other state matches. It appears on both this list and our guide to states with no income tax.
5. Oregon: No Sales Tax, Higher Income Taxes
State rate: 0% · Business tax: $250 plus 0.57% above $1 million · Vehicle privilege tax: 0.5%
Oregon has no sales tax and leans on income taxes instead. Businesses pay the corporate activity tax, which is $250 plus 0.57% of taxable Oregon commercial activity above $1 million, and dealers pay a 0.5% privilege tax on the retail price of new vehicles they sell.
Oregon shoppers crossing into Washington pay Washington’s sales tax at the register. Since July 1, 2019 the nonresident exemption has worked as a refund: qualifying buyers apply to the Washington Department of Revenue for the 6.5% state portion on eligible goods, with a $25 minimum, while the local portion is not refunded.
Sales Tax by State: All 50 States and DC in 2026
The table below lists every state’s sales tax rate as of July 1, 2026, from the Tax Foundation’s midyear update. The average local rate is weighted by population, so individual cities can sit well above or below it, and the combined rate is the figure most shoppers actually pay. The population-weighted national average combined rate is 7.53%.
| State | State rate | Avg. local rate | Combined rate | Combined rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 4.00% | 5.46% | 9.46% | 5 |
| Alaska | 0.00% | 1.82% | 1.82% | 46 |
| Arizona | 5.60% | 2.94% | 8.54% | 11 |
| Arkansas | 6.50% | 2.98% | 9.48% | 4 |
| California | 7.25% | 1.78% | 9.03% | 7 |
| Colorado | 2.90% | 4.99% | 7.89% | 16 |
| Connecticut | 6.35% | 0.00% | 6.35% | 33 |
| Delaware | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 47 |
| District of Columbia | 6.00% | 0.00% | 6.00% | n/a |
| Florida | 6.00% | 0.98% | 6.98% | 28 |
| Georgia | 4.00% | 3.56% | 7.56% | 18 |
| Hawaii | 4.00% | 0.50% | 4.50% | 45 |
| Idaho | 6.00% | 0.03% | 6.03% | 37 |
| Illinois | 6.25% | 2.73% | 8.98% | 8 |
| Indiana | 7.00% | 0.00% | 7.00% | 25 |
| Iowa | 6.00% | 0.94% | 6.94% | 29 |
| Kansas | 6.50% | 2.21% | 8.71% | 9 |
| Kentucky | 6.00% | 0.00% | 6.00% | 38 |
| Louisiana | 5.00% | 5.13% | 10.13% | 1 |
| Maine | 5.50% | 0.00% | 5.50% | 43 |
| Maryland | 6.00% | 0.00% | 6.00% | 38 |
| Massachusetts | 6.25% | 0.00% | 6.25% | 35 |
| Michigan | 6.00% | 0.00% | 6.00% | 38 |
| Minnesota | 6.88% | 1.26% | 8.14% | 15 |
| Mississippi | 7.00% | 0.06% | 7.06% | 24 |
| Missouri | 4.23% | 4.22% | 8.44% | 12 |
| Montana | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 47 |
| Nebraska | 5.50% | 1.48% | 6.98% | 27 |
| Nevada | 6.85% | 1.39% | 8.24% | 13 |
| New Hampshire | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 47 |
| New Jersey | 6.63% | -0.02% | 6.60% | 30 |
| New Mexico | 4.88% | 2.80% | 7.68% | 17 |
| New York | 4.00% | 4.54% | 8.54% | 10 |
| North Carolina | 4.75% | 2.35% | 7.10% | 22 |
| North Dakota | 5.00% | 2.09% | 7.09% | 23 |
| Ohio | 5.75% | 1.54% | 7.29% | 21 |
| Oklahoma | 4.50% | 4.56% | 9.06% | 6 |
| Oregon | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 47 |
| Pennsylvania | 6.00% | 0.34% | 6.34% | 34 |
| Rhode Island | 7.00% | 0.00% | 7.00% | 25 |
| South Carolina | 6.00% | 1.49% | 7.49% | 19 |
| South Dakota | 4.20% | 1.91% | 6.11% | 36 |
| Tennessee | 7.00% | 2.61% | 9.61% | 2 |
| Texas | 6.25% | 1.95% | 8.20% | 14 |
| Utah | 6.10% | 1.32% | 7.42% | 20 |
| Vermont | 6.00% | 0.43% | 6.43% | 32 |
| Virginia | 5.30% | 0.47% | 5.77% | 41 |
| Washington | 6.50% | 3.07% | 9.57% | 3 |
| West Virginia | 6.00% | 0.60% | 6.60% | 31 |
| Wisconsin | 5.00% | 0.72% | 5.72% | 42 |
| Wyoming | 4.00% | 1.39% | 5.39% | 44 |
