The 90017 sales tax rate is 9.75%, effective April 1, 2025. That rate covers Downtown Los Angeles and the Westlake area, and it applies to most physical goods you buy in person or have delivered to a 90017 address.1California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. California City and County Sales and Use Tax Rates
How the 9.75% Rate Is Built
Every California sales tax rate starts from the same 7.25% statewide floor: 6.00% for the state and 1.25% split between county and local operations.2California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. California City and County Sales and Use Tax Rate Information On top of that floor, 90017 carries 2.50% in district taxes approved by Los Angeles County voters over the past four decades.
Those district taxes are five separate half-cent measures:
- Proposition A, approved in 1980, for bus service and the start of LA’s rail system.
- Proposition C, approved in 1990, for rail expansion and Proposition A transit programs.3LA Metro. Propositions A and C
- Measure R, approved in 2008, for new highway and rail projects.4LA Metro. Measure R
- Measure M, approved in 2016, funding roughly 50 transportation projects over 40 years.
- Measure A, approved in November 2024, for homelessness prevention, affordable housing, and mental health services.
LA Metro administers the four transportation measures, with a share returning to individual cities for local transit and road work.5LA Metro. Local Return Measure A revenue is handled separately by Los Angeles County.
What Gets Taxed in 90017
The 9.75% rate applies to retail sales of tangible goods: furniture, electronics, appliances, household supplies, building materials, and the like. California also taxes clothing with no everyday-apparel exemption, so a pair of shoes or a winter coat carries the full rate.6California Tax Service Center. What Is Taxable
Common Exemptions
Several categories are not taxed at all:
- Groceries bought for home consumption, such as produce, dairy, bread, and meat. Prepared food, hot food, and food sold for immediate consumption (restaurant meals, deli items, food trucks) is taxable.
- Prescription medicine and certain medical devices.
- Anything purchased with an EBT card through CalFresh or another government food assistance program.6California Tax Service Center. What Is Taxable
Digital Goods and Streaming
Software, ebooks, music downloads, mobile apps, and digital images delivered over the internet are generally not subject to California sales tax. The state treats electronically delivered products as intangible. The same product on a physical disc or flash drive, though, is fully taxable. Streaming subscriptions like Netflix or Spotify fall outside state sales tax, although Los Angeles imposes a separate local utility user tax on some streaming services.
Services and Labor
Most services are not taxed. Haircuts, legal consultations, and accounting fees are exempt. Labor charges for repair or installation are also generally exempt, unless the work creates a new physical good. A contractor who builds custom furniture, for instance, owes tax on both the materials and the labor to produce the item.
Online Orders Delivered to 90017
If you order something online for delivery to a 90017 address, the 9.75% rate applies. Major platforms including Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and Walmart Marketplace are required to collect and remit California sales tax on behalf of their third-party sellers, because state law treats the platform as the retailer for tax purposes.
Independent online sellers who do not sell through a major marketplace only have to collect once they exceed $500,000 in total California sales during the current or preceding calendar year. Below that threshold, the seller has no collection duty, and the buyer owes use tax instead.
Use Tax When the Seller Doesn’t Collect
Buy something from outside California for use in 90017 without being charged California sales tax, and you owe use tax at the same 9.75% rate. The idea is that an out-of-state purchase should not escape the tax you would pay locally.7California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. California Use Tax
In practice, use tax most often comes up with purchases from private sellers in another state, goods bought while traveling, and orders from smaller online retailers that do not collect California tax. If another state’s sales tax was charged on the purchase, you can usually credit that amount against what California wants, so you only pay the difference.
Deducting Sales Tax on Your Federal Return
If you itemize on your federal return, you can deduct either California state income tax or general sales tax, but not both. For most people in the 90017 area, the state income tax deduction is larger because California’s income tax rates are steep. A big-ticket purchase during the year, like a car or major appliance, is worth running the sales tax numbers for.8Internal Revenue Service. Use the Sales Tax Deduction Calculator
The IRS publishes optional sales tax tables based on income, family size, and location, so saving every receipt is not required. Actual sales tax paid on large purchases can be added on top of the table amount. Either way, the combined deduction for state and local taxes (income or sales, plus property) is capped at $40,000 for 2026, or $20,000 if married filing separately. The cap begins phasing down above $500,000 in modified adjusted gross income and drops to $10,000 at $600,000.
Itemizing only pays off if your total itemized deductions clear the 2026 standard deduction: $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, and $24,150 for heads of household.9Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026 If your mortgage interest, charitable giving, and state and local taxes do not add up past that figure, the standard deduction wins.