Transfer taxes in 2026: what every state charges to sell a home

A transfer tax is charged on the sale of a home, usually as a percent of the price, when the deed is recorded. It goes by many names: documentary stamp tax in Florida, excise tax in Washington, conveyance tax in Connecticut, realty transfer tax in Pennsylvania. It’s often the largest cost of selling after the commission and the loan payoff, and it varies more from state to state than any other closing cost.

We checked every state’s transfer tax against its statutes and revenue department for our free seller net sheet and closing cost calculators, then published the results as an open dataset: transfer tax by state. This brief covers what we found.

How we did this

Each state’s rules come from its statutes and revenue department, plus county and city sources where a place has rules of its own. They were checked in September and October 2026. Every dollar figure below was worked out by the same engine as our calculators.

Unless we say otherwise, an amount is the whole tax on the sale, whoever pays it. Where a state’s rule includes a typical local tax, the figure includes it: Pennsylvania’s typical 1% local tax, Washington’s typical 0.5% and a typical 1% county tax in Maryland. We don’t apply exemptions, such as reduced rates for first-time buyers.

Who charges a transfer tax

Thirty-six places, counting DC, tax a home sale. Fifteen don’t: Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. Arizona is on the list because it charges only a flat $2 fee when the deed is recorded, not a tax on the price.

No state tax doesn’t always mean no tax. Washington County, Oregon, charges $1 per $1,000 of the price, $400 on a $400,000 sale, in a state that otherwise has none.

Where it costs the most

On a $400,000 sale, the whole tax ranges from $40 in Colorado, where it’s a 0.01% documentary fee, to $16,000 in Delaware. The middle of the 36 places is $1,480.

At the low end, six states charge $400 on $400,000: Alabama, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, South Dakota and Virginia, all at 0.1% at this price. California’s county tax is $440.

At $2 million, the order changes

Several states charge more as the price rises, either in brackets or as a higher rate on the whole price. Those states climb the list on expensive homes.

New Jersey is the clearest case. Its realty transfer fee plus the graduated fee on sales over $1 million make it tenth on a $400,000 home and second at $2 million. Washington’s excise tax rises in four brackets, to 3% on the part of a price above $3,025,000 in 2026.

Who pays: custom, not always law

Who pays the transfer tax is mostly custom, and the contract can change it almost anywhere. Of the 36 places with a tax:

• The seller usually pays in 26, including California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Washington.
• Buyer and seller usually split it in six: Arkansas, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.
• The buyer usually pays in three: Colorado, Tennessee and Vermont.
• In Alabama, the contract decides.

That’s why the same tax can mean very different things for each side. Delaware’s $16,000 on a $400,000 sale is usually $8,000 for each. Washington’s $6,400 is usually all the seller’s.

Where the county or city changes the math

The state rate isn’t the whole story in several places, and a few of them are some of the most expensive in the country. Our calculators apply each of these when you pick the place.

• New York City. The state’s 0.4% plus the city’s own tax comes to $5,600 on a $400,000 sale, usually paid by the seller. The buyer pays a mortgage recording tax of $5,760 on a $320,000 loan. At $2 million, the transfer taxes are $36,500 and the buyer adds a $25,000 mansion tax.
• Philadelphia. The state’s 1% plus the city’s 3.578% is $18,312 on $400,000, usually split, so $9,156 for each side.
• Chicago. The seller’s taxes come to $1,800 on $400,000: the state’s 0.1%, the county’s 0.05% and the city’s 0.3%. The buyer pays the city’s 0.75%, another $3,000.
• Los Angeles. The county’s 0.11% plus the city’s 0.45% is $2,240 on $400,000. Above $5.4 million, Measure ULA adds 4% of the whole price, and 5.5% from $10.9 million, for closings after June 30, 2026. That’s $273,600 in all on a $6 million sale and $666,600 on $11 million.
• San Francisco. One tax on the whole price, rising with it: $2,720 on $400,000, $7,500 on $1 million, $135,000 on $6 million and $605,000 on $11 million.
• Oakland and Berkeley. Each adds a city tax that comes to $6,000 on $400,000, usually split between buyer and seller, on top of the county’s $440.
• Maryland’s counties. The state’s 0.5% plus each county’s own rate makes the whole transfer tax $2,000 on $400,000 in counties without one, such as Calvert, Carroll and Frederick, and $8,000 in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. Each county also sets a recordation tax, usually split, of $2,000 to $5,600 at that price.
• Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. Buyers pay a 2% land bank fee, $20,000 on a $1 million home, on top of the state’s deeds excise paid by the seller. Qualifying first-time buyers can be exempt.
• Cape Cod. Barnstable County’s combined rate is $6.48 per $1,000, $2,592 on $400,000, against $1,824 in the rest of Massachusetts.

What’s changing

A few changes have dates already set:

• Washington, January 1, 2027. The excise tax brackets move up: 1.1% to $551,000, 1.28% to $1,551,000, 2.75% to $3,051,000 and 3% above. Our calculators already use the new brackets for closings on or after that date.
• Nebraska, January 1, 2032. The documentary stamp tax returns to $2.32 per $1,000, from $3.32, when the 2026 increase ends.
• Maryland, every July 1. Counties set their recordation and transfer tax rates each fiscal year. Our figures are the fiscal 2026 rates, and we’re checking fiscal 2027’s.

We review every state at least every six months and whenever a law changes, and log each change in the dataset’s changelog.

Use the data

The full table, with every state’s rate, who pays, the tax on a typical home and the sources, is in transfer tax by state, free to download as CSV or JSON and reuse with credit. For a particular home, the seller net sheet calculator and the closing cost calculator work out each side’s share, and every state has its own page, like Pennsylvania’s.

Transfer taxes are one part of closing costs. Our other reports cover what it costs to close in every state and what homeowners pay in property taxes.

One note on income taxes: the IRS says you can’t deduct transfer taxes on the sale of a personal home as real estate taxes, and a buyer adds them to the home’s cost basis instead. A tax professional can tell you how that applies to you.