By the Numbers: U.S. Sales Tax Rates and Rules Reach New Highs in 2026

For the first time in four years, the combined average U.S. sales tax rate climbed during the first half of 2026. In the past six months, average rate increases occurred across the board, at the state, county, city, and district levels, and the average combined rate is the highest it has ever been.

On their own, these increases are eye-opening. When this cascade of rate changes and new taxes is considered in the context of their underlying drivers, it is clear that indirect tax leaders and their teams should expect to see additional rate and rule volatility along with the compliance challenges those changes trigger in the months ahead. These drivers reflect a combination of U.S. domestic dynamics -- fiscal retrenchment, base expansion, and proliferating fees, among others – that are putting increasing pressure on policy makers to increasingly lean on sales and use taxes.

Most of those factors are interacting in ways that drive sales tax rates higher. For example, the need for base expansion stems from the increasing adoption of sales tax exemptions, the continued trend of shifting spending patterns away from goods and towards services, along with an increasing drive to reduce state income and property tax rates (trends that also pressure local U.S. tax jurisdictions to create new sales taxes, raise rates, enact new fees, and extend sales taxes to professional services).

The figures that follow break down where, how much, and how often rates and rules have changed in 2026:

• 463: There were 463 total combined sales tax rate changes and new rates from Jan. 1 through June 30. For context, 408 total combined sales tax rate changes and new rates were enacted during the first half of 2025. Notably, the total number of rates and rules changes in all of 2025 (i.e., the full year) reached the highest number in eight years.  
• 85: A total of 85 sales tax rate changes occurred at the county level in the first six months of 2026 – surpassing the total number of annual county rate changes in each of the past five years.
• 186: A total of 186 sales tax rate changes occurred at the city level in the first half of 2026, far surpassing the 117 city rate changes that occurred in the first six months of 2025.  
• 5X: Sales tax rate increases outnumber rate decreases at the county level by a 5:1 ratio.
• 4.5X: Sales tax rate increases outnumber rate decreases at the city level by a 4.5:1 ratio.
• 63: A total of 63 new taxing cities came online in the first half of 2026. For context, fewer new taxing cities came online during all of 2021 (51), 2022 (49), 2023 (57), and 2024 (51).
• 105: A total of 105 new district taxes materialized in the first half of 2026, fewer than the 140 new district taxes that came online in the first half of 2025.
• 10.1881%: This is the combined average U.S. sales tax rate as of June 30, 2026. This figure represents the combination of average state, county, city, and district rates – and it marks a 10-year high.
• 12,566: The total number of new and updated sales and use tax jurisdictions, as of June 30, at the city (7,183), county (1,972), district (3,365), and state (46) levels.

Click here to view the Vertex 2026 Mid-Year Rates and Rules Report.