What is Denver's combined sales tax rate?

The combined rate is about 8.81% on general goods: 2.9% Colorado state, roughly 1.1% for the RTD/SCFD special districts, and about 4.81% Denver city tax. Rates can shift with voter measures, so treat this as a current estimate.

Is grocery food taxed in Denver?

Colorado exempts most grocery food from the 2.9% state tax, but the city of Denver still applies its own tax to food for home consumption. So groceries are not fully tax-free in Denver — they carry the city and applicable district portion.

What about prepared or restaurant food?

Prepared food, restaurant meals, and food sold for immediate consumption are fully taxable at the combined rate, and Denver also adds a separate prepared-food tax in some cases. This tool applies the full general rate to prepared food.

Does this handle special district variations?

It uses representative RTD and SCFD district rates that apply across most of Denver. A handful of addresses fall outside a district or inside an extra one, so verify with the Colorado Department of Revenue lookup for an exact figure.

Is my data sent anywhere?

No. The whole calculation runs in your browser. Your purchase amount never leaves your device.

Denver Combined Sales Tax Calculator

Sales tax in Denver stacks several layers — the Colorado state rate, regional special-district taxes (RTD transit and SCFD cultural facilities), and the city of Denver’s own rate — for a combined 8.81% on general goods. Food is treated differently: Colorado exempts most groceries from the state portion, but Denver still taxes them. This free calculator gets the breakdown right for each item type.

How it works

The calculator stores each tax component separately and sums the ones that apply to your item type:

state  = 2.90%   (exempt for grocery food)
district = 1.10% (RTD + SCFD, applies to most items)
city   = 4.81%   (Denver, applies to general + food)

For general goods and prepared food, all three apply (8.81%). For grocery food, the state 2.9% is dropped, leaving the city and district portions. Tax is the price times the summed rate; total is price plus tax.

Notes and example

A $100 general purchase at 8.81% adds $8.81 for a $108.81 total. The same $100 in groceries skips the 2.9% state tax, so tax is about $5.91 — Denver groceries are not tax-free. Rates change with voter measures and a few addresses sit in different districts; verify exact rates with the Colorado Department of Revenue. Everything runs locally; nothing is uploaded.