CA Sales Tax Rate Increase Operative April 1, 2017

New CA Sales Tax Rate Changes Effective April, 1, 2017

California voters in many counties and cities approved sales tax rate increases in the November 2016 general election.  No city or county sales tax rates decreased in California. Higher sales tax rates will start in 43 cities and 7 counties in California on April 1, 2017. To see if you will be charged higher sales taxes, go to our Online Demo starting April 1.

Have you ever wondered where the highest and lowest sales tax rates in California will be as of this April? Here are some interesting numbers when the new CA sales tax rates become operative on April 1, 2017:

California’s sales tax rate of 7.25% applies to every address in the state. Counties and cities might have their own sales taxes on top of the California sales tax. The highest sales tax rate with California state, county and city sales tax rates combined is 9.75%.  Starting 4/1/17 you’ll be charged 9.75% sales tax if you buy anything within these CA cities:

Union City
San Leandro
Newark
Hayward
Albany
South Gate
Santa Monica
Pico Rivera
Lynwood
Long Beach
La Mirada
Compton
El Cerrito

Among California’s 58 counties, Alameda county charges the highest county sales tax at 2%. Here are the counties with 1% or more sales tax rates:

Alameda county: 2%
Santa Clara county: 1.75%
Los Angeles county: 1.5%
San Mateo county: 1.5%
Santa Cruz county: 1.25%
San Francisco county: 1.25%
Contra Costa county: 1%
Marin county: 1%

The city with the highest city sales tax is Greenfield. These cities levy 1.25% or more on sales:

Greenfield: 1.75%
Salinas: 1.5%
Del Rey Oaks: 1.50%
Lakeport: 1.50%
Clearlake: 1.5%
El Cerrito: 1.5%
Stockton: 1.25%
Nevada City: 1.25%

Counties that do not have county sales tax

Among California’s 58 counties, the following 25 counties do not charge any sales tax. However some cities inside these counties charge sales tax:

Alpine
Butte
Calaveras
Colusa
El Dorado
Glenn
Kern
Kings
Lake
Lassen
Modoc
Mono
Placer
Plumas
San Benito
San Luis Obispo
Shasta
Siskiyou
Sutter
Tehama
Trinity
Tuolumne
Ventura
Yolo
Yuba

Do you know that if an address is not inside an incorporated city limit, the city sales tax does not apply? For instance, the City of Davis has 1% city sales tax, 0% county sales tax (Yolo county does not have county district tax) and 7.25% state sales tax. If you live in an un-incorporated area with Davis as your mailing city, you won’t need to pay for 1% sales tax to the city of Yolo.  Click here to learn more about how to correctly calculate Sales Tax Rates for unincorporated areas in CA.

Least Expensive Places to live in CA – No County or City  Sales Taxes

Have you ever thought about relocating to different parts of CA? There is no county or city sales taxes anywhere within the following counties. All you need to pay is the 7.25% California sales tax.

Alpine county
Calaveras county
Kings county
Lassen county
Modoc county
Mono county
Plumas county
Sierra county
Sutter county

To find out the sales tax for a specific location in CA, just enter the address in our online demo and you will get the current tax rate information for the input location.