Arkansas sales tax, and who sets it
Tax year 2026
Set by the state
6.5%
Set locally
2.98%
statewide average
Combined
9.48%
Local share
31.43%
of what you pay
Work out the tax on a purchase in Arkansas
Add the tax on
9.48% effectiveThe general rate applies here: 9.48%, state and local combined. “Statewide average” is a comparison estimate. Named locations use the stored local rate; city and special-district coverage varies, so an address may differ. Rate source · as of 2026-07-01.
How Arkansas's sales tax is put together
- The rate you pay in Arkansas is built from two pieces. Arkansas sets about 6.5%. Local government adds about 2.98% more on average across Arkansas. Stack them and you get about 9.48% — the number that actually turns up on a receipt, and the one worth quoting.
- Arkansas charges less on groceries than on other things, but it does still charge. The food rate is about 2.98%, which comes to $30 per thousand dollars spent. It is a real reduction. It is not the exemption most people assume when they hear their state went easy on food.
- No apparel break in Arkansas. Clothes carry the same sales tax as anything else, working out at $95 per thousand dollars spent. A few states exempt clothing; most, including this one, do not. Prescriptions are exempt, which is the near-universal rule.
- Arkansas sets its state rate at about 6.5% and permits locally-set add-ons on top; on average across Arkansas that add-on is about 2.98% and the combined rate is about 9.48%. Both layers are substantive, so neither figure alone describes the charge. Published state-rate rankings capture only the first, which is why Arkansas's position in such a table can differ markedly from its position on combined rates.
- Arkansas levies a reduced grocery rate of about 2.98% — $30 per thousand dollars of food spending — rather than exempting food outright. Reduced-rate states are systematically misclassified in aggregate comparisons, and the error runs in the expensive direction for a reader who assumes exemption. The multiplier model this site uses exists because of exactly this group of states.
- Clothing in Arkansas is taxed at the general combined rate, or $95 per thousand dollars of apparel spending. Only a small minority of states exempt clothing, and where they do the effect on a household's effective rate is larger than most rate-based comparisons imply. Prescription medication is exempt in Arkansas, which is the standard treatment across the sales-taxing states.
Sales tax on this purchase
A $75,000 salary
| Tax added | $9.48 |
|---|---|
| Rate appliedStatewide average | 9.48% |
Uses this location’s stored combined rate and category rule. Clothing is one item; address-level coverage varies.
Rates across this state
A $75,000 salary
| Counties in this state | 75 |
|---|---|
| Different rates among them | 21 |
| Lowest county rate | 6.5% |
| Highest county rate | 10% |
County floors only — city, transit and special-district taxes are excluded where applicable.
At the register
A $75,000 salary
| Tax added | $9.48 |
|---|---|
| You hand over | $109.48 |
| Rate here | 9.48% |
Uses this location’s stored combined rate and category rule. Clothing is one item; address-level coverage varies.
How much of that was tax
A $75,000 salary
| Goods before tax | $97.73 |
|---|---|
| Rate applied | 9.48% |
No whole-cent price produces this exact total at this rate — this is the closest split that still sums.
Every county here
A $75,000 salary
| Lowest | 6.5% |
|---|---|
| Highest | 10% |
| Gap between them | 3.5% |
County floors only — city, transit and special-district taxes are excluded where applicable.
What gets taxed, in each
A $75,000 salary
Arkansas
Statewide average
Texas
Harris County (Houston)
- Sales tax
- Fuel
- Tobacco
| Category | Arkansas | Texas |
|---|---|---|
| Groceries | 2.98% | Exempt |
| Clothing at $100 | 9.48% | 8.25% |
| Fuel | 24.7¢ | 20¢ |
| Tobacco | $1.15 | $1.41 |
Grocery and general rates use the locations named here. Clothing is one item priced at $100; a more expensive garment may be taxed differently. Fuel and tobacco have separate units and scales.
Tax-free days in Arkansas
A $75,000 salary
| Annual Sales Tax Holiday | 2026-08-01 to 2026-08-02 |
|---|
Dates come from statute, so they move with the legislature rather than with a data refresh.
