Louisiana sales tax, and who sets it
Tax year 2026
Set by the state
5%
Set locally
5.13%
statewide average
Combined
10.13%
Local share
50.64%
of what you pay
Work out the tax on a purchase in Louisiana
Add the tax on
10.13% effectiveThe general rate applies here: 10.13%, 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 Louisiana's sales tax is put together
- Read Louisiana's state rate on its own and you will get the wrong idea. It is about 5%. Local government adds about 5.13% more on average across Louisiana, which is the larger piece, and the total lands at about 10.13%. Your county has more say over your receipt than the state capital does.
- No sales tax on groceries in Louisiana. Unprepared food is exempt outright, so what you save depends on how much of your shopping is raw ingredients rather than ready meals. That boundary is where the money actually is, and it catches people out constantly at the deli counter.
- Louisiana taxes clothes like it taxes everything else. Spend a thousand dollars on apparel and the tax is $101. Some states exempt clothing outright, which sounds minor and is not — it changes what a whole category of spending costs. Prescription drugs are exempt here.
- Rate-setting in Louisiana is majority-delegated. Against a state rate of about 5%, the local add-on on average across Louisiana is about 5.13% and the combined figure is about 10.13%, 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.
- Grocery purchases are exempt from sales tax in Louisiana. Because the exemption is complete rather than reduced, the practical question for a shopper is classification rather than rate: prepared and heated foods generally fall outside the exemption and are taxed at the full combined rate. States drawing that boundary differently produce noticeably different effective rates on identical shopping baskets, which is why a grocery exemption is a weaker predictor of household sales tax burden than it first appears.
- Apparel falls inside Louisiana's sales tax base at the full combined rate, contributing $101 per thousand dollars spent. The states exempting clothing form a small group, and base differences of that kind explain more of the variation in real household sales tax burden than headline rates do. Louisiana exempts prescription drugs, in line with the near-universal national treatment.
Sales tax on this purchase
A $75,000 salary
| Tax added | $10.13 |
|---|---|
| Rate appliedStatewide average | 10.13% |
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 | 1 |
|---|---|
| Different rates among them | 1 |
| Lowest county rate | 10% |
| 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 | $10.13 |
|---|---|
| You hand over | $110.13 |
| Rate here | 10.13% |
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 | $97.16 |
|---|---|
| Rate applied | 10.13% |
Uses the selected combined rate for ordinary goods. Exempt items or a mixed receipt change the split.
Every county here
A $75,000 salary
| Lowest | 10% |
|---|---|
| Highest | 10% |
| 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
Louisiana
Statewide average
Texas
Harris County (Houston)
- Sales tax
- Fuel
- Tobacco
| Category | Louisiana | Texas |
|---|---|---|
| Groceries | Exempt | Exempt |
| Clothing at $100 | 10.13% | 8.25% |
| Fuel | 20¢ | 20¢ |
| Tobacco | $1.08 | $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 Louisiana
A $75,000 salary
| Second Amendment Weekend Sales Tax Holiday | 2026-09-04 to 2026-09-06 |
|---|
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 Louisiana. 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 | 5% | 5.13% | 10.13% |
| Orleans Parish (New Orleans) | same | 5% | 10% |
| East Baton Rouge Parish (Baton Rouge) | same | 5.5% | 10.5% |
What it costs on a thousand dollars
The same purchase in four categories, priced on average across Louisiana. A flat thousand dollars is used deliberately — this is Louisiana'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 | 10.13% | $101 |
| Groceries | 0% | $0 |
| Prescription drugs | 0% | $0 |
| Clothing | 10.13% | $101 |
Every county in Louisiana
This is the whole state, not a sample — 1 counties, from 10% in Orleans Parish up to 10% in Orleans Parish. These are county floors. City, transit and special-district taxes can add to them, so an address may pay more.
Complete county coverage for Louisiana: 1 counties spanning 10% (Orleans Parish) to 10% (Orleans Parish), 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orleans Parish | 5% | 5% | 10% |
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 Louisiana 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.
- This page covers Louisiana's general sales tax and nothing else. Fuel, alcohol and tobacco carry their own separate taxes, usually built into the shelf price where you never see them. Cars, hotel rooms and restaurant meals are often taxed at their own rates too. The general rate is the floor, not the ceiling.
- Categories have edges, and the edges are where the money is. Louisiana 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 Louisiana 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.
- The figures here describe Louisiana's general sales tax only. Selective excise taxes on motor fuel, alcohol and tobacco operate separately and are typically embedded in the displayed price rather than added at the register. Vehicle purchases, lodging and prepared food frequently attract their own rates or additional local levies. The general rate should therefore be treated as a floor for a given transaction rather than a complete account of what it is taxed.
- The three exemption classes recorded for Louisiana 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?
Because the state rate is only the first layer. Counties, cities and special districts add their own on top, which takes about 5% up to about 10.13% — and it changes as you cross town lines rather than staying put.
Is food taxed the same as everything else?
No — groceries are exempt in Louisiana, 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?
Clothing is ordinary taxable goods in Louisiana. The states that exempt it are the exception rather than the rule, which catches people moving between them.
Who actually decides what I pay at the register — the state or my town?
Local government, for the larger part. about 50.64% of what you hand over is decided below state level, so the rate follows the address rather than the state line.
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. Louisiana sets about 5%; the representative combined rate is about 10.13%, of which about 50.64% is decided locally. A single statewide figure is therefore an approximation.
How are groceries classified for sales tax here?
Louisiana 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?
Louisiana 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 50.64% of the representative combined rate in Louisiana 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.