Colorado sales tax, and who sets it
Tax year 2026
Set by the state
2.9%
Set locally
4.99%
statewide average
Combined
7.89%
Local share
63.24%
of what you pay
Work out the tax on a purchase in Colorado
Add the tax on
7.89% effectiveThe general rate applies here: 7.89%, 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 Colorado's sales tax is put together
- Read Colorado's state rate on its own and you will get the wrong idea. It is about 2.9%. Local government adds about 4.99% more on average across Colorado, which is the larger piece, and the total lands at about 7.89%. Your county has more say over your receipt than the state capital does.
- Colorado leaves groceries alone. Raw food carries no sales tax here. Prepared food usually does, which means the tax on a supermarket trip depends less on what you spend than on which aisle you spent it in.
- Clothing is taxed at the ordinary rate in Colorado — $79 on a thousand dollars of it. That is the usual arrangement nationally, though a small group of states exempt apparel entirely. Prescription medicine, by contrast, is exempt here, as it is almost everywhere.
- Rate-setting in Colorado is majority-delegated. Against a state rate of about 2.9%, the local add-on on average across Colorado is about 4.99% and the combined figure is about 7.89%, so more than half the charge originates with a county or municipal body rather than the legislature. Delegation at this level also means the rate moves on a local electoral timetable, independent of any state tax legislation.
- Colorado grants a full grocery exemption, charging nothing on unprepared food. The exemption's edge is where the revenue and the confusion both sit: prepared, heated and often bakery items typically revert to the full combined rate, so two baskets of identical value can attract materially different tax. Comparisons of grocery exemptions across states are only meaningful alongside each state's definition of what counts as a grocery.
- Colorado applies its full combined rate to clothing, adding $79 to a thousand dollars of apparel. This is the majority treatment; a small group of states exempts clothing outright, and those exemptions are a larger source of variation in real household burden than the rate differences that dominate published comparisons. Prescription drugs are exempt in Colorado, consistent with essentially every sales-taxing state.
Sales tax on this purchase
A $75,000 salary
| Tax added | $7.89 |
|---|---|
| Rate appliedStatewide average | 7.89% |
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 | 64 |
|---|---|
| Different rates among them | 23 |
| Lowest county rate | 2.9% |
| Highest county rate | 9.4% |
County floors only — city, transit and special-district taxes are excluded where applicable.
At the register
A $75,000 salary
| Tax added | $7.89 |
|---|---|
| You hand over | $107.89 |
| Rate here | 7.89% |
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 | $99.18 |
|---|---|
| Rate applied | 7.89% |
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 | 2.9% |
|---|---|
| Highest | 9.4% |
| Gap between them | 6.5% |
County floors only — city, transit and special-district taxes are excluded where applicable.
What gets taxed, in each
A $75,000 salary
Colorado
Statewide average
Texas
Harris County (Houston)
- Sales tax
- Fuel
- Tobacco
| Category | Colorado | Texas |
|---|---|---|
| Groceries | Exempt | Exempt |
| Clothing at $100 | 7.89% | 8.25% |
| Fuel | 22¢ | 20¢ |
| Tobacco | $2.24 | $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.
The split, county by county
The state rate is the same everywhere in Colorado. 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 | 2.9% | 4.99% | 7.89% |
| Denver County (Denver) | same | 6.25% | 9.15% |
| El Paso County (Colorado Springs) | same | 5.3% | 8.2% |
What it costs on a thousand dollars
The same purchase in four categories, priced on average across Colorado. A flat thousand dollars is used deliberately — this is Colorado'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 | 7.89% | $79 |
| Groceries | 0% | $0 |
| Prescription drugs | 0% | $0 |
| Clothing | 7.89% | $79 |
Every county in Colorado
This is the whole state, not a sample — 64 counties, from 2.9% in Baca County up to 9.4% in San Juan 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 Colorado: 64 counties spanning 2.9% (Baca County) to 9.4% (San Juan County), across 23 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adams County | 2.9% | 0.75% | 3.65% |
| Alamosa County | 2.9% | 3% | 5.9% |
| Arapahoe County | 2.9% | 0.25% | 3.15% |
| Archuleta County | 2.9% | 4% | 6.9% |
| Baca County | 2.9% | 0% | 2.9% |
| Bent County | 2.9% | 1% | 3.9% |
| Boulder County | 2.9% | 0.98% | 3.89% |
| Broomfield County | 2.9% | 1.25% | 4.15% |
| Chaffee County | 2.9% | 2.75% | 5.65% |
| Cheyenne County | 2.9% | 0% | 2.9% |
| Clear Creek County | 2.9% | 1.65% | 4.55% |
| Conejos County | 2.9% | 0% | 2.9% |
| Costilla County | 2.9% | 1% | 3.9% |
| Crowley County | 2.9% | 2% | 4.9% |
| Custer County | 2.9% | 2% | 4.9% |
| Delta County | 2.9% | 2% | 4.9% |
| Denver County | 2.9% | 1.41% | 4.31% |
| Dolores County | 2.9% | 0% | 2.9% |
| Douglas County | 2.9% | 1% | 3.9% |
| Eagle County | 2.9% | 1.5% | 4.4% |
| El Paso County | 2.9% | 1.23% | 4.13% |
