Kentucky sales tax, and who sets it

White plank fences over green pasture with horses grazing.

Tax year 2026

Set by the state

6%

Set locally

0%

statewide average

Combined

6%

Local share

0%

of what you pay

Work out the tax on a purchase in Kentucky

Add the tax on

6% effective
$
Price before tax
$100.00
Kentucky, Statewide average
Sales tax
$6.00
at 6%
Total
$106.00
what you actually hand over

The general rate applies here: 6%, 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 Kentucky's sales tax is put together

  • Kentucky keeps this simple. One rate, about 6%, everywhere. No county add-ons, no city surcharges, nothing extra for shopping in the wrong postcode. That is unusual — in most of the country the rate on your receipt depends on where you were standing.
  • Kentucky 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 Kentucky — $60 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.
  • A single about 6% rate applies throughout Kentucky; no local jurisdiction may levy a general sales tax on top of it. The practical consequence is that the state rate and the combined rate are identical at every address, so the rate quoted in a price comparison is the rate actually charged. Most states cannot make that claim, and the gap between quoted and charged is where a good deal of cross-state price confusion originates.
  • Kentucky 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.
  • Kentucky applies its full combined rate to clothing, adding $60 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 Kentucky, consistent with essentially every sales-taxing state.

Sales tax on this purchase

A $75,000 salary

Buying
$106at the register
Tax added$6.00
Rate appliedStatewide average6%

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

6% – 6%across the state
Counties in this state120
Different rates among them1
Lowest county rate6%
Highest county rate6%

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

Buying
The goods — $100.00Sales tax — $6.00
6%tax
Tax added$6.00
You hand over$106.00
Rate here6%

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 — $100.94 · 94%$100.94GoodsTax — $6.06 · 6%$6.06of that was tax
Goods before tax$100.94
Rate applied6%

Uses the selected combined rate for ordinary goods. Exempt items or a mixed receipt change the split.

Every county here

A $75,000 salary

1different rates across 120 counties120 counties at 6%1206%counties at each rate
Lowest6%
Highest6%
Gap between them0%

County floors only — city, transit and special-district taxes are excluded where applicable.

What gets taxed, in each

A $75,000 salary

Compare with

Kentucky

Statewide average

Most — 6%6%MostFood — freefreeFoodClothes — 6%6%ClothesFuel — 25¢25¢FuelTobacco — $1.10$1.10Tobacco

Texas

Harris County (Houston)

Most — 8.25%8.25%MostFood — freefreeFoodClothes — 8.25%8.25%ClothesFuel — 20¢20¢FuelTobacco — $1.41$1.41Tobacco
  • Sales tax
  • Fuel
  • Tobacco
CategoryKentuckyTexas
GroceriesExemptExempt
Clothing at $1006%8.25%
Fuel25¢20¢
Tobacco$1.10$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 Kentucky. 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.

CountyStateLocalCombined
Statewide average6%0%6%
Jefferson County (Louisville)same0%6%
Fayette County (Lexington)same0%6%

What it costs on a thousand dollars

The same purchase in four categories, priced on average across Kentucky. A flat thousand dollars is used deliberately — this is Kentucky's own rate restated in money, not a claim about what anyone spends.

What you're buyingTax as share of priceTax on $1,000
General goods6%$60
Groceries0%$0
Prescription drugs0%$0
Clothing6%$60

Every county in Kentucky

This is the whole state, not a sample — 120 counties, from 6% in Adair County up to 6% in Woodford County. There is no local general-sales-tax add-on in Kentucky, so crossing a county line does not change this rate.

Complete county coverage for Kentucky: 120 counties spanning 6% (Adair County) to 6% (Woodford County), across 1 distinct rates. These rows use the same general state rate because Kentucky has no local general-sales-tax add-on.

