Idaho sales tax, and who sets it
Tax year 2026
Set by the state
6%
Set locally
0.03%
statewide average
Combined
6.03%
Local share
0.5%
of what you pay
Work out the tax on a purchase in Idaho
Add the tax on
6.03% effectiveThe general rate applies here: 6.03%, 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 Idaho's sales tax is put together
- Almost all of Idaho's sales tax is set in the state capital. The rate is about 6%. Counties can add a slice, and on average across Idaho that slice is about 0.03% — small enough that it will not change how you shop. Where you buy matters much less here than what you buy.
- No grocery break in Idaho. Food is taxed at about 6.03%, the ordinary rate. Work it through on a thousand dollars of shopping and the tax comes to $60. Whether that is fair is an argument; that it falls hardest on people with the smallest budgets is arithmetic.
- No apparel break in Idaho. Clothes carry the same sales tax as anything else, working out at $60 per thousand dollars spent. A few states exempt clothing; most, including this one, do not. Prescriptions are exempt, which is the near-universal rule.
- The locally-set share of Idaho's sales tax is minor. Against a state rate of about 6%, local jurisdictions add about 0.03% on average across Idaho, leaving the combined rate close to the state figure at essentially any address. Where a state delegates this little, address-level rate variation stops being a material input to a purchase decision, and the exemption schedule — what is taxed at all — becomes the larger source of variation in what a given basket actually costs.
- Idaho taxes groceries at its full about 6.03% combined rate, or $60 per thousand dollars of food. The policy question is contested; the distributional arithmetic is not, since the share of income spent on food declines as income rises. States that exempt food are making a deliberate progressivity trade against a narrower base and a correspondingly higher rate on everything else.
- Clothing in Idaho is taxed at the general combined rate, or $60 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 Idaho, which is the standard treatment across the sales-taxing states.
Sales tax on this purchase
A $75,000 salary
| Tax added | $6.03 |
|---|---|
| Rate appliedStatewide average | 6.03% |
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 | 44 |
|---|---|
| Different rates among them | 1 |
| Lowest county rate | 6% |
| Highest county rate | 6% |
Most counties here share a rate with many others. The county line rarely changes what you pay.
County floors only — city, transit and special-district taxes are excluded where applicable.
At the register
A $75,000 salary
| Tax added | $6.03 |
|---|---|
| You hand over | $106.03 |
| Rate here | 6.03% |
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 | $100.91 |
|---|---|
| Rate applied | 6.03% |
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% |
|---|---|
| Highest | 6% |
| Gap between them | 0% |
County floors only — city, transit and special-district taxes are excluded where applicable.
What gets taxed, in each
A $75,000 salary
Idaho
Statewide average
Texas
Harris County (Houston)
- Sales tax
- Fuel
- Tobacco
| Category | Idaho | Texas |
|---|---|---|
| Groceries | 6.03% | Exempt |
| Clothing at $100 | 6.03% | 8.25% |
| Fuel | 32¢ | 20¢ |
| Tobacco | $0.57 | $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 Idaho. 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% | 0.03% | 6.03% |
| Ada County (Boise) | same | 0% | 6% |
| Canyon County (Nampa) | same | 0% | 6% |
What it costs on a thousand dollars
The same purchase in four categories, priced on average across Idaho. A flat thousand dollars is used deliberately — this is Idaho'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 | 6.03% | $60 |
| Groceries | 6.03% | $60 |
| Prescription drugs | 0% | $0 |
| Clothing | 6.03% | $60 |
Every county in Idaho
This is the whole state, not a sample — 44 counties, from 6% in Ada County up to 6% in Washington 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 Idaho: 44 counties spanning 6% (Ada County) to 6% (Washington County), across 1 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ada County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Adams County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Bannock County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Bear Lake County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Benewah County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Bingham County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Blaine County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Boise County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Bonner County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Bonneville County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Boundary County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Butte County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Camas County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Canyon County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Caribou County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Cassia County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Clark County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Clearwater County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Custer County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Elmore County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Franklin County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Fremont County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Gem County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Gooding County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Idaho County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Jefferson County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Jerome County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Kootenai County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Latah County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Lemhi County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Lewis County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Lincoln County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Madison County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Minidoka County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Nez Perce County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Oneida County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Owyhee County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Payette County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Power County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Shoshone County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Teton County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Twin Falls County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Valley County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Washington County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
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 Idaho county table and calculator location list are samples, picked to show how much local rates move rather than to cover everywhere. Your address might land outside the range shown. A recent receipt is the better source if you have one.
- Idaho taxes some things through this general rate and other things through taxes of their own. Fuel, alcohol and tobacco fall in the second group, and those charges sit inside the price rather than on the receipt. Vehicle purchases, hotel stays and eating out often add their own charges as well.
- Exemptions are broader on paper than in a shop. Idaho 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.
- The first Idaho county table and calculator location list are representative samples, not a complete register. It exists to demonstrate the magnitude of local variation, so the highest and lowest figures shown bound the sample rather than the state. Any specific address should be checked against the local revenue authority or a recent receipt; a complete county-floor table, where shown separately, still excludes additional city and district taxes.
- Idaho's general sales tax is one of several consumption taxes it levies, and the only one modeled on this page. Motor fuel, alcoholic beverages and tobacco are taxed under separate excise schedules, normally price-inclusive and therefore not visible as a line item. Lodging, prepared meals and vehicle transfers are frequently subject to additional dedicated rates at state or local level.
- The exemption classes shown for Idaho 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% up to about 6.03% — and it changes as you cross town lines rather than staying put.
Is food exempt here like it is in most states?
It is not. Groceries here take the standard rate, unlike most of the country, so food is taxed exactly as ordinary goods are.
Is clothing exempt here?
No. A handful of states exempt clothing and Idaho 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.
Will the rate change if I shop in the next town?
Barely. The local portion is about 0.5% of the combined rate, so a statewide figure is close to right almost everywhere in Idaho.
Does it matter what I spend my money on?
Barely. With food and clothing both at the standard rate, there is no cheaper category to move toward, so the rate itself is nearly the entire answer here.
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. Idaho sets about 6%; the representative combined rate is about 6.03%, of which about 0.5% is decided locally. A single statewide figure is therefore an approximation.
Why are groceries taxed at the standard rate in this state?
Idaho applies the standard rate to groceries with no exemption or preferential rate. Because food expenditure falls as a share of income as income rises, a full-rate grocery tax is regressive relative to an exemption, which is the usual argument raised against it.
How is apparel classified for sales tax in this state?
Idaho 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 0.5% 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.
Does category composition affect burden in this state?
Idaho applies the standard rate to both groceries and apparel, so there are no major preferential classes to weight a basket toward. Effective burden therefore approximates the combined rate applied to total taxable consumption, and is less sensitive to household spending mix than in exempting states.