New York sales tax, and who sets it
Tax year 2026
Set by the state
4%
Set locally
4.54%
statewide average
Combined
8.54%
Local share
53.16%
of what you pay
Work out the tax on a purchase in New York
Add the tax on
8.54% effectiveThe general rate applies here: 8.54%, 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 New York's sales tax is put together
- Read New York's state rate on its own and you will get the wrong idea. It is about 4%. Local government adds about 4.54% more on average across New York, which is the larger piece, and the total lands at about 8.54%. Your county has more say over your receipt than the state capital does.
- New York 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.
- New York removes its own clothing tax below $110 per item. Local tax can remain: the rate on average across New York is about 4.54%, while some towns and counties also grant an exemption. At the price limit or above, the whole garment pays the general about 8.54%. The table below prices one garment above the limit.
- Rate-setting in New York is majority-delegated. Against a state rate of about 4%, the local add-on on average across New York is about 4.54% and the combined figure is about 8.54%, 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.
- New York 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.
- Clothing in New York has a per-item exemption below $110. The state component is waived; local exemption depends on the jurisdiction's election. The sub-cap rate on average across New York is about 4.54%. At the threshold or above, the full about 8.54% applies to the whole item, rather than only to the excess. The reference table shows one item above the cap.
Sales tax on this purchase
A $75,000 salary
| Tax added | $8.54 |
|---|---|
| Rate appliedStatewide average | 8.54% |
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 | 62 |
|---|---|
| Different rates among them | 10 |
| Lowest county rate | 7% |
| Highest county rate | 8.88% |
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 | $8.54 |
|---|---|
| You hand over | $108.54 |
| Rate here | 8.54% |
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 | $98.58 |
|---|---|
| Rate applied | 8.54% |
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 | 7% |
|---|---|
| Highest | 8.88% |
| Gap between them | 1.87% |
County floors only — city, transit and special-district taxes are excluded where applicable.
What gets taxed, in each
A $75,000 salary
New York
Statewide average
Texas
Harris County (Houston)
- Sales tax
- Fuel
- Tobacco
| Category | New York | Texas |
|---|---|---|
| Groceries | Exempt | Exempt |
| Clothing at $100 | 4.54% | 8.25% |
| Fuel | 8¢ | 20¢ |
| Tobacco | $5.35 | $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 New York. 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 | 4% | 4.54% | 8.54% |
| New York County (Manhattan, NYC) | same | 4.88% | 8.88% |
| Erie County (Buffalo) | same | 4.75% | 8.75% |
What it costs on a thousand dollars
The same purchase in four categories, priced on average across New York. A flat thousand dollars is used deliberately — this is New York'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. New York clothing and footwear exemption.
| What you're buying | Tax as share of price | Tax on $1,000 |
|---|---|---|
| General goods | 8.54% | $85 |
| Groceries | 0% | $0 |
| Prescription drugs | 0% | $0 |
| Clothing | 8.54% | $85 |
Every county in New York
This is the whole state, not a sample — 62 counties, from 7% in Saratoga County up to 8.88% in Richmond 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 New York: 62 counties spanning 7% (Saratoga County) to 8.88% (Richmond County), across 10 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albany County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Allegany County | 4% | 4.5% | 8.5% |
| Bronx County | 4% | 4.88% | 8.88% |
| Broome County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Cattaraugus County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Cayuga County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Chautauqua County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Chemung County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Chenango County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Clinton County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Columbia County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Cortland County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Delaware County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Dutchess County | 4% | 4.13% | 8.13% |
| Erie County | 4% | 4.75% | 8.75% |
| Essex County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Franklin County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Fulton County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Genesee County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Greene County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Hamilton County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Herkimer County | 4% | 4.25% | 8.25% |
| Jefferson County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Kings County | 4% | 4.88% | 8.88% |
| Lewis County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Livingston County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Madison County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Monroe County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Montgomery County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Nassau County | 4% | 4.63% | 8.63% |
| New York County | 4% | 4.88% | 8.88% |
| Niagara County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Oneida County | 4% | 4.75% | 8.75% |
| Onondaga County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Ontario County | 4% | 3.5% | 7.5% |
| Orange County | 4% | 4.13% | 8.13% |
| Orleans County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Oswego County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Otsego County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Putnam County | 4% | 4.38% | 8.38% |
| Queens County | 4% | 4.88% | 8.88% |
| Rensselaer County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Richmond County | 4% | 4.88% | 8.88% |
| Rockland County | 4% | 4.38% | 8.38% |
| Saratoga County | 4% | 3% | 7% |
| Schenectady County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Schoharie County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Schuyler County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Seneca County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| St. Lawrence County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Steuben County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Suffolk County | 4% | 4.75% | 8.75% |
| Sullivan County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Tioga County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Tompkins County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Ulster County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Warren County | 4% | 3% | 7% |
| Washington County | 4% | 3% | 7% |
| Wayne County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Westchester County | 4% | 4.38% | 8.38% |
| Wyoming County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Yates County | 4% | 4% | 8% |
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 New York 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.
- This page covers New York'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.
- An exemption is a category, not a promise. New York decides for itself where each category stops — hot food is usually outside the grocery exemption, and accessories are often outside the clothing one. That boundary work is where the real difference between two states with the same rate turns up.
- The first New York 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.
- The figures here describe New York'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.
- Exemption treatment in New York is recorded here at category level; the operative detail is where the state's statute terminates each category. Heated and prepared foods generally revert to the full rate despite a grocery exemption, and clothing exemptions are typically bounded by price threshold or by use. These definitional boundaries account for much of the divergence between states that appear equivalent on rate and exemption list alone.
Questions people ask
Why is the tax at the register higher than the state rate?
What the statute says and what the register charges are different numbers. about 4% is the state's share; local layers carry it to about 8.54%, varying street by street.
Is food taxed the same as everything else?
Raw food is exempt in New York. Prepared food is not, and the boundary between them is the part that surprises people.
Is clothing really untaxed here?
New York removes its state clothing tax only below $110 per item. Local tax depends on the location. At that price or above, the whole item pays the ordinary rate.
Who actually decides what I pay at the register — the state or my town?
Local government, for the larger part. about 53.16% 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. New York sets about 4%; the representative combined rate is about 8.54%, of which about 53.16% is decided locally. A single statewide figure is therefore an approximation.
How are groceries classified for sales tax here?
New York 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?
New York's clothing exemption applies below $110 per qualifying item, with local treatment determined by each jurisdiction. At or above the threshold the whole item is taxed at the general combined rate. This is a price cliff, not an exemption on the first part of the price.
What share of the combined rate is locally determined here?
about 53.16% of the representative combined rate in New York 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.