Sales tax in Sullivan County, Tennessee

Updated

There is no single sales tax rate in Sullivan County. It runs from 9.25% to 9.5% depending on the exact address, because cities and special districts inside the county levy their own on top of the 7% state rate. The 7% state rate applies everywhere in the county; everything above that depends on where you are standing. These rates were read from Tennessee's own published schedule and checked on September 9, 2026. The rate in each of the 4 cities is in the table below.

What is the sales tax rate in Sullivan County?

Sales tax rate components in Sullivan County, Tennessee
Tennessee state rate7%
Sullivan County rate2.25%
Lowest combined rate in the county9.25%
Highest combined rate in the county9.5%

The combined figures are the lowest and highest totals anywhere in Sullivan County, so the rows above do not add up to them.

What is the sales tax rate in each city in Sullivan 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.

Sales tax rate by city in Sullivan County, Tennessee
CityOctober 1, 2026 onward
Bluff City9.25%
Bristol9.25%
Johnson City9.25%
Kingsport9.5%
Unincorporated Sullivan County9.25%

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 Sullivan County?

At 9.25%, a $100 purchase carries $9.25 in sales tax and a $1,000 purchase $92.50, at the lowest rate in the county. At the highest, 9.5%, the same purchases carry $9.50 and $95.00. That is general merchandise; Tennessee taxes some categories, often groceries, differently, as the note below explains.

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

Sales tax in counties next to Sullivan County

Sullivan County borders 7 counties, 3 of them in another state. The lowest rate next door is 5.3% in Scott County, VA, which is $39.50 less on a $1,000 purchase than the lowest rate in Sullivan County.

Sullivan County and its neighbors, highest rate first
CountyCombined sales tax
Carter County, TN9.75%
Hawkins County, TN9.75%
Washington County, TN9.5%
Sullivan County, TN (this county)9.25% to 9.5%
Johnson County, TN9%
Scott County, VA5.3%
Washington County, VA5.3%
Bristol city, VA5.3%

Why the rate here is not the whole story

Tennessee taxes general merchandise at a state rate of 7 percent and Sullivan 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, so the combined rate here runs from 9.25 percent in the unincorporated county up to 9.5 percent in Kingsport. 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 Sullivan County?

Use Tennessee's own address lookup. In Sullivan County the rate depends on the address, anywhere from 9.25% to 9.5%.

Who has to collect sales tax in Sullivan 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

Sources