Kentucky county floor sales tax rates
CountyState portionCounty levyFloor (state + county)
Adair County6%0%6%
Allen County6%0%6%
Anderson County6%0%6%
Ballard County6%0%6%
Barren County6%0%6%
Bath County6%0%6%
Bell County6%0%6%
Boone County6%0%6%
Bourbon County6%0%6%
Boyd County6%0%6%
Boyle County6%0%6%
Bracken County6%0%6%
Breathitt County6%0%6%
Breckinridge County6%0%6%
Bullitt County6%0%6%
Butler County6%0%6%
Caldwell County6%0%6%
Calloway County6%0%6%
Campbell County6%0%6%
Carlisle County6%0%6%
Carroll County6%0%6%
Carter County6%0%6%
Casey County6%0%6%
Christian County6%0%6%
Clark County6%0%6%
Clay County6%0%6%
Clinton County6%0%6%
Crittenden County6%0%6%
Cumberland County6%0%6%
Daviess County6%0%6%
Edmonson County6%0%6%
Elliott County6%0%6%
Estill County6%0%6%
Fayette County6%0%6%
Fleming County6%0%6%
Floyd County6%0%6%
Franklin County6%0%6%
Fulton County6%0%6%
Gallatin County6%0%6%
Garrard County6%0%6%
Grant County6%0%6%
Graves County6%0%6%
Grayson County6%0%6%
Green County6%0%6%
Greenup County6%0%6%
Hancock County6%0%6%
Hardin County6%0%6%
Harlan County6%0%6%
Harrison County6%0%6%
Hart County6%0%6%
Henderson County6%0%6%
Henry County6%0%6%
Hickman County6%0%6%
Hopkins County6%0%6%
Jackson County6%0%6%
Jefferson County6%0%6%
Jessamine County6%0%6%
Johnson County6%0%6%
Kenton County6%0%6%
Knott County6%0%6%
Knox County6%0%6%
Larue County6%0%6%
Laurel County6%0%6%
Lawrence County6%0%6%
Lee County6%0%6%
Leslie County6%0%6%
Letcher County6%0%6%
Lewis County6%0%6%
Lincoln County6%0%6%
Livingston County6%0%6%
Logan County6%0%6%
Lyon County6%0%6%
Madison County6%0%6%
Magoffin County6%0%6%
Marion County6%0%6%
Marshall County6%0%6%
Martin County6%0%6%
Mason County6%0%6%
McCracken County6%0%6%
McCreary County6%0%6%
McLean County6%0%6%
Meade County6%0%6%
Menifee County6%0%6%
Mercer County6%0%6%
Metcalfe County6%0%6%
Monroe County6%0%6%
Montgomery County6%0%6%
Morgan County6%0%6%
Muhlenberg County6%0%6%
Nelson County6%0%6%
Nicholas County6%0%6%
Ohio County6%0%6%
Oldham County6%0%6%
Owen County6%0%6%
Owsley County6%0%6%
Pendleton County6%0%6%
Perry County6%0%6%
Pike County6%0%6%
Powell County6%0%6%
Pulaski County6%0%6%
Robertson County6%0%6%
Rockcastle County6%0%6%
Rowan County6%0%6%
Russell County6%0%6%
Scott County6%0%6%
Shelby County6%0%6%
Simpson County6%0%6%
Spencer County6%0%6%
Taylor County6%0%6%
Todd County6%0%6%
Trigg County6%0%6%
Trimble County6%0%6%
Union County6%0%6%
Warren County6%0%6%
Washington County6%0%6%
Wayne County6%0%6%
Webster County6%0%6%
Whitley County6%0%6%
Wolfe County6%0%6%
Woodford County6%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 county table and calculator list are samples, but Kentucky has no local general-sales-tax add-on. Ordinary goods use the same about 6% rate across the state. A longer county list would not change that rate. What you buy still matters: category exemptions and separate taxes on meals or other purchases can change the bill.
  • One tax, not all of them. What you see here is Kentucky'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. Kentucky 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.
  • Kentucky permits no local general-sales-tax add-on, so its representative location list does not imply rate variation: ordinary goods use the uniform about 6% state rate. Complete county-floor coverage, where shown separately, records that same rate. Category definitions, per-item exemptions and special transaction taxes remain separate questions; a uniform general rate does not establish the tax treatment of every purchase.
  • This covers Kentucky'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 Kentucky 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

Does the rate change depending on which town I shop in?

It does not. There is no local layer in Kentucky, so about 6% holds statewide and one number is genuinely correct.

Is food taxed the same as everything else?

No — groceries are exempt in Kentucky, which is why a basket of raw ingredients can leave a shop untaxed while a sandwich from the same shop does not. The line is drawn at preparation, not at the food itself.

Is clothing exempt here?

It is not. Clothing takes the standard rate here — only a small group of states exempt it, and Kentucky is outside that group.

Will the rate change if I shop in the next town?

Not by much. Only about 0% of the combined rate is set below state level here, so the figure moves a little across county lines rather than a lot — the state rate is most of what you pay wherever you are.

Why is the combined rate uniform across this state?

Kentucky authorizes no general local sales tax, so the combined rate equals the state rate of about 6% in every jurisdiction. This is structural rather than sampled: no loaded county levies an add-on because the statute provides for none.

How are groceries classified for sales tax here?

Kentucky 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?

Kentucky 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% 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.