The base Washington sales tax rate is 6.5%. The state has no personal income tax, so sales tax plays a significant role in its revenue structure. Local jurisdictions can add their own taxes on top of the base rate, which increases the combined rates.

Below, we’ll discuss how local sales tax rates stack on top of the state rate, what the rates are in the state's largest cities and counties, and when your business is required to collect sales tax.

Highlights

• Washington's combined sales tax rates vary widely from the lower rates of rural areas to the higher rates of more urban areas, such as parts of King County.

• Washington is a destination-based state, which means the sales tax rate depends on where the buyer receives the goods or services rather than where the seller is located.

• Businesses with a physical presence or economic nexus in Washington are required to register and collect sales tax.

What is the Washington sales tax rate?

Washington's statewide sales tax rate is 6.5% for retail. Local jurisdictions can layer their own rates on top of this base rate. As of 2026, combined rates range from about 7.6% in rural, eastern Washington to 10.7% in parts of Snohomish County.

What are the local sales tax rates in Washington?

Washington has hundreds of local taxing jurisdictions. Cities, counties, transit districts, and special districts all have the authority to impose additional sales tax on top of the 6.5% state rate. These additions can push combined rates above 10.0% in urban areas.

Because local rates are set through voter-approved measures and local legislative action, they can change quarterly. The Department of Revenue publishes updated rate tables every January, April, July, and October.

Washington’s sales tax range in 2026

How does Washington’s sales tax work?

Washington is a destination-based sales tax state. This means the rate is determined by where the buyer receives the good or service, instead of where the seller is located. A business must collect and remit sales tax if it sells a taxable product and has sales tax nexus in the state.

Nexus

A business has physical nexus if it has a storefront, warehouse, employees, or inventory in Washington. It has economic nexus if it earns over $100,000 in combined gross receipts sourced or attributed to Washington in the current year, or did so in the prior year. Once the total sales amount exceeds that threshold, the business must immediately register with the Washington Department of Revenue and begin collecting tax.

Registration happens through the Department of Revenue's business licensing portal. Once you're registered, you must file on your assigned schedule—monthly, quarterly, or annually, depending on volume—even during periods when you have zero sales in Washington.

Taxability

In Washington, retail sales of tangible personal property are taxed by default. There are some exemptions, including on groceries (but not restaurant meals and prepared food), prescription drugs, and manufacturing machinery purchased for direct use in production.

Washington taxes some services, including repairs, cleaning, and construction. Digital automated services, such as software-as-a-service (SaaS) products, are also taxable. If your software is delivered electronically and used in Washington, it's taxable, and the $100,000 economic nexus threshold applies.

What are Washington’s sales tax rates by city?

Here, we’ll look at the typical combined rates for sales tax in Washington's largest cities, as of 2026. Note that some places are within jurisdictions that might levy additional sales taxes but don’t necessarily follow city limits. Much of Bellevue and Everett, for example, falls within the Sound Transit District, which implements a 1.1% Regional Transit Authority (RTA) tax. Since this district was designed to follow population growth, the majority of people in its cities pay the RTA rate. But some households around the city limits might be outside of the district.

What are Washington’s sales tax rates by county?

Here are the minimum combined rates for sales tax in several Washington counties. Incorporated cities within a given county carry their own additional rates on top of what's listed here.

How do you calculate Washington sales tax?

To calculate combined sales tax rates in Washington, you must first determine the destination where the sale is occurring. Then, combine the state sales tax rate with any applicable county, city, and special district rates. Multiply the transaction amount by that number to get the combined rate.

Washington's quarterly rate updates, destination-based sourcing rules, and many overlapping district rates can make it difficult to keep track of sales tax rates. Stripe's sales tax calculator can automatically identify the correct combined rate for a given Washington address. It also handles the destination sourcing logic and updates automatically when rates change.

If you prefer to calculate manually, the Department of Revenue maintains an address lookup tool at dor.wa.gov, where you can pull the current combined rate for any Washington address. It’s refreshed when rates update at the start of each quarter (i.e., January, April, July, and October).

How Stripe Tax can help

Stripe Tax reduces the complexity of tax compliance so you can focus on growing your business. Stripe Tax helps you monitor your obligations and alerts you when you exceed a sales tax registration threshold based on your Stripe transactions. In addition, it automatically calculates and collects sales tax, value-added tax (VAT), and goods and services tax (GST) on both physical and digital goods and services—in all US states and in more than 100 countries.

Start collecting taxes globally by adding a single line of code to your existing integration, clicking a button in the Dashboard, or using our powerful application programming interface (API).

Stripe Tax can help you:

• Understand where to register and collect taxes: See where you need to collect taxes based on your Stripe transactions. After you register, switch on tax collection in a new state or country in seconds. You can start collecting taxes by adding one line of code to your existing Stripe integration or add tax collection with the click of a button in the Stripe Dashboard.

• Register to pay tax: Let Stripe manage your global tax registrations and benefit from a simplified process that prefills application details—saving you time and simplifying compliance with local regulations.

• Automatically collect tax: Stripe Tax calculates and collects the right amount of tax owed, no matter what or where you sell. It supports hundreds of products and services and is up-to-date on tax rules and rate changes.

• Simplify filing: Stripe Tax seamlessly integrates with filing partners, so your global filings are accurate and timely. Let our partners manage your filings so you can focus on growing your business.

Learn more about Stripe Tax, or get started today.