A few figures need context. California’s 7.25% includes a mandatory 1.25% local add-on charged statewide, as do Utah’s rate with its own 1.25% add-on and Virginia’s with 1%. New Jersey shows a slightly negative local rate because sellers in its Urban Enterprise Zones collect half the state rate. Hawaii, New Mexico and South Dakota tax many business services that other states exempt, so the same rate reaches more transactions there.
Highest and Lowest Sales Tax States in 2026
The five highest combined state and local sales tax rates are:
- Louisiana: 10.13%, after the state rate rose from 4.45% to 5% in January 2025
- Tennessee: 9.61%, with a 7% state rate
- Washington: 9.57%, with a 6.5% state rate
- Arkansas: 9.48%, with a 6.5% state rate
- Alabama: 9.46%, where local taxes average 5.46%, the highest local burden in the country
Sales tax is often the price of no income tax. Tennessee and Washington both skip the income tax on wages, and Tennessee’s high combined rate is a trade-off our guide to the best places to live in Tennessee weighs city by city.
At the other end, Colorado has the lowest state rate of any state that levies one, at 2.9%, but its local taxes average 4.99%, so the combined rate is 7.89%. California has the highest state-level rate at 7.25%, followed by Indiana, Mississippi, Rhode Island and Tennessee at 7%. Among states with a sales tax, Hawaii has the lowest combined rate at 4.50%.
Rates do move. No state changed its statewide rate between January and July 2026, but local adjustments nudged combined rates up in North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, California and Vermont. Illinois dropped its 1% state tax on groceries on January 1, 2026, although many Illinois localities chose to add their own.
Do You Owe Tax When You Buy in a No-Sales-Tax State?
Often, yes. States that charge sales tax also charge a use tax on goods bought tax-free elsewhere and brought home for use, at the same rate. A Washington resident who drives to Portland to buy a television owes Washington use tax on it, even though the Oregon store charged nothing.
The reverse works in shoppers’ favor. Washington refunds the state portion of its sales tax to residents of places with no sales tax, or one below 3%, which takes in:
- US states: Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon
- US possession: American Samoa
- Canada: Alberta, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon
Online orders follow the delivery address. A retailer shipping to Oregon, Montana, New Hampshire or Delaware collects no sales tax, while an order shipped to an Alaska town can still carry that town’s local rate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which states have no sales tax?
Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon have no statewide sales tax. Alaska is the only one of the five that allows local sales taxes, which average 1.82% and reach 7.85% in some places.
Which state has the highest sales tax?
Louisiana has the highest combined state and local rate at 10.13%. California has the highest state-level rate at 7.25%, which includes a statewide 1.25% local add-on.
Which state has no sales tax and no income tax?
New Hampshire. It has no general sales tax and, since repealing its interest and dividends tax on January 1, 2025, no income tax. Alaska also has neither at the state level, but its towns can charge local sales tax.
Does New Hampshire tax restaurant meals?
Yes. Restaurant meals, alcohol, hotel rooms and car rentals carry New Hampshire’s 8.5% Meals and Rooms (Rentals) Tax, even though the state has no general sales tax on goods.
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