How Philadelphia's 8% rate is built
Pennsylvania has only two local sales taxes — Philadelphia adds 2% (Allegheny County adds 1%). Most clothing and footwear are fully exempt statewide with no price cap, and groceries are exempt.
What you pay in Philadelphia — worked examples
| Purchase | Tax at 8% | Total |
|---|---|---|
| $25 | $2.00 | $27.00 |
| $100 | $8.00 | $108.00 |
| $500 | $40.00 | $540.00 |
| $1,000 | $80.00 | $1080.00 |
| $10,000 | $800.00 | $10800.00 |
Philadelphia vs the Pennsylvania average
The average combined rate across Pennsylvania is about 6.34%, so Philadelphia at 8% is above the state norm by roughly 1.66 percentage points. On a $30,000 car (where vehicle tax rules allow the general rate), that gap alone is about $498 — one reason big purchases are planned around exact addresses, not state averages.
Philadelphia vs other major US cities
Philadelphia is the Pennsylvania city we track in detail. Against the extremes of the 30-city dataset:
| City | Combined rate | Tax on $1,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia (this page) | 8% | $80.00 |
| Seattle — among the highest | 10.35% | $103.50 |
| Chicago — among the highest | 10.25% | $102.50 |
| Portland — among the lowest | 0% | $0.00 |
| Louisville — among the lowest | 6% | $60.00 |
| Average of the 30 tracked cities | 7.93% | $79.30 |
What this means in Philadelphia
The rate bites hardest on large, planned purchases. At 8%, a $10,000 purchase carries $800.00 of tax — $166.00 more than the same purchase at the Pennsylvania average rate of 6.34%, and $139.00 more than at the all-state average of 6.61%. On everyday spending the difference is cents; on vehicles, appliances and furniture it decides where people choose to buy.
Day-to-day, the grocery exemption keeps the weekly food shop outside this rate in Pennsylvania — the 8% applies to general merchandise, electronics and prepared food. Budget the rate into non-food spending, not the food bill.
Calculate with your exact rate
District boundaries inside Philadelphia can shift the rate street by street. For an exact figure — or to extract tax from a tax-inclusive total — use the full calculator with your precise local rate: