Sales tax in Knox County, Tennessee

What is the sales tax rate in Knox County?

What is the sales tax rate in each city in Knox County?

Tennessee publishes the rate for every city it taxes. These are the combined rates, state and local together, as listed in Tennessee's own rate file.

Source: Tennessee rate file for October 1, 2026 onward, from Tennessee's official rate page.

How much sales tax is that on a purchase in Knox County?

At 9.25%, a $100 purchase carries $9.25 in sales tax and a $1,000 purchase $92.50. That is general merchandise; Tennessee taxes some categories, often groceries, differently, as the note below explains.

Among Tennessee's 95 counties, Knox County's rate ranks 68th highest, level with 21 other counties. See every Tennessee county.

Sales tax in counties next to Knox County

Knox County borders 8 counties. The lowest rate next door is 9% in Loudon County, TN, which is $2.50 less on a $1,000 purchase than Knox County's rate.

Why the rate here is not the whole story

Tennessee taxes general merchandise at a state rate of 7 percent and Knox County levies the local option sales and use tax at 2.25 percent, so the rate in the unincorporated county is 9.25 percent. Any incorporated city may levy the same tax by ordinance up to the statewide local cap of 2.75 percent, and a city rate replaces the county rate inside the city limits instead of stacking on it, but every other jurisdiction the Department lists inside the county is at 2.25 percent today, so 9.25 percent applies at every address. Food and food ingredients are taxed at a reduced state rate of 4 percent instead of 7 percent, with the same local rate on top, so the figures here are the general merchandise rate. The local part of the tax applies only to the first $1,600 of the price of a single article of tangible personal property, and a separate state single article tax of 2.75 percent applies to the part of the price between $1,600 and $3,200.

How do I find the exact rate for an address in Knox County?

Use Tennessee's own address lookup.

Who has to collect sales tax in Knox County?

Any seller with a physical presence in Tennessee collects at the rate for the address of the sale; a remote seller does once it passes Tennessee's economic nexus threshold. Tennessee sales tax covers the statewide rules and what is exempt.

Work out your own numbers

• Sales tax calculator

  Tax on a specific purchase at this county's rate, and the total you will actually pay.

• Do you have to collect?

  Whether your sales into Tennessee cross its economic nexus threshold. A different question from the rate.

• Property tax in Knox County

  The other local tax: effective rate and median bill for this county.

• Sales tax by county

  Every US county, and how Tennessee compares with the rest of the country.