The split, county by county
The state rate is the same everywhere in Arkansas. Anything beyond it was decided by a county or a city. These counties are a sample chosen to show the range, not a complete list.
| County | State | Local | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statewide average | 6.5% | 2.98% | 9.48% |
| Pulaski County (Little Rock) | same | 2.13% | 8.63% |
| Benton County (Bentonville) | same | 3% | 9.5% |
What it costs on a thousand dollars
The same purchase in four categories, priced on average across Arkansas. A flat thousand dollars is used deliberately — this is Arkansas's own rate restated in money, not a claim about what anyone spends.
| What you're buying | Tax as share of price | Tax on $1,000 |
|---|---|---|
| General goods | 9.48% | $95 |
| Groceries | 2.98% | $30 |
| Prescription drugs | 0% | $0 |
| Clothing | 9.48% | $95 |
Every county in Arkansas
This is the whole state, not a sample — 75 counties, from 6.5% in Monroe County up to 10% in Madison County. These are county floors. City, transit and special-district taxes can add to them, so an address may pay more.
Complete county coverage for Arkansas: 75 counties spanning 6.5% (Monroe County) to 10% (Madison County), across 21 distinct rates. Figures are county floors: the state rate plus the county's own levy, excluding municipal, transit and special-district taxes. The representative location figures earlier in the page may include additional local layers.
| County | State portion | County levy | Floor (state + county) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arkansas County | 6.5% | 1% | 7.5% |
| Ashley County | 6.5% | 1.5% | 8% |
| Baxter County | 6.5% | 1.25% | 7.75% |
| Benton County | 6.5% | 1% | 7.5% |
| Boone County | 6.5% | 1.25% | 7.75% |
| Bradley County | 6.5% | 2% | 8.5% |
| Calhoun County | 6.5% | 2.63% | 9.13% |
| Carroll County | 6.5% | 0.5% | 7% |
| Chicot County | 6.5% | 2% | 8.5% |
| Clark County | 6.5% | 1.5% | 8% |
| Clay County | 6.5% | 1.5% | 8% |
| Cleburne County | 6.5% | 1.63% | 8.13% |
| Cleveland County | 6.5% | 3.25% | 9.75% |
| Columbia County | 6.5% | 1.5% | 8% |
| Conway County | 6.5% | 1.75% | 8.25% |
| Craighead County | 6.5% | 1% | 7.5% |
| Crawford County | 6.5% | 1.25% | 7.75% |
| Crittenden County | 6.5% | 1.75% | 8.25% |
| Cross County | 6.5% | 2.13% | 8.63% |
| Dallas County | 6.5% | 2% | 8.5% |
| Desha County | 6.5% | 1.5% | 8% |
| Drew County | 6.5% | 2.25% | 8.75% |
| Faulkner County | 6.5% | 0.5% | 7% |
| Franklin County | 6.5% | 2% | 8.5% |
| Fulton County | 6.5% | 3% | 9.5% |
| Garland County | 6.5% | 1.5% | 8% |
| Grant County | 6.5% | 1.25% | 7.75% |
| Greene County | 6.5% | 1.38% | 7.88% |
| Hempstead County | 6.5% | 2% | 8.5% |
| Hot Spring County | 6.5% | 1.5% | 8% |
| Howard County | 6.5% | 2.75% | 9.25% |
| Independence County | 6.5% | 1.5% | 8% |
| Izard County | 6.5% | 0.5% | 7% |
| Jackson County | 6.5% | 1.88% | 8.38% |
| Jefferson County | 6.5% | 1.25% | 7.75% |
| Johnson County | 6.5% | 1% | 7.5% |
| Lafayette County | 6.5% | 2.25% | 8.75% |
| Lawrence County | 6.5% | 2.5% | 9% |
| Lee County | 6.5% | 1% | 7.5% |
| Lincoln County | 6.5% | 2% | 8.5% |
| Little River County | 6.5% | 2.88% | 9.38% |
| Logan County | 6.5% | 2% | 8.5% |
| Lonoke County | 6.5% | 1.5% | 8% |
| Madison County | 6.5% | 3.5% | 10% |
| Marion County | 6.5% | 1.75% | 8.25% |
| Miller County | 6.5% | 1.25% | 7.75% |
| Mississippi County | 6.5% | 2.5% | 9% |
| Monroe County | 6.5% | 0% | 6.5% |
| Montgomery County | 6.5% | 3% | 9.5% |
| Nevada County | 6.5% | 2% | 8.5% |
| Newton County | 6.5% | 1% | 7.5% |
| Ouachita County | 6.5% | 2.5% | 9% |
| Perry County | 6.5% | 2.75% | 9.25% |
| Phillips County | 6.5% | 2% | 8.5% |
| Pike County | 6.5% | 2% | 8.5% |
| Poinsett County | 6.5% | 1.75% | 8.25% |
| Polk County | 6.5% | 2% | 8.5% |
| Pope County | 6.5% | 1% | 7.5% |
| Prairie County | 6.5% | 1.5% | 8% |
| Pulaski County | 6.5% | 1% | 7.5% |
| Randolph County | 6.5% | 1.25% | 7.75% |
| Saline County | 6.5% | 0% | 6.5% |
| Scott County | 6.5% | 2% | 8.5% |
| Searcy County | 6.5% | 1.5% | 8% |
| Sebastian County | 6.5% | 1% | 7.5% |
| Sevier County | 6.5% | 3.13% | 9.63% |
| Sharp County | 6.5% | 1.25% | 7.75% |
| St. Francis County | 6.5% | 2.88% | 9.38% |
| Stone County | 6.5% | 1.5% | 8% |
| Union County | 6.5% | 2% | 8.5% |
| Van Buren County | 6.5% | 1.5% | 8% |
| Washington County | 6.5% | 1.25% | 7.75% |
| White County | 6.5% | 1.75% | 8.25% |
| Woodruff County | 6.5% | 2% | 8.5% |
| Yell County | 6.5% | 1.13% | 7.63% |
Streamlined Sales Tax member rate files plus individual state Department of Revenue rate tables — county-level rows only; city, transit and special-district levies excluded — as of 2026-01-01, last verified 2026-08-29.
