The Arizona state sales tax rate for most retail purchases is 5.6% (effective June 1, 2013). Maricopa County adds on .7% sales tax to support roads and jails. That's a total of 6.3%. Then, each city may add sales tax. If you add the total of the Arizona sales tax and Maricopa County sales tax, 6.3%, to the city sales tax rate, you'll get the total retail sales tax that you'll pay when purchasing merchandise in that city.

Expressed mathematically,

5.6% (state) + .7% (county) + x (city or town) = percentage for sales tax you pay in your city.

The State of Arizona does not charge sales tax on food purchased at retail outlets for home consumption (grocery stores). Cities are allowed to do so, and almost all of them do, with the exception of Mesa and Surprise. The City of Phoenix, which instituted a 2% tax on those items in 2010 and reduced it to 1% in 2014, no longer has that grocery tax (April 1, 2015).

When shopping in those cities, be aware of buying grocery items in stores that are not really grocery stores. Their systems might not have the capability to charge a different tax rate for file cabinets as opposed to coffee. Want to fight the battle with them? Often, if someone protests, they will refund the overtaxed portion. Here are more details about how sales tax works and what you can do if you think you are being charged too much sales tax.

The tax mentioned in this table is the Transaction Privilege Tax, or sales tax, for most typical retail items like soccer balls, clothing, books and vacuum cleaners.

Taxes charged at restaurants, bars, hotels or for retail items costing thousands of dollars like cars, as well as food purchased at grocery stores for home consumption, may be taxed at a different rate.

Here is the same information on Phoenix area sales tax rates as provided in this article, only in table format, and including a few additional nearby cities. There are some cities that are not in Maricopa County that are increasingly being considered part of the Greater Phoenix area, and some of those are included there, too.

One more note: The City of Maricopa, part of Apache Junction and part of Queen Creek are in Pinal County, where the county tax rate is higher than in Maricopa County.

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City Sales Tax Rates in Maricopa County, Arizona

Last updated: March 1, 2015

Use the formula above and substitute the percentage shown below for x. Or just check the table format if you don't want to do the math!

Apache Junction: 2.4%
Avondale: 2.5%
Buckeye: 3.0%
Carefree: 3.0%
Cave Creek: 3.0%
Chandler: 1.5%
El Mirage: 3.0%
Fountain Hills: 2.6%
Gila Bend: 3.0%
Gilbert: 1.5%
Glendale: 2.9%
Goodyear: 2.5%
Guadalupe: 4.0%
Litchfield Park: 2.8%
Maricopa: 2.0%
Mesa: 1.75%
Paradise Valley: 2.5%
Peoria: 1.8%
Phoenix: 2.0%
Queen Creek: 2.25%
Scottsdale: 1.65%
Surprise: 2.2%
Tempe: 1.8%
Tolleson: 2.5%
Wickenburg: 2.2%
Youngtown: 3.0%

_{Notice: All rates mentioned herein are subject to change without notice. Contact each individual city to ensure accuracy.}