South Carolina sales tax, and who sets it
Tax year 2026
Set by the state
6%
Set locally
1.49%
statewide average
Combined
7.49%
Local share
19.89%
of what you pay
Work out the tax on a purchase in South Carolina
Add the tax on
7.49% effectiveThe general rate applies here: 7.49%, 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 South Carolina's sales tax is put together
- South Carolina splits this with your county. The state's share is about 6%. The local share, on average across South Carolina, is about 1.49%. What you actually pay is both of them at once, about 7.49%, and the second half changes depending on where in South Carolina you are standing when you buy.
- Food gets a discount in South Carolina, not a pass. The rate on groceries is about 1.49%, lower than on everything else but not nothing. A thousand dollars of shopping carries $15 of tax. Plenty of published summaries record South Carolina as exempting food. They are wrong.
- No apparel break in South Carolina. Clothes carry the same sales tax as anything else, working out at $75 per thousand dollars spent. A few states exempt clothing; most, including this one, do not. Prescriptions are exempt, which is the near-universal rule.
- Rate-setting in South Carolina is shared between the state and its localities. The state component is about 6% and the local component on average across South Carolina is about 1.49%, producing about 7.49%. Because the local half is set independently and varies across the state, the combined rate is a property of the transaction's location rather than of South Carolina as a whole — the reason this site prices purchases against a named county instead of a statewide average.
- Grocery purchases in South Carolina are taxed at a preferential about 1.49%, producing $15 on a thousand dollars of food. The reduced-rate treatment sits between the exempting majority and the handful of states applying the full rate, and it is routinely mis-recorded as an exemption in secondary sources. The distinction is worth several hundred dollars a year to a household at ordinary grocery volumes.
- Clothing in South Carolina is taxed at the general combined rate, or $75 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 South Carolina, which is the standard treatment across the sales-taxing states.
Sales tax on this purchase
A $75,000 salary
| Tax added | $7.49 |
|---|---|
| Rate appliedStatewide average | 7.49% |
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 | 46 |
|---|---|
| Different rates among them | 4 |
| Lowest county rate | 6% |
| Highest county rate | 9% |
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 | $7.49 |
|---|---|
| You hand over | $107.49 |
| Rate here | 7.49% |
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 | $99.54 |
|---|---|
| Rate applied | 7.49% |
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% |
|---|---|
| Highest | 9% |
| Gap between them | 3% |
County floors only — city, transit and special-district taxes are excluded where applicable.
What gets taxed, in each
A $75,000 salary
South Carolina
Statewide average
Texas
Harris County (Houston)
- Sales tax
- Fuel
- Tobacco
| Category | South Carolina | Texas |
|---|---|---|
| Groceries | 1.49% | Exempt |
| Clothing at $100 | 7.49% | 8.25% |
| Fuel | 28¢ | 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.
Tax-free days in South Carolina
A $75,000 salary
| Sales Tax Holiday | 2026-08-01 to 2026-08-03 |
|---|
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 South Carolina. 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% | 1.49% | 7.49% |
| Richland County (Columbia) | same | 2% | 8% |
| Charleston County | same | 3% | 9% |
What it costs on a thousand dollars
The same purchase in four categories, priced on average across South Carolina. A flat thousand dollars is used deliberately — this is South Carolina'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 | 7.49% | $75 |
| Groceries | 1.49% | $15 |
| Prescription drugs | 0% | $0 |
| Clothing | 7.49% | $75 |
Every county in South Carolina
This is the whole state, not a sample — 46 counties, from 6% in Beaufort County up to 9% in Jasper 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 South Carolina: 46 counties spanning 6% (Beaufort County) to 9% (Jasper County), across 4 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abbeville County | 6% | 1% | 7% |
| Aiken County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Allendale County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Anderson County | 6% | 1% | 7% |
| Bamberg County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Barnwell County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Beaufort County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Berkeley County | 6% | 3% | 9% |
| Calhoun County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Charleston County | 6% | 3% | 9% |
| Cherokee County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Chester County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Chesterfield County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Clarendon County | 6% | 1% | 7% |
| Colleton County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Darlington County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Dillon County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Dorchester County | 6% | 1% | 7% |
| Edgefield County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Fairfield County | 6% | 1% | 7% |
| Florence County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Georgetown County | 6% | 1% | 7% |
| Greenville County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Greenwood County | 6% | 1% | 7% |
| Hampton County | 6% | 1% | 7% |
| Horry County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Jasper County | 6% | 3% | 9% |
| Kershaw County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Lancaster County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Laurens County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Lee County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Lexington County | 6% | 1% | 7% |
| Marion County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Marlboro County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| McCormick County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Newberry County | 6% | 1% | 7% |
| Oconee County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Orangeburg County | 6% | 1% | 7% |
| Pickens County | 6% | 1% | 7% |
| Richland County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Saluda County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Spartanburg County | 6% | 1% | 7% |
| Sumter County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Union County | 6% | 1% | 7% |
| Williamsburg County | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| York County | 6% | 1% | 7% |
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 South Carolina 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 South Carolina'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. South Carolina 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 South Carolina 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 South Carolina'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 South Carolina 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 6% up to about 7.49% — and it changes as you cross town lines rather than staying put.
Is food taxed at a lower rate here?
Not exempt, but not full rate either. South Carolina applies a reduced rate to groceries, so food is taxed more lightly than other goods rather than not at all.
Is clothing exempt here?
It is not. Clothing takes the standard rate here — only a small group of states exempt it, and South Carolina is outside that group.
Will the rate change if I shop in the next town?
Not by much. Only about 19.89% 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.
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. South Carolina sets about 6%; the representative combined rate is about 7.49%, of which about 19.89% is decided locally. A single statewide figure is therefore an approximation.
What reduced rate applies to groceries in this state?
South Carolina applies a preferential reduced rate to groceries rather than a full exemption. Local add-ons may or may not follow the reduced rate depending on state law, so the effective grocery rate is not always the state reduced rate alone.
How is apparel classified for sales tax in this state?
South Carolina 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 19.89% 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.