Massachusetts sales tax, and who sets it
Tax year 2026
Set by the state
6.25%
Set locally
0%
statewide average
Combined
6.25%
Local share
0%
of what you pay
Work out the tax on a purchase in Massachusetts
Add the tax on
6.25% effectiveThe general rate applies here: 6.25%, 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 Massachusetts's sales tax is put together
- Every county in Massachusetts charges the same rate, about 6.25%. Local governments have no power to add to it. So the number on this page is the number you will actually be charged, wherever in Massachusetts you happen to be buying — which sounds ordinary and is not.
- Massachusetts 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.
- Clothes in Massachusetts are tax-free up to $175 per item. Only the part above that price is taxed, at about 6.25%. The limit applies to each garment, so several cheaper shirts are treated differently from one expensive coat. The clothing calculator above treats your amount as one item.
- Local sales tax authority does not exist in Massachusetts. The state rate of about 6.25% applies uniformly, and no county or municipal add-on is permitted. That makes this one of the few states where a single figure fully describes the sales tax on an ordinary purchase. Where local authority does exist, the combined rate is a function of the address rather than of the state, and comparisons drawn from state rates alone systematically understate the higher-delegation states.
- Massachusetts 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.
- Massachusetts's clothing exemption covers the first $175 of each qualifying item. The excess is taxed at about 6.25%; the exemption does not disappear on the whole price. Our reference table treats its clothing amount as a single item, so the displayed tax differs from a basket of individually exempt garments. Accessories and other excluded goods still require their own classification.
Sales tax on this purchase
A $75,000 salary
| Tax added | $6.25 |
|---|---|
| Rate appliedStatewide average | 6.25% |
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 | 14 |
|---|---|
| Different rates among them | 1 |
| Lowest county rate | 6.25% |
| Highest county rate | 6.25% |
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 | $6.25 |
|---|---|
| You hand over | $106.25 |
| Rate here | 6.25% |
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 | $100.71 |
|---|---|
| Rate applied | 6.25% |
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 | 6.25% |
|---|---|
| Highest | 6.25% |
| 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
Massachusetts
Statewide average
Texas
Harris County (Houston)
- Sales tax
- Fuel
- Tobacco
| Category | Massachusetts | Texas |
|---|---|---|
| Groceries | Exempt | Exempt |
| Clothing at $100 | Exempt | 8.25% |
| Fuel | 24¢ | 20¢ |
| Tobacco | $3.51 | $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 Massachusetts
A $75,000 salary
| Massachusetts Sales Tax Holiday | 2026-08-15 to 2026-08-16 |
|---|
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 Massachusetts. 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 | 6.25% | 0% | 6.25% |
What it costs on a thousand dollars
The same purchase in four categories, priced on average across Massachusetts. A flat thousand dollars is used deliberately — this is Massachusetts's own rate restated in money, not a claim about what anyone spends. Clothing is one item at that price; several cheaper garments can have a different tax total. Massachusetts DOR clothing exemption.
| What you're buying | Tax as share of price | Tax on $1,000 |
|---|---|---|
| General goods | 6.25% | $63 |
| Groceries | 0% | $0 |
| Prescription drugs | 0% | $0 |
| Clothing | 5.16% | $52 |
Every county in Massachusetts
This is the whole state, not a sample — 14 counties, from 6.25% in Barnstable County up to 6.25% in Worcester County. There is no local general-sales-tax add-on in Massachusetts, so crossing a county line does not change this rate.
Complete county coverage for Massachusetts: 14 counties spanning 6.25% (Barnstable County) to 6.25% (Worcester County), across 1 distinct rates. These rows use the same general state rate because Massachusetts has no local general-sales-tax add-on.
| County | State portion | County levy | Floor (state + county) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barnstable County | 6.25% | 0% | 6.25% |
| Berkshire County | 6.25% | 0% | 6.25% |
| Bristol County | 6.25% | 0% | 6.25% |
| Dukes County | 6.25% | 0% | 6.25% |
| Essex County | 6.25% | 0% | 6.25% |
| Franklin County | 6.25% | 0% | 6.25% |
| Hampden County | 6.25% | 0% | 6.25% |
| Hampshire County | 6.25% | 0% | 6.25% |
| Middlesex County | 6.25% | 0% | 6.25% |
| Nantucket County | 6.25% | 0% | 6.25% |
| Norfolk County | 6.25% | 0% | 6.25% |
| Plymouth County | 6.25% | 0% | 6.25% |
| Suffolk County | 6.25% | 0% | 6.25% |
| Worcester County | 6.25% | 0% | 6.25% |
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 Massachusetts has no local general-sales-tax add-on. Ordinary goods use the same about 6.25% 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.
- This page covers Massachusetts'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.
- Exemptions are broader on paper than in a shop. Massachusetts 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.
- Massachusetts permits no local general-sales-tax add-on, so its representative location list does not imply rate variation: ordinary goods use the uniform about 6.25% 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.
- The figures here describe Massachusetts'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 exemption classes shown for Massachusetts 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
Does the rate change depending on which town I shop in?
Not here. Massachusetts allows no local add-on, so about 6.25% applies everywhere in the state — the same figure in every county, which is unusual and makes a single rate an honest answer rather than an average.
Is food taxed the same as everything else?
Groceries escape it here. What separates exempt food from taxable food is usually whether it has been prepared, so identical ingredients can be taxed or not depending on who assembled them.
Is clothing really untaxed here?
In Massachusetts, the first $175 of each qualifying clothing item is exempt. Only the part above that is taxed. Several cheap shirts can therefore be tax-free even when their total is more than the limit.
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?
Massachusetts authorizes no general local sales tax, so the combined rate equals the state rate of about 6.25% 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?
Massachusetts 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.
What are the limits of this state's clothing exemption?
Massachusetts's exemption covers the first $175 per qualifying clothing item. Tax applies only to the excess. The calculator treats the entered clothing amount as one item; a basket of separately exempt items needs a line-by-line calculation.
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.