Sales Tax in Virginia
Virginia's sales tax is a genuine, comparatively clean positive: a 5.30% statewide combined floor -- the lowest state-plus-mandatory-local floor built into this dataset so far -- that reaches only as high as 7.00% in one specific tourism pocket (the Historic Triangle), a narrower, less fragmented system than several other states in this dataset.
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Learn moreThe 5.30% statewide floor, precisely
Virginia's sales tax is a 4.30% state rate plus a mandatory 1.00% local option tax levied in every Virginia locality, producing a 5.30% combined floor statewide -- the lowest state-plus-mandatory-local combined floor identified in this dataset so far.
Three regions add a further 0.70% transportation tax
Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, and Central Virginia each add a further 0.70% regional transportation/infrastructure tax on top of the 5.30% floor, reaching 6.00% combined in those regions.
The Historic Triangle reaches Virginia's real, disclosed high of 7.00%
Williamsburg, James City County, and York County (the Historic Triangle, home to Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown) layer an additional 1.00% tourism-district tax on top of the 6.00% regional rate, reaching 7.00% -- the highest combined rate identified in Virginia in this research pass.
A comparatively narrow, well-corroborated range versus other states in this dataset
Tax Foundation's cited ~5.77% statewide average combined rate is consistent with this narrow 5.30%-7.00% range -- meaningfully lower and less fragmented than Colorado's home-rule-driven system (~7.89% average, 2.90%-11.2%+ range) or South Carolina's county-by-county local-option system (~7.49% average, 6.00%-9.00% range) elsewhere in this dataset. Confirm your specific target locality's current combined rate directly.
Key takeaways
- Virginia's sales tax is a 4.30% state rate plus a mandatory 1.00% local add-on, producing a 5.30% statewide combined floor -- the lowest such floor in this dataset so far.
- Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, and Central Virginia each add a further 0.70% transportation tax, reaching 6.00%.
- The Historic Triangle (Williamsburg, James City County, York County) reaches Virginia's real high of 7.00%.
- Virginia's 5.30%-7.00% combined range and ~5.77% statewide average are meaningfully lower and less fragmented than Colorado's or South Carolina's sales-tax systems elsewhere in this dataset.
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