95757 Sales Tax Rate: 8.75% Breakdown, Online Orders, Use Tax

The sales tax rate in ZIP code 95757 is 8.75%, and it applies to most purchases of physical goods in this part of Elk Grove, California.¹ That total is built from three layers: California’s 7.25% statewide minimum, a half-cent Sacramento County transportation tax, and a one-cent Elk Grove city tax voters approved in 2022. One caveat before you rely on the number: the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) warns that ZIP codes don’t always match tax district boundaries exactly, so a specific address near the edge of 95757 can occasionally fall under a different rate.²

How the 8.75% Breaks Down

Every rate in California starts at 7.25%. That floor is a 6% state tax established under Revenue and Taxation Code section 6051 and related provisions, plus a mandatory 1.25% local allocation for county transportation and city or county operations.³ No California location charges less than that, and most charge more because voters have layered on local district taxes.

In 95757, two district taxes sit on top of the floor:

Measure A (0.50%). A Sacramento County transportation tax, extended by voters through 2039, that funds road work, bus and light rail service, paratransit, and air quality programs.⁴
Measure E (1.00%). An Elk Grove city tax approved on November 8, 2022. Revenue is split between the City of Elk Grove and the Cosumnes Community Services District to pay for fire protection, parks and recreation, emergency response, and public safety.⁵

Added together: 7.25% + 0.50% + 1.00% = 8.75%. Retailers collect the full amount at checkout and remit it to CDTFA, which routes each portion to the right state, county, and local accounts.⁶

Confirm the Rate for a Specific Address

If you’re pricing something for a particular street address, especially near the edges of the ZIP code, verify it rather than assume. CDTFA runs a free address lookup at maps.cdtfa.ca.gov that returns the exact combined rate for any California location.⁷ It takes about ten seconds and settles the question.

What Gets Taxed in 95757

California sales tax applies to tangible personal property, defined as anything that can be seen, weighed, measured, or touched.⁸ In day-to-day terms, that covers electronics, clothing, furniture, appliances, and most other physical goods. Services like haircuts, accounting, or legal advice generally are not taxed. If an item isn’t specifically exempt, the 8.75% rate applies to the full purchase price.

Two large categories of everyday purchases are exempt:

Groceries for home consumption. Unprepared foods like produce, dairy, meat, bread, cereal, eggs, flour, cooking oil, and baby food are not taxed.⁹
Prescription medicines. Drugs prescribed by a doctor, dentist, or podiatrist and dispensed by a pharmacist are exempt, as are medicines a physician furnishes directly to a patient.¹⁰

The grocery exemption has one catch worth remembering: hot prepared food is always taxable. A bag of coffee beans from the grocery aisle is tax-free; a hot coffee from the café counter inside the same store is taxed at 8.75%. The same rule applies to deli sandwiches, rotisserie chickens, and anything else sold heated or ready to eat.¹¹

Online Orders Shipped to 95757

When something ships to an Elk Grove address, the district portion of the tax is based on where the package is delivered, not where the warehouse sits.⁷ In practice, the receipt should still show the full 8.75% for anything delivered inside 95757.

Nearly every major online retailer collects the tax automatically. Since October 2019, California treats marketplace facilitators like Amazon, eBay, Walmart Marketplace, and Etsy as the retailer for sales tax purposes on third-party sales made through their platforms, so they collect and remit on sellers’ behalf.¹² Out-of-state retailers selling through their own websites must also collect California tax once they exceed $500,000 in sales into the state during the current or prior calendar year.¹³

Shipping Charges

Whether delivery is taxed depends on how the seller lists it. Shipping charges that are separately stated on the invoice, and that cover a shipment going directly from seller to buyer after the sale, generally are not taxed. If the seller bundles shipping into the product price, quotes a “delivered price,” or labels the fee as “handling” instead of actual shipping, the full amount is taxable.¹⁴ A line labeled “shipping and handling” gets split: the shipping piece can be excluded, the handling piece cannot.¹⁵

When You Owe Use Tax Instead

Sometimes you’ll buy from an out-of-state or overseas seller that doesn’t collect California tax. The purchase isn’t tax-free. You owe use tax at the same 8.75% rate. This comes up most often with small international retailers, private-party sales from other states, and niche websites that haven’t registered with California.

Reporting is simple for most people: add it to your California state income tax return, where there’s a dedicated line for use tax. The return’s instructions include a worksheet, and a lookup table is available if you don’t want to track each purchase individually. You can also pay CDTFA directly through its online portal rather than waiting until tax season. If your untaxed purchases top $10,000 in a calendar year (excluding vehicles, vessels, and aircraft), California treats you as a “qualified purchaser” and requires you to register with CDTFA and file an annual use tax return by April 15.¹⁶

1
California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. California City and County Sales and Use Tax Rates
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California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Know Your Sales and Use Tax Rate
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California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. California Revenue and Taxation Code 6051 – Imposition and Rate of Sales Tax
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Sacramento Transportation Authority. Measure A
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Cosumnes Community Services District. Measure E – Elk Groves Public Safety and Quality of Life
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California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Sales and Use Tax in California
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California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Tax Rate FAQ for Sales and Use Tax
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California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. California Revenue and Taxation Code 6016 – Tangible Personal Property
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California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Sales and Use Tax Regulations – Article 8 – Section: Regulation 1602 Food Products
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California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. California Revenue and Taxation Code 6369 – Prescription Medicines
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California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Tax Guide for Grocery Stores
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California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Sales and Use Tax Law – Chapter 1.7
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California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Use Tax Collection Requirements Based on Sales into California Due to the Wayfair Decision
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California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. California Code of Regulations Title 18 Section 1628 – Transportation Charges
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California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Shipping and Delivery Charges
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California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. California Use Tax