Real Estate Transfer Tax Calculator

When a property changes hands, state and city governments often levy a transfer tax on the sale, and those charges can add up to thousands of dollars at the closing table. Estimating them ahead of time lets buyers and sellers budget realistically and negotiate who absorbs the cost. The figures here reflect 2026 rates, and the results also indicate whether responsibility for the tax typically falls on the buyer, the seller, or both in a given jurisdiction. Several states ask a follow-up question, because the rate turns on something other than the price: whether the property is residential, whether it will be the buyer's own home, whether it is farm or forest land.

The math starts with the sale price and applies the rules that govern the transaction, then layers on any municipal or city charge. Three rate structures show up, and telling them apart is where most estimates go wrong. A flat tax is one rate on the whole price, like Florida's $7.00 per $1,000. A graduated tax splits the price into bands and charges each rate only on the portion inside its own band: Washington's excise tax works through 1.10%, 1.28%, 2.75% and 3.00% that way, Connecticut's conveyance tax through 0.75%, 1.25% and 2.25%, and New Jersey's Realty Transfer Fee through six per-$500 steps. A tiered tax looks similar and behaves completely differently, because it picks one rate from the price and then applies it to every dollar of it. Hawaii, the District of Columbia, New Jersey's fee on sales above $1,000,000 and New York City's mansion tax are all tiered, so crossing a threshold raises the tax on the whole sale rather than on the part above it. The calculator models each state in its own shape instead of averaging them into a single percentage.

Charges also stack, and the stacking is the part people miss. The District of Columbia levies the same rate twice on one sale, recordation tax on the deed and transfer tax on the seller, so the real cost is double the rate usually quoted. Every Connecticut town adds a municipal share of 0.25% on top of the state tax, and nineteen of them may charge 0.50%. New York applies a 1% statewide mansion tax to residential sales of $1,000,000 or more, and inside New York City state law adds a supplemental tax that lifts the combined mansion rate to 3.9% at the top, before the city's own transfer tax. Los Angeles charges 0.45% and Measure ULA adds 4% or 5.5% above roughly $5.4 million. Carve-outs run the other way: Washington keeps agricultural land and timberland out of its graduated schedule at a flat 1.28%, Vermont taxes the first $200,000 of a principal residence at 0.5% but charges a second home a flat 3.4%, and Hawaii's rate roughly doubles when the buyer cannot claim a county homeowner exemption. Arizona goes furthest of all and charges nothing at all: a 2008 constitutional amendment, article IX section 24, bars any new tax, fee or stamp requirement on conveying an interest in real property, leaving only the flat $2 affidavit fee that predates it. Because property type and deal structure move the final number, confirm specifics with a local real estate attorney or title company before relying on any estimate.