Illinois Sales Tax Calculator (State & Local Rates)

Sales tax in Illinois is layered rather than flat. Local jurisdictions (cities, counties, and in some cases special taxing districts) are free to add their own surcharges on top of that, and the statewide average of those add-ons is 2.73%, which brings the typical combined rate to 8.98%. Combine that with the state's own 6.25% rate and the average total a shopper pays works out to 8.98%.

That puts Illinois a bit above the roughly 7.3% average combined rate seen across the states that levy a general sales tax. Anyone comparing Illinois to a neighboring state on affordability should look past the headline state rate alone. The local layer can matter just as much to what actually shows up at checkout. Online sellers shipping into Illinois face the same layered math as brick-and-mortar retailers: the destination address, not the seller's location, determines which local rate stacks on top of the 6.25% state floor.

Illinois charges 6.25% at the state level and adds an average 2.73% in local retailers' occupation taxes, for a combined 8.98% and $89.80 on a $1,000 purchase. The critical thing to know about Illinois is that the general rate is base-specific. Home-rule municipal retailers' occupation tax cannot be imposed on titled property, so Chicago's 10.25% general rate is not the rate on a car: vehicle purchases are taxed on a different, narrower combination of state and county rates. Never carry an Illinois general rate over to a vehicle, and never carry a vehicle rate back.

Within a single base, the state and local rates are added and applied together:

The order the calculator follows is:

1. Read the purchase price. The full pre-tax amount you enter becomes the taxable base.
2. No item-level exemption filtering and no alternate bases. This calculator models the general merchandise base only. Titled property, qualifying food and drugs, and prepared food all sit on different bases in Illinois and will not come out right here.
3. Multiply by the state rate. This produces the state portion of the bill.
4. Apply the local surcharge. The 2.73% average blends home-rule municipal ROT, county taxes, and the RTA transit levy across the Chicago collar counties.
5. Add the pieces together. State tax plus local tax gives the total tax, and adding that to the purchase price gives the amount you actually pay.

For a $1,000 taxable purchase in Illinois:

1. Starting purchase price. The buyer rings up a $1,000.00 taxable retail purchase in Illinois, the baseline amount before any tax is applied.
2. State portion. Illinois's statutory state sales tax rate of 6.25% applies to the full purchase amount: $1,000.00 × 6.25% = $62.50 owed to the state.
3. Local portion. Local municipal, county, and special-district surcharges add an average of 2.73% on top of that: $1,000.00 × 2.73% = $27.30 more.
4. Combined tax due. Summing the two pieces, $62.50 in state tax plus $27.30 in local surcharge comes to $89.80 in total sales tax owed on the transaction.
5. Total out-of-pocket cost. Adding that $89.80 in tax to the $1,000.00 purchase price brings the buyer's total out-of-pocket cost to $1,089.80.

This example uses Illinois's statewide average local rate of 2.73%; actual combined rates vary by city and county, so a real receipt could show a combined rate above or below the 8.98% average used here.

The split, at the default $1,000 purchase. Illinois tax comes to $89.80, made up of $62.50 state and $27.30 local. The local component is 30.4% of the bill. Untick the local box and the calculator returns $62.50, which is what a purchase in an Illinois jurisdiction with no local sales tax would cost, and there are very few of those.

At the price point where it matters. A $35,000 vehicle attracts $3,143.00 of combined tax, $2,187.50 state and $955.50 local, for a total of $38,143.00. The local piece by itself, $955.50, is larger than the entire sales tax on a $10,000 purchase in Iowa.

No threshold, and no address. calculateStateSalesTax reads Illinois's 6.25% state rate and a 2.73% statewide average local rate and applies both to whatever you enter. There is no jurisdiction field, no item classification and no exempt band. Chicago's combined rate is materially above the 2.73% average used here, and this page has no way to represent that: it is a statewide benchmark, not a rate lookup for your address.

Marginal cost of the next unit. Each additional $100 of taxable purchase costs $8.98, split $6.25 state and $2.73 local. Each additional $1,000 costs $89.80. Move the entry from $1,000 to $1,100 and the calculator goes from $89.80 to $98.78, exactly $8.98 more.

The twelve-row sweep. Purchase runs $166.67 to $2,000.00. State tax runs $10.42 to $125.00, local tax $4.55 to $54.60, and combined $14.97 to $179.60. The ratio between the two columns is constant at every row, because both are fixed percentages of the same base.

Right method against wrong method, priced. Given a $1,089.80 receipt, the temptation is to apply 8.98% to that total to recover the tax. Do it, by typing $1,089.80 into the calculator, and it returns $97.86 where the answer is $89.80: an overstatement of $8.06 on a $1,000 purchase, and it compounds across every line of a bookkeeping export. The correct pre-tax figure behind a $1,000.00 out-the-door total is $917.60, which the calculator confirms produces $82.40 of tax and lands on exactly $1,000.00. Tax is 8.24% of that gross, not 8.98%.

• Statutory exemptions on unprepared groceries, prescription medications, or manufacturing equipment.
• Special industry excise taxes (lodging hotel taxes, vehicle rental fees, alcohol/tobacco excise).
• Use tax compliance on out-of-state untaxed online purchases.
• B2B resale certificate exemptions or direct pay permit programs.

• Confusing State and Combined Rates: Quoting the state base rate without factoring in local city and county add-on taxes.
• Overlooking Consumer Use Tax: Failing to self-report and remit use tax on untaxed out-of-state purchases on your state income tax return.
• Missing Annual Sales Tax Holidays: Many states offer annual tax-free weekends for back-to-school items, severe weather supplies, or energy-efficient appliances.
• Failing to Collect Resale Certificates: Selling wholesale without collecting valid exemption certificates exposes sellers to full sales tax liability upon audit.

• Illinois Department of Revenue: 2026 Sales and Use Tax Rate Schedules. tax.illinois.gov
• Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board (SSTGB): State Taxability Matrix. streamlinedsalestax.org/for-businesses/taxability-matrix