New York sales tax

Estimate the sales tax on a purchase in New York

Enter a purchase amount to estimate the sales tax at New York's rates. The local rate defaults to the state average; enter your own for an exact figure, or use the official lookup below. See the full sales tax calculator to compare any state.

New York state rate verified against its Department of Revenue; average local rate from the Tax Foundation (2026). The local portion depends on the delivery address, so this is an estimate; use the official lookup for the exact combined rate.

What is the sales tax rate in New York State?

The New York State sales and use tax rate is 4%. That is the floor everywhere in the state. No county, city, or purchase in New York pays less than 4% in state tax on a taxable sale (before any exemption applies).

On top of that 4%, nearly every county and many cities add a local sales tax, and downstate jurisdictions inside the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District (MCTD, the region served by the MTA) add a further 0.375% transit surcharge. Add those three pieces together and you get the combined rate a shopper actually pays at checkout. That combined rate is what shows up on a receipt, and it is what most people mean when they ask "what is the sales tax in New York."

What is the sales tax in NYC?

The combined sales tax rate in New York City is 8.875%, and it is the same in all five boroughs (the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island are all part of New York City for sales tax purposes). It is built from three layers:

Source: New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, Publication 718, "New York State Sales and Use Tax Rates by Jurisdiction" (effective March 1, 2025).

Why is NYC sales tax higher than the rest of New York?

Two things stack on top of the state's 4% inside the city that do not apply everywhere else. First, New York City itself levies a 4.5% local rate, which is higher than most counties' local rates. Second, New York City sits inside the MCTD, the special transit district that funds the subway, buses, and commuter rail through the MTA. Every jurisdiction inside the MCTD, which is the city plus the counties of Dutchess, Nassau, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk, and Westchester, adds the extra 0.375% on top of its own local rate. Upstate counties are outside the MCTD entirely, so they only pay state plus their own county or city rate, with no transit surcharge.

What is the sales tax by county in New York?

Local rates are set county by county (and sometimes city by city within a county), so the combined rate a shopper pays changes as soon as they cross a county line. Here is a sample of combined rates from the state's official jurisdiction list.

Source: New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, Publication 718, "New York State Sales and Use Tax Rates by Jurisdiction" (effective March 1, 2025). Rates are set by the state and can change; use the Department's Jurisdiction/Rate Lookup tool for the current rate at a specific address.

Is clothing taxed in NYC?

Most clothing and footwear sold in New York City is not taxed at all, because New York City is one of the jurisdictions that provides the full clothing exemption. Statewide, the rule is: clothing, footwear, and the fabric and notions used to make or repair them are exempt from tax when the item costs less than $110. That exemption always removes the state's 4%. Whether it also removes local tax depends on the jurisdiction, and New York City has elected to exempt local tax too, so an eligible item under $110 bought in any borough owes no sales tax at all: not state, not city, not the MCTD surcharge.

The $110 cutoff applies to the full price of the item, not just the amount over the line. A jacket priced at $109.99 is entirely tax-free. The same jacket at $110.00 is fully taxable at the normal combined rate, with no partial exemption on the first $109.99. The rule also applies per item or pair, not per receipt, so a single $130 coat is taxable even if the rest of the cart is under $110 items.

Certain items do not qualify even under $110: costumes and rented formal wear, athletic equipment, protective gear such as helmets, and clothing components made from precious metals or stones. Everyday items like shirts, pants, dresses, coats, and shoes qualify; accessories like jewelry, handbags, and watches do not.

Which New York counties tax clothing under $110?

The exemption is optional for local governments, and most counties have not adopted it. Where a county has not adopted the local exemption, an eligible item under $110 still skips the state's 4%, but the county's own local rate still applies to it. New York City, and counties including Chautauqua, Chenango (outside Norwich), Columbia, Delaware, Dutchess, Greene, Hamilton, Monroe, Putnam, and Tioga, have adopted the full local exemption. Most other counties, including Erie, Nassau, Suffolk, Onondaga, and Albany, tax clothing under $110 at their local rate alone (for example, 4.75% in Erie County, since the state's 4% is still waived).

What else is taxed and what is exempt in New York?

Sales tax applies to most retail sales of tangible personal property and to a specific list of services. Groceries and many everyday essentials are exempt.

Source: New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, Tax Bulletin ST-740, "Quick Reference Guide for Taxable and Exempt Property and Services."

Do online and out-of-state sellers need to collect New York sales tax?

Yes, once a seller crosses New York's economic nexus threshold. A business with no physical presence in New York must register as a sales tax vendor and start collecting New York sales tax once, in the immediately preceding four sales tax quarters, it had more than $500,000 in gross receipts from sales of tangible personal property delivered into New York and made more than 100 such sales. Both conditions have to be met, not just one. A marketplace provider (a platform that processes payment for third-party sellers) faces the same $500,000-and-100-transaction test and, once it crosses the line, is generally the party responsible for collecting tax on the sales it facilitates. A business that already has a physical presence in New York, such as an office, warehouse, or employees, must register regardless of sales volume. For the steps to actually register, see our guide on whether you need a sales tax permit.

Worked example: a $95 sweater and a $150 coat in Manhattan

Say a shopper buys a $95 sweater and a $150 coat at a store in Manhattan, where the combined rate is 8.875% and the city provides the full clothing exemption.

• Sweater, $95: under $110, and New York City exempts local tax on top of the state exemption. Tax owed: $0.
• Coat, $150: $110 or more, so none of the exemption applies, not even on the first $109.99. The full 8.875% applies to the full $150. Tax owed: $13.31.
• Total: $245 in merchandise, $13.31 in tax, for an effective rate of about 5.4% on the whole purchase, purely because one item crossed the $110 line and the other did not.

The same cart bought in Erie County, which does not adopt the local clothing exemption, would owe local tax (4.75%) on the sweater even though the state's 4% is still waived, plus the full 8.75% on the coat.

The flat truth on New York sales tax

There is no single "New York sales tax rate." There is a 4% state floor, a local add-on that varies by county and sometimes by city, and, inside the MCTD, a further 0.375% transit surcharge. The one number worth memorizing is New York City's 8.875%, since it is the rate at the country's highest-volume shopping market and it applies identically across all five boroughs. The other number worth memorizing is $110: keep a clothing or footwear item under that price and the state's cut disappears, and in New York City, so does the rest of the tax.

See the taxes hub for more on how state and local tax rules interact, or property tax by county for another New York tax that is set locally rather than by the state.