--- title: Which Cities Have the Highest Sales Tax? description: Milwaukee just became the latest major city to pass a sales tax, with a total rate of 7.5%. But in some other spots, local taxes exceed 10%. authors: - name: Pete Grieve role: Lead News Reporter url: https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/ bio: Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. In his time at Money, Pete has covered everything from car buying to credit cards to the housing market. education: University of Chicago, BA Political Science at_money_since: 2022 articles: 602 covers: - Taxes - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping social: - https://twitter.com/pete_grieve - https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138 - https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4 editors: - name: Julia Glum role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/julia-glum/ bio: A graduate of the University of Florida, Julia has more than eight years of experience in personal finance journalism. In addition to overseeing news and newsletters, she leads Money’s tax coverage, which includes extensive reporting on tax credits, policy changes and the IRS. education: University of Florida at_money_since: 2018 articles: 453 covers: - Taxes - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Technology also_seen_in: - Newsweek - International Business Times - CBS News - Good Morning America - WUSA9 - Pix 11 - The New York Times - Mashable - The Washington Post - CNBC - Politico social: - https://x.com/superjulia - https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-glum published: '2023-07-18T14:26:41.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T15:02:28.000Z' section: Taxes tags: - News - Taxes word_count: 432 canonical: https://money.com/cities-highest-sales-tax-milwaukee/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Tacoma, WA](https://img.money.com/2023/07/News-Cities-Highest-Sales-Tax.jpg?crop=0px%2C90px%2C2880px%2C1620px&quality=85) *Tacoma, Washington — pictured here — is the major city with the highest local sales tax rate in the U.S.* When you pay [sales tax](https://money.com/states-highest-lowest-no-sales-tax/) on a transaction, you’re often not just handing over money to a state government. Cities and counties also frequently collect a percentage of each purchase, and these special taxes can get steep — and controversial. Milwaukee just became the latest major city to enact a sales tax. On Friday, the mayor, Cavalier Johnson, signed a 2% sales tax as part of a plan to [avoid bankruptcy](https://apnews.com/article/milwaukee-bankruptcy-detroit-sales-tax-8d8aba7889b7cfd4aeaf484d98f0885b). Starting Jan. 1, the tax will be added on top of a 5% state tax and a 0.5% county tax for a total rate of 7.5%. Given that equals more than 7 cents on every dollar, the new city tax is already proving divisive: "It’s going to make all clothes, shoes, all of that more expensive," one local shopper [told Fox 6 Milwaukee](https://www.fox6now.com/news/milwaukee-sales-tax-increase-mayor-johnson-to-sign-ordinance-friday). This isn't unusual. High city and county sales taxes often irritate residents, and levying them comes with a risk of sending business to other areas as shoppers seek out lower prices. Local lawmakers, in turn, sometimes say they have no choice but to impose or raise sales taxes to fund government projects. Among cities with populations of 200,000 or more, the following 10 have the highest sales taxes, according to the [Tax Foundation](https://taxfoundation.org/sales-tax-rates-by-city-2021): - Tacoma, Washington (10.3%) - Chicago, Illinois (10.25%) - Fremont, California (10.25%) - Long Beach, California (10.25% - Oakland, California (10.25%) - Seattle, Washington (10.25%) - Birmingham, Alabama (10%) - Baton Rouge, Louisiana (9.95%) - Memphis, Tennessee (9.75%) - St. Louis, Missouri (9.679%+) *(Note: This list was last updated by the Tax Foundation in 2021. As of publication, the above sales tax rates are still current. Tax rates may be higher in areas of these cities with additional taxes. For example, tax rates are as high as 11.679% in some jurisdictions of St. Louis.)* ## Avoiding local sales taxes High local taxes can backfire on cities that enact them because consumers may respond by shopping in a neighboring area with lower sales taxes, experts say. A [2017 study](https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/effects-of-sales-tax-increase-on-consumers) by researchers at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management found that when sales taxes are raised, consumers respond in the short term by making more trips to lower-tax areas. If you're thinking about doing your [shopping](https://money.com/shopping/) outside of your city to avoid high sales taxes, make sure to weigh the [cost of any extra travel](https://money.com/gas-prices-forecast-summer-2023/) with the potential savings. You may only save money if you're making a big purchase. [13 Best Credit Cards of July 2023](https://money.com/best-credit-cards/) [Here's Where People Pay the Highest (and Lowest) Sales Tax in America](https://money.com/states-highest-lowest-no-sales-tax/) [Map: Here’s How Much Every State Charges in Sales Tax](https://money.com/state-sales-tax-rates-map/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/cities-highest-sales-tax-milwaukee/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Taxes", "item": "https://money.com/taxes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Which Cities Have the Highest Sales Tax?" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/cities-highest-sales-tax-milwaukee/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/cities-highest-sales-tax-milwaukee/", "name": "Which Cities Have the Highest Sales Tax?", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2023-07-18T14:26:41.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/cities-highest-sales-tax-milwaukee/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/cities-highest-sales-tax-milwaukee/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T15:02:28.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Which Cities Have the Highest Sales Tax?", "articleSection": "Taxes", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2023/07/News-Cities-Highest-Sales-Tax.jpg?crop=0px%2C90px%2C2880px%2C1620px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "News-Cities-Highest-Sales-Tax" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pete Grieve", "url": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/#author", "description": "Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. 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