West Virginia sales tax, and who sets it
Tax year 2026
Set by the state
6%
Set locally
0.6%
statewide average
Combined
6.6%
Local share
9.09%
of what you pay
Work out the tax on a purchase in West Virginia
Add the tax on
6.6% effectiveThe general rate applies here: 6.6%, 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 West Virginia's sales tax is put together
- West Virginia sets nearly all of this itself. The state rate is about 6%, and local governments can add only a little on top — on average across West Virginia the extra comes to about 0.6%. Moving across a county line here changes your bill barely at all. In some states it changes it a great deal.
- Groceries are not taxed in West Virginia. Fill a cart with unprepared food and the sales tax on it is nothing. That is the common treatment, though not the universal one — a few states charge full rate on food, and a few more charge a reduced rate. The line here falls between groceries and prepared food, and it is narrower than it sounds.
- No apparel break in West Virginia. Clothes carry the same sales tax as anything else, working out at $66 per thousand dollars spent. A few states exempt clothing; most, including this one, do not. Prescriptions are exempt, which is the near-universal rule.
- West Virginia retains most rate-setting authority at state level: the state rate is about 6% and the local add-on, on average across West Virginia, is about 0.6%, a small fraction of the combined charge. Local authority exists but is narrow, whether by statutory cap or by limited take-up. The practical effect is that the state rate is a reliable proxy for what a purchase pays anywhere in West Virginia — which is not true of the states that delegate heavily, and is why the two groups should not be compared on the same figure.
- West Virginia exempts groceries from sales tax entirely, so unprepared food carries no charge at any rate. This is the majority treatment nationally but far from universal: a small number of states apply the full rate to food and another group applies a reduced one. The consequential detail in an exempting state is the boundary rather than the exemption — where the statute separates exempt groceries from taxable prepared food, and rotisserie chicken, bakery items and heated food are where that line is usually drawn.
- Clothing in West Virginia is taxed at the general combined rate, or $66 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 West Virginia, which is the standard treatment across the sales-taxing states.
Sales tax on this purchase
A $75,000 salary
| Tax added | $6.60 |
|---|---|
| Rate appliedStatewide average | 6.6% |
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 | 55 |
|---|---|
| Different rates among them | 1 |
| Lowest county rate | 6% |
| Highest county rate | 6% |
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 | $6.60 |
|---|---|
| You hand over | $106.60 |
| Rate here | 6.6% |
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 | $100.38 |
|---|---|
| Rate applied | 6.6% |
No whole-cent price produces this exact total at this rate — this is the closest split that still sums.
Every county here
A $75,000 salary
| Lowest | 6% |
|---|---|
| Highest | 6% |
| 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
West Virginia
Statewide average
Texas
Harris County (Houston)
- Sales tax
- Fuel
- Tobacco
| Category | West Virginia | Texas |
|---|---|---|
| Groceries | Exempt | Exempt |
| Clothing at $100 | 6.6% | 8.25% |
| Fuel | 20.5¢ | 20¢ |
| Tobacco | $1.20 | $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 West Virginia
A $75,000 salary
| Annual Sales Tax Holiday | 2026-08-01 to 2026-08-04 |
|---|
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 West Virginia. 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% | 0.6% | 6.6% |
| Kanawha County (Charleston) | same | 1% | 7% |
| Berkeley County (Martinsburg) | same | 1% | 7% |
What it costs on a thousand dollars
The same purchase in four categories, priced on average across West Virginia. A flat thousand dollars is used deliberately — this is West Virginia'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 | 6.6% | $66 |
| Groceries | 0% | $0 |
| Prescription drugs | 0% | $0 |
| Clothing | 6.6% | $66 |
Every county in West Virginia
This is the whole state, not a sample — 55 counties, from 6% in Barbour County up to 6% in Wyoming 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 West Virginia: 55 counties spanning 6% (Barbour County) to 6% (Wyoming County), 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barbour County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Berkeley County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Boone County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Braxton County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Brooke County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Cabell County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Calhoun County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Clay County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Doddridge County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Fayette County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Gilmer County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Grant County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Greenbrier County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Hampshire County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Hancock County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Hardy County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Harrison County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Jackson County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Jefferson County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Kanawha County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Lewis County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Lincoln County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Logan County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Marion County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Marshall County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Mason County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| McDowell County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Mercer County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Mineral County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Mingo County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Monongalia County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Monroe County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Morgan County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Nicholas County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Ohio County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Pendleton County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Pleasants County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Pocahontas County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Preston County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Putnam County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Raleigh County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Randolph County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Ritchie County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Roane County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Summers County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Taylor County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Tucker County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Tyler County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Upshur County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Wayne County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Webster County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Wetzel County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Wirt County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Wood County | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Wyoming County | 6% | 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
- Only sampled locations appear in the first West Virginia county table and calculator list. Covering every one would mean maintaining thousands of rates that change on their own local timetables, so this site samples instead. The consequence is simple: treat the figures as the shape of the thing, and your receipt as the truth.
- This page covers West Virginia'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. West Virginia 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.
- West Virginia's first county table and calculator location list are curated samples rather than an exhaustive address dataset, a deliberate trade against maintaining several thousand independently-revised local rates. The figures characterise the distribution of local add-ons; they do not establish a minimum or maximum for the state. Address-level accuracy requires either the state revenue authority's lookup or a recent transaction record.
- The figures here describe West Virginia'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 West Virginia 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?
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 6.6% — and it changes as you cross town lines rather than staying put.
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 exempt here?
No. A handful of states exempt clothing and West Virginia is not one of them, so a coat is taxed exactly like a television. The exemption is unusual enough that assuming it is the common mistake.
Will the rate change if I shop in the next town?
Not by much. Only about 9.09% 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. West Virginia sets about 6%; the representative combined rate is about 6.6%, of which about 9.09% is decided locally. A single statewide figure is therefore an approximation.
How are groceries classified for sales tax here?
West Virginia 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?
West Virginia 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 9.09% 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.