What this page does not cover
- Only sampled locations appear in the first Arkansas county table and calculator list. Covering every one would mean maintaining thousands of rates that change on their own local timetables, so this site samples instead. The consequence is simple: treat the figures as the shape of the thing, and your receipt as the truth.
- One tax, not all of them. What you see here is Arkansas's general sales tax. Gas, drink and cigarettes are taxed separately and those taxes are usually hidden inside the price. Hotels, restaurant meals and vehicle purchases often carry extra charges of their own on top.
- Exemptions are broader on paper than in a shop. Arkansas draws its own lines inside each category — what counts as a grocery rather than a prepared meal, what counts as clothing rather than an accessory. Those lines decide the tax on a real basket, and they are where two states with identical rates stop agreeing.
- Arkansas's first county table and calculator location list are curated samples rather than an exhaustive address dataset, a deliberate trade against maintaining several thousand independently-revised local rates. The figures characterise the distribution of local add-ons; they do not establish a minimum or maximum for the state. Address-level accuracy requires either the state revenue authority's lookup or a recent transaction record.
- This covers Arkansas's general sales tax in isolation. Fuel, alcohol and tobacco are subject to per-unit excise regimes that are generally included in the advertised price and are invisible at the point of sale. Lodging, prepared food and motor vehicle transactions commonly carry supplementary state or local levies beyond the general rate, so a transaction in one of those categories is not fully described by anything on this page.
- The exemption classes shown for Arkansas are broad categories, and the statutory boundaries inside each one govern the actual charge. Prepared and heated food routinely falls outside a grocery exemption; footwear, athletic wear and accessories are commonly carved out of a clothing exemption. Because these definitions differ between states, two jurisdictions with matching rates and matching exemption lists can produce materially different tax on an identical basket.
Questions people ask
Why is the tax at the register higher than the state rate?
Because the state rate is only the first layer. Counties, cities and special districts add their own on top, which takes about 6.5% up to about 9.48% — and it changes as you cross town lines rather than staying put.
Is food taxed at a lower rate here?
Not exempt, but not full rate either. Arkansas applies a reduced rate to groceries, so food is taxed more lightly than other goods rather than not at all.
Is clothing exempt here?
Clothing is ordinary taxable goods in Arkansas. The states that exempt it are the exception rather than the rule, which catches people moving between them.
Will the rate change if I shop in the next town?
A little, but the state sets the bulk of it. With just about 31.43% decided locally, crossing a boundary changes the total only slightly.
What composes the combined rate in this state?
The combined rate is the state levy plus every local levy sourced to the point of sale. Arkansas sets about 6.5%; the representative combined rate is about 9.48%, of which about 31.43% is decided locally. A single statewide figure is therefore an approximation.
What reduced rate applies to groceries in this state?
Arkansas applies a preferential reduced rate to groceries rather than a full exemption. Local add-ons may or may not follow the reduced rate depending on state law, so the effective grocery rate is not always the state reduced rate alone.
How is apparel classified for sales tax in this state?
Arkansas applies the standard rate to apparel with no general exemption. Only a small minority of states exempt clothing, and among those several impose per-item caps or exclude athletic and formal wear, so cross-state assumptions about apparel are unreliable.
How much intra-state variation is there in the combined rate?
Locally determined levies account for about 31.43% of the representative combined rate, so intra-state dispersion is limited and the statewide figure approximates most locations closely. Rates remain sourced to the point of sale.