| Elbert County | 2.9% | 1% | 3.9% |
| Fremont County | 2.9% | 2.5% | 5.4% |
| Garfield County | 2.9% | 1% | 3.9% |
| Gilpin County | 2.9% | 0% | 2.9% |
| Grand County | 2.9% | 1.3% | 4.2% |
| Gunnison County | 2.9% | 1% | 3.9% |
| Hinsdale County | 2.9% | 5% | 7.9% |
| Huerfano County | 2.9% | 2% | 4.9% |
| Jackson County | 2.9% | 4% | 6.9% |
| Jefferson County | 2.9% | 0.5% | 3.4% |
| Kiowa County | 2.9% | 0% | 2.9% |
| Kit Carson County | 2.9% | 0% | 2.9% |
| La Plata County | 2.9% | 2% | 4.9% |
| Lake County | 2.9% | 4% | 6.9% |
| Larimer County | 2.9% | 0.8% | 3.7% |
| Las Animas County | 2.9% | 1.5% | 4.4% |
| Lincoln County | 2.9% | 2% | 4.9% |
| Logan County | 2.9% | 1% | 3.9% |
| Mesa County | 2.9% | 2% | 4.9% |
| Mineral County | 2.9% | 2.6% | 5.5% |
| Moffat County | 2.9% | 2% | 4.9% |
| Montezuma County | 2.9% | 0% | 2.9% |
| Montrose County | 2.9% | 1% | 3.9% |
| Morgan County | 2.9% | 0% | 2.9% |
| Otero County | 2.9% | 1% | 3.9% |
| Ouray County | 2.9% | 2.55% | 5.45% |
| Park County | 2.9% | 1% | 3.9% |
| Phillips County | 2.9% | 1% | 3.9% |
| Pitkin County | 2.9% | 3.6% | 6.5% |
| Prowers County | 2.9% | 1% | 3.9% |
| Pueblo County | 2.9% | 1% | 3.9% |
| Rio Blanco County | 2.9% | 3.6% | 6.5% |
| Rio Grande County | 2.9% | 2.6% | 5.5% |
| Routt County | 2.9% | 1% | 3.9% |
| Saguache County | 2.9% | 2.5% | 5.4% |
| San Juan County | 2.9% | 6.5% | 9.4% |
| San Miguel County | 2.9% | 1% | 3.9% |
| Sedgwick County | 2.9% | 2% | 4.9% |
| Summit County | 2.9% | 2.75% | 5.65% |
| Teller County | 2.9% | 1% | 3.9% |
| Washington County | 2.9% | 1.5% | 4.4% |
| Weld County | 2.9% | 0% | 2.9% |
| Yuma County | 2.9% | 0% | 2.9% |
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
- The first county table and calculator location list for Colorado are a sample, not a complete address lookup. They were chosen to show the range rather than to cover every address, so your own county may sit outside what you see. If you have a receipt to hand, the rate printed on it beats any figure on this page.
- One tax, not all of them. What you see here is Colorado'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.
- Categories have edges, and the edges are where the money is. Colorado sets its own rules for what falls inside each exemption. A roast chicken and the ingredients for one are not always taxed the same way, and neither are trainers and shoes. Those distinctions decide what a real shopping trip costs.
- The first county table and calculator location list for Colorado are representative rather than exhaustive. The listed jurisdictions illustrate the spread of local rates; they are not a complete enumeration, and an address outside them may carry a rate above or below anything shown. Where a complete county-floor table appears separately below, it covers counties but still excludes additional city and district taxes. Prefer the state revenue authority’s address lookup for a specific purchase.
- This covers Colorado'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 three exemption classes recorded for Colorado describe treatment at category level only. Statutory definitions determine what actually qualifies: prepared, heated and ready-to-eat foods are commonly excluded from grocery exemptions, and clothing exemptions frequently exclude athletic footwear, accessories or items above a stated price. Effective burden on a real basket therefore depends on these boundaries at least as much as on the headline rate.
Questions people ask
Why is the tax at the register higher than the state rate?
The state sets about 2.9%; local governments stack theirs above it, reaching about 7.89% in practice. The total moves with the address, not with the purchase.
Is food taxed the same as everything else?
Raw food is exempt in Colorado. Prepared food is not, and the boundary between them is the part that surprises people.
Is clothing exempt here?
No. A handful of states exempt clothing and Colorado is not one of them, so a coat is taxed exactly like a television. The exemption is unusual enough that assuming it is the common mistake.
Who actually decides what I pay at the register — the state or my town?
Your county and city do most of it. With about 63.24% of the combined rate set locally, a statewide number describes nowhere in particular.
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. Colorado sets about 2.9%; the representative combined rate is about 7.89%, of which about 63.24% is decided locally. A single statewide figure is therefore an approximation.
How are groceries classified for sales tax here?
Colorado exempts groceries from general sales tax. The exemption typically excludes prepared food, and definitional boundaries — utensils supplied, heating, or a seller's prepared-food share — determine which side a specific item falls on. Those tests vary by state and are not uniform.
How is apparel classified for sales tax in this state?
Colorado 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.
What share of the combined rate is locally determined here?
about 63.24% of the representative combined rate in Colorado is levied below state level. Rates are sourced to the point of sale, so liability varies within the state and the statewide figure is a weighted representative rather than a statutory rate.