State guide · DE
Delaware sales tax and property tax
Shoppers pay the sticker price in Delaware; the state taxes the store's receipts instead, and the few charges a buyer does see come at the motor vehicle office and the hotel desk.
Facts read on official Delaware pages on · Checked by Radif Partners · How we calculate
- State sales tax
- None
- Local sales taxes
- None
- Groceries
- No state tax
- Clothing
- No state tax
- Median property tax
- $1,750
- Effective property rate
- 0.47% · #44 of 51
Delaware has no sales tax, neither at the state level nor in any city or county, so a $1,000 television, a pair of shoes or a week of groceries costs exactly the shelf price. The state taxes businesses instead, through a gross receipts tax on their total receipts: general retailers pay 0.7468% after a $100,000 monthly deduction, and the tax is not itemized on the receipt. Buyers meet a few targeted charges: a 5.25% document fee when titling a car, an 8% tax on hotel and motel rooms, and a 1.9914% lessee use tax on leased goods. There is no general use tax and no holiday, since there is nothing to suspend. Property tax is low too: the median owner paid $1,750 in 2024 on a $371,600 home (Census ACS), an effective rate of 0.47%, ranked 44 of 51. It is levied by New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties, towns and school districts, with school taxes the largest part.
Total to pay
$100.00
Sales tax $0.00 · 0% of the price · Delaware has no statewide sales tax
| Price before tax | $100.00 |
| State tax · 0% | $0.00 |
| Local tax · not charged on this item | $0.00 |
| Total | $100.00 |
Rule applied: Delaware has no statewide sales tax. How this is calculated.
Sales tax in Delaware
The gross receipts tax explains why Delaware prices carry no tax line. It is a license tax on the business, owed on gross receipts at a rate that depends on the type of activity: 0.7468% for general retailers, 0.3267% for grocery supermarkets, 0.6472% for restaurants and contractors, 0.3983% for services and wholesalers, and 0.0945% to 0.1260% for manufacturers. A retailer with $400,000 of receipts in a month owes $2,240.40 after the $100,000 deduction, which applies once to the whole enterprise. The cost may be built into prices, but it never appears as a percentage on the customer's bill.
The calculator above therefore shows zero for every category bought in Delaware. The charges a resident does pay are narrow. Titling a vehicle costs a document fee of $5.25 per $100 of the price above $500, a flat $8 under $400 and $13.75 between $400 and $500; on a $36,000 car, that comes to roughly $1,890. A $450 hotel weekend adds $36 of state lodging tax, collected from the guest and remitted to the Division of Revenue. Leasing equipment or a vehicle brings a 1.9914% lessee use tax on the payments, the only use tax the state applies.
Visitors who shop in Delaware pay no Delaware tax at the counter. If you live in a state that has a sales tax, read how use tax works there before counting the savings, since that rule is set by your home state, not by Delaware.
What the state charges, item by item
| Item | State rate | Local tax | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Most goods | none | no | Delaware has no sales tax at the state or local level. Instead, sellers pay a gross receipts tax (a business license tax on their receipts, not itemized to buyers), e.g. 0.7468% for general retailers after a $100,000 monthly deduction. |
| Groceries (food for home) | none | no | No sales tax. Grocery supermarkets pay a 0.3267% gross receipts tax on their receipts. |
| Clothing | none | no | No sales tax on any retail purchase. |
| Prescription drugs | none | no | |
| Motor vehicle document fee | 5.25% | Paid at titling: $5.25 per $100 of purchase price above $500 ($8 under $400; $13.75 from $400 to $500). | |
| Hotel, motel and tourist home rooms | 8% | 8% tax collected from the guest and remitted to the Division of Revenue. | |
| Lessee use of tangible personal property (leases) | 1.9914% | Lessee use tax rate on leased goods and leased motor vehicles. |
Local sales taxes
Delaware has no local sales taxes.
Sales tax holidays in 2026
No sales tax, so no sales tax holiday.
Worth knowing about Delaware sales tax
- Delaware has no state or local sales tax; businesses pay a gross receipts tax instead. source
- General retailers pay a 0.7468% gross receipts tax, after a $100,000 deduction per month for the whole enterprise (30 Del. C. ch. 29). source
- Gross receipts tax rates vary by business type: 0.3267% for grocery supermarkets, 0.6472% for restaurants and contractors, 0.3983% for services and wholesalers, 0.0945% to 0.1260% for manufacturers. source
- Buying a car in Delaware costs a 5.25% document fee ($5.25 per $100 of price) instead of a sales tax. source
- Hotel and motel rooms carry an 8% state lodging tax paid by the guest. source
Property tax in Delaware
Delaware itself levies no property tax. Three counties, New Castle, Kent and Sussex, along with municipalities and school districts, tax real property, and the school district share is the largest on most bills. Property is valued at fair market value as of the base year of the county's most recent general reassessment, not at today's value. State law requires each county to reassess every property at least once every five years, counted from the certification of its last reassessment.
A reassessment does not automatically raise the total collected. School boards must then reset their rates so that revenue does not exceed the previous year's operating revenue plus the growth the law allows. School districts lying entirely in New Castle County may tax nonresidential property at up to 1.85 times the residential rate. Owners in Kent and Sussex can appeal to the Board of Assessment Review between March 1 and May 31.
There is no homestead exemption for every owner. Homeowners aged 65 or older receive a Senior School Property Tax Credit equal to half the school tax on their principal residence, capped at $500: on a school tax of $1,400, the credit is $500. Newcomers who arrived after 2017 need 10 consecutive years of Delaware domicile first. Apply to the county receiver of taxes or treasurer by April 30 before the tax year, and pay the bill in full, or the credit is withdrawn the next year. At the Census ratio of 0.47%, a $400,000 home pays about $1,884 a year.
Property tax on a home in Delaware
Typical bill per year
$1,750
| Per month | $146 |
| Median effective rate in Delaware | 0.47% |
| Median bill paid | $1,750 |
Census median ratio; your county, city and school district set the real levy.
| Census figure | Delaware |
|---|---|
| Median home value (owner-occupied) | $371,600 |
| Median real estate taxes paid | $1,750 |
| with a mortgage | $1,852 |
| without a mortgage | $1,566 |
| Effective rate (tax ÷ value) | 0.47% |
| Rank by effective rate (1 = highest) | 44 of 51 |
| Rank by median bill | 42 of 51 |
How the taxable value is set
Real property is assessed at fair market value as of the county's most recent reassessment base year (9 Del. C. 8306); each county must reassess at least once every 5 years from the date its general reassessment is certified. Who levies the tax: Local: the three counties (New Castle, Kent, Sussex), municipalities and school districts levy real property taxes; school district taxes are the largest part. There is no state property tax.
Worth knowing about Delaware property tax
- Every county must reassess all real property at least once every 5 years, counted from the certification of its last general reassessment. source
- After a general reassessment, school boards must reset tax rates so that revenue does not exceed the prior year's operating revenue plus allowed growth. source
- School districts entirely in New Castle County may set a higher nonresidential rate, up to 1.85 times the residential rate. source
- The senior school tax credit is withdrawn the following year if the property tax bill is not paid in full. source
- Kent and Sussex Boards of Assessment Review hear appeals from March 1 to May 31. source