Clothing is fully taxable in Colorado. The state sales tax on clothing is 2.90%, and because cities, counties, and special districts stack their own rates on top, the total you actually pay at the register usually falls somewhere between 5% and 10% depending on the address of the store or delivery point.
Clothing Is Taxable at the Full State Rate
Colorado’s 2.90% state sales tax applies to all retail sales of tangible personal property, and clothing is treated no differently than any other good. The rate is set by C.R.S. § 39-26-106. A pair of socks, a winter coat, running shoes, a formal dress — all carry the same 2.90% state tax. There is no reduced rate for necessities and no price threshold below which an item becomes tax-free.
A handful of states fully exempt clothing from sales tax, including Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. A few others exempt clothing priced below a dollar cap. Colorado is not among them. Every piece of apparel sold at retail in the state carries the full state tax, and retailers are required to show the tax as a separate line on the receipt.
Local and District Taxes Stack on Top
The 2.90% is just the floor. Counties and municipalities can impose their own sales taxes on clothing under C.R.S. § 29-2-105, and most of them do.1Justia. Colorado Code 29-2-105 – Contents of Sales Tax Ordinances and Proposals Special districts add more on top of that. The Regional Transportation District (RTD) adds 1.0% across the greater Denver metro area, and the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) adds 0.1% across seven metro counties to fund museums, theaters, and arts organizations.2Scientific and Cultural Facilities District. About Us – SCFD
Roughly 70 Colorado cities and towns are home-rule jurisdictions, meaning they administer and collect their own sales tax entirely separately from the state. A home-rule city can define its tax base differently from the state, so the rate posted for that city is what controls at the register. Denver, Colorado Springs, Boulder, Fort Collins, Aurora, and Lakewood are all home-rule.3Colorado Department of Revenue – Taxation. SUTS Participating Jurisdictions
What You Actually Pay in Major Cities
Because the state, city, county, and district pieces all stack, the rate on a shirt varies sharply by location. In Denver, the combined rate reaches 9.15%: 2.90% state, 5.15% city, 1.0% RTD, and 0.1% SCFD. A $100 jacket in Denver rings up at $109.15.
Colorado Springs lands at roughly 8.20%, with 3.07% going to the city across several dedicated funds including public safety and road maintenance. Smaller towns in rural counties without special district overlays can come in closer to 5% or 6%. The difference between shopping in downtown Denver and a small mountain town can easily be three to four percentage points on every clothing purchase.
For a planned purchase, the Department of Revenue publishes a tax rate lookup tool that returns the exact combined rate for any address in the state. It is worth checking when rates swing this much from one zip code to the next.
Online Orders Shipped to Colorado
Buying clothing online does not avoid Colorado sales tax. The state uses destination-based sourcing, so the rate applied to your order is the combined rate for the delivery address, not the retailer’s location. Order boots from a warehouse in another state and you pay the same combined rate you would pay walking into a store at your home address.
Out-of-state retailers that sell more than $100,000 into Colorado in the current or previous calendar year must register for a Colorado sales tax license and collect the applicable state and state-administered local taxes.4Colorado Department of Revenue – Taxation. Out-of-State Businesses That economic nexus threshold captures most major online retailers. Smaller remote sellers under the $100,000 threshold are allowed to source their sales to their own business location instead, but that only changes which rate applies, not whether tax is owed.
The Retail Delivery Fee
On top of sales tax, any clothing order delivered to a Colorado address by motor vehicle triggers a flat retail delivery fee under C.R.S. § 43-4-218. The fee applies per order, not per item, so one shipment with five shirts costs the same as a shipment with one pair of gloves. The fee is $0.28 per delivery through June 2026 and rises to $0.31 per delivery starting July 2026.5Colorado Department of Revenue – Taxation. Retail Delivery Fee It adjusts annually each July for inflation, capped at 5% cumulative growth per adjustment. The fee appears as its own line on the receipt, separate from the merchandise and from shipping, and it applies even on “free shipping” orders unless the retailer voluntarily absorbs it.
When the Seller Doesn’t Collect: Consumer Use Tax
If you buy clothing from an out-of-state retailer that does not collect Colorado tax, or you pick something up while traveling and bring it home, you owe consumer use tax on that purchase. The use tax rate matches the sales tax rate: 2.90% at the state level, plus any applicable local rates for your home jurisdiction.6Justia. Colorado Code 39-26-104 – Property and Services Taxed – Definitions
You can report and pay it in three ways: through Revenue Online using a Consumer Use Tax Return, by filing paper form DR 0252, or by including it on your state income tax return using schedule DR 0104US.7Colorado Department of Revenue – Taxation. Consumer Use Tax Filing Information Rolling it into the income tax return is usually the simplest option.
Late payment carries a penalty starting at 10% plus 0.5% per month, up to a maximum of 18%. One trap worth knowing: for home-rule cities that self-collect, you may need to pay the local portion of use tax directly to that city rather than through the state. Paying Colorado its 2.90% does not necessarily satisfy what Denver or Boulder is owed on the same purchase.
Is There a Tax Holiday on Clothing?
No. Colorado does not have a sales tax holiday for clothing. Roughly 20 other states run annual back-to-school tax-free weekends on apparel, but Colorado has never established a recurring one. The most recent attempt, HB26-1048, would have created a back-to-school holiday on the last weekend of July in 2027, 2028, and 2029. The bill died in the legislature in May 2026.8Colorado General Assembly. HB26-1048 Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday Any future tax-free period for clothing would require new legislation. For now, plan on paying full tax on clothing year-round.