Sales tax in Lake County, Illinois
There is no single sales tax rate in Lake County. It runs from 7.25% to 9.25% depending on the exact address, because cities and special districts inside the county levy their own on top of the 6.25% state rate. The 6.25% state rate applies everywhere in the county; everything above that depends on where you are standing. These rates were read from Illinois's own published schedule and checked on September 9, 2026. The rate in each of the 55 cities is in the table below.
What is the sales tax rate in Lake County?
| Illinois state rate | 6.25% |
|---|---|
| Lowest combined rate in the county | 7.25% |
| Highest combined rate in the county | 9.25% |
The combined figures are the lowest and highest totals anywhere in Lake County, so the rows above do not add up to them.
What is the sales tax rate in each city in Lake County?
Illinois publishes the rate for every city it taxes. These are the combined rates, state and local together, as listed in Illinois's own rate file. Where a city shows a range, a special district covers only part of it, so the rate depends on the exact address.
| City | August 1, 2026 to present |
|---|---|
| AntiochRates in Antioch run from 8.25% to 9.25%: 8.25% outside any business district; 9.25% inside the Antioch Central Business District; 9.25% inside the Antioch East Business District. | 8.25% to 9.25% |
| Arlington Heights | 8.25% |
| Bannockburn | 8.25% |
| Barrington | 8.25% |
| Barrington Hills | 7.25% |
| Beach Park | 7.25% |
| Buffalo Grove | 8.25% |
| Deer Park | 8.25% |
| Deerfield | 8.25% |
| Fox LakeRates in Fox Lake run from 7.75% to 8.75%: 7.75% outside any business district; 8.75% inside the Central Business District; 8.75% inside the South Business District. | 7.75% to 8.75% |
| Fox River Grove | 8.25% |
| Grayslake | 7.25% |
| Green Oaks | 8.25% |
| Gurnee | 8.75% |
| Hainesville | 7.25% |
| Hawthorn Woods | 8.25% |
| Highland Park | 8.25% |
| Highwood | 9.25% |
| Indian Creek | 7.25% |
| Island Lake | 7.25% |
| Kildeer | 8.25% |
| Lake Barrington | 7.75% |
| Lake Bluff | 8.25% |
| Lake Forest | 8.25% |
| Lake VillaRates in Lake Villa run from 8.25% to 9.25%: 8.25% outside any business district; 9.25% inside the Lake Villa Downtown Business District. | 8.25% to 9.25% |
| Lake Zurich | 8.25% |
| Lakemoor | 8.25% |
| Libertyville | 8.75% |
| Lincolnshire | 8.25% |
| Lindenhurst | 7.25% |
| Long GroveRates in Long Grove run from 8.25% to 9.25%: 8.25% outside any business district; 9.25% inside the IL Rte 83 Business District. | 8.25% to 9.25% |
| Mettawa | 7.25% |
| Mundelein | 8.5% |
| North Barrington | 7.25% |
| North Chicago | 8.25% |
| Northbrook | 8.25% |
| Old Mill Creek | 7.25% |
| Palatine | 8.25% |
| Park City | 8.25% |
| Port Barrington | 7.25% |
| Riverwoods | 8.25% |
| Round Lake | 8.25% |
| Round Lake Beach | 8.25% |
| Round Lake Heights | 7.25% |
| Round Lake Park | 7.25% |
| Third Lake | 7.25% |
| Tower Lakes | 8.25% |
| Vernon Hills | 7.5% |
| Volo | 8.25% |
| Wadsworth | 8.25% |
| Wauconda | 8.25% |
| Waukegan | 8.75% |
| Wheeling | 8.25% |
| Winthrop Harbor | 7.25% |
| Zion | 7.25% |
| Unincorporated Lake County | 7.25% |
Source: Illinois rate file for August 1, 2026 to present, from Illinois's official rate page.
How much sales tax is that on a purchase in Lake County?
At 7.25%, a $100 purchase carries $7.25 in sales tax and a $1,000 purchase $72.50, at the lowest rate in the county. At the highest, 9.25%, the same purchases carry $9.25 and $92.50. That is general merchandise; Illinois taxes some categories, often groceries, differently, as the note below explains.
Among Illinois's 102 counties, Lake County's lowest rate ranks 35th highest, level with 37 other counties. See every Illinois county.
Sales tax in counties next to Lake County
Lake County borders 6 counties, 4 of them in another state. The lowest rate next door is 5.5% in Kenosha County, WI, which is $17.50 less on a $1,000 purchase than the lowest rate in Lake County.
| County | Combined sales tax |
|---|---|
| Cook County, IL | 9.25% to 12.25% |
| McHenry County, IL | 7.5% to 9.5% |
| Lake County, IL (this county) | 7.25% to 9.25% |
| Allegan County, MI | 6% |
| Berrien County, MI | 6% |
| Van Buren County, MI | 6% |
| Kenosha County, WI | 5.5% |
Why the rate here is not the whole story
Illinois charges 6.25 percent statewide on general merchandise. Only 5 percent of that is kept by the state and 1.25 percent is passed straight through to the municipality or county where the sale is sourced, but the whole 6.25 percent is imposed by the state and every location in Illinois pays it. Municipalities, business districts and transit districts then add their own rates on boundaries that do not follow county lines, so a single rate for the whole county does not exist. The county itself levies no sales tax of its own. The Northern Illinois Transit Authority, the renamed Regional Transportation Authority, levies 1 percent across the whole county on top of that, a rate that rose by 0.25 points on August 1 2026. The floor of 7.25 percent is in unincorporated county. The ceiling of 9.25 percent is at Antioch, and applies only at the specific addresses the state lists inside that municipality's business district. These figures are general merchandise rates. Qualifying drugs and medical appliances are taxed at a lower rate that starts at 1 percent statewide, and since January 1 2026 groceries carry no state rate at all although a municipality or county may impose 1 percent of its own, so neither belongs in the range here.
How do I find the exact rate for an address in Lake County?
Use Illinois's own address lookup. In Lake County the rate depends on the address, anywhere from 7.25% to 9.25%.
Who has to collect sales tax in Lake County?
Any seller with a physical presence in Illinois collects at the rate for the address of the sale; a remote seller does once it passes Illinois's economic nexus threshold. Illinois sales tax covers the statewide rules and what is exempt.
Work out your own numbers
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Sales tax calculator
Tax on a specific purchase at this county's rate, and the total you will actually pay.
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Do you have to collect?
Whether your sales into Illinois cross its economic nexus threshold. A different question from the rate.
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Property tax in Lake County
The other local tax: effective rate and median bill for this county.
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Sales tax by county
Every US county, and how Illinois compares with the rest of the country.
Sources
- Lake County rates: Illinois Department of Revenue, Sales Tax Rate Machine Readable File for the Retailers' Occupation Tax, County/Municipality Rate file ordmache-current.txt read with the Addendum Address File ordmacha-current.txt, edition effective August 1 2026, https://tax.illinois.gov/research/taxrates/sales-tax-rate-machine-readable-files.html
- Collected and verified September 9, 2026. Confidence: S on the rate components, P on the range (P read on a primary agency page, S strong but indirect, U unverified).