Green Bay, Wisconsin Sales Tax Rate

Manufacturing (paper products, packaging), healthcare, insurance, and professional sports. Known worldwide for the Green Bay Packers.

The combined sales tax rate in Green Bay is 5.500%, composed of the Wisconsin state rate of 5.000% plus a local portion of 0.500%. On a receipt, that stacks up as: State 5% + Brown County 0.5% = 5.5%.

The formula to calculate sales tax for any purchase:

For a $150.00 purchase in Green Bay: tax is $8.25 ($150.00 × 0.05500), total is $158.25.

Green Bay's manufacturing and healthcare sector buys exactly the goods Wisconsin treats specially:

• Prescription Drugs: Exempt when prescribed by a licensed practitioner
• Medical Devices: Varies — often exempt when sold to licensed facility
• Prosthetics & Orthotics: Generally exempt when prescribed
• Oxygen & Respiratory Equipment: Typically exempt for home medical use
• Diabetic Supplies: Test strips, insulin pumps, glucose monitors — generally exempt

Where an item does not qualify, the full 5.500% combined rate applies in Brown.

For providers in Green Bay, entity status decides what the purchasing department owes:

A non-profit hospital is generally relieved of tax on purchases made for its exempt purpose, and a for-profit one on the same street is not — so the entity classification decides the invoice before the item does. The line is not the building: the gift shop, the cafeteria and the parking structure are unrelated business activities and can be taxable at 5.500% inside an otherwise exempt institution, while capital equipment on the scale of an MRI or a surgical robot usually is exempt with the documentation in place. Contracted laundry, food service and medical waste each follow their own Wisconsin treatment. The certificate mechanics are in the exemption certificate guide.

Life-sciences work in Green Bay can tap:

• R&D Tax Credits: Federal (up to 20% of QREs); many states add their own — verify Wisconsin's current program
• Equipment Exemptions: Lab equipment used in qualified research often exempt
• Clinical Trial Materials: Drugs/devices used in FDA-approved trials often exempt
• Orphan Drug Credits: Federal credit for rare disease drug development

Green Bay shoppers and businesses routinely cross into Appleton, Manitowoc, Oshkosh and beyond — and in Wisconsin, the combined rate can change at those lines. Of the tracked neighbors, Oshkosh charges 5.000% versus Green Bay's 5.500%.

• Appleton (20 mi): combined rate 5.500% — see the Appleton page
• Manitowoc (30 mi): combined rate 5.500% — see the Manitowoc page
• Oshkosh (30 mi): combined rate 5.000% — see the Oshkosh page
• De Pere (5 mi): outside our tracked Wisconsin city set — verify its current combined rate before invoicing deliveries there

Deliveries are taxed by the destination rules Wisconsin applies, not by where the store sits — when an order ships across one of these city lines, re-check the rate for the exact address.

Since South Dakota v. Wayfair, a seller with no premises, staff or stock anywhere near Green Bay can still be required to register in Wisconsin and charge 5.500% on what it ships here — presence stopped being the trigger and volume took over. The thresholds that decide it are in the table below; what they do not tell you is that crossing them obliges you to collect at the buyer's local rate, not a state average, which is why Green Bay and its neighbours have to be priced separately. The registration mechanics and the trailing-twelve-month counting rules are in the economic nexus guide.

Audit & Compliance Warning: Because combined tax rates combine state and local tax components, calculating tax based purely on ZIP codes can lead to errors. Many ZIP codes span multiple municipal boundaries with differing rates. For precise auditing, always use address-level geo-lookup.

Three obligations follow the 5.500% rate around Green Bay: untaxed out-of-state purchases delivered here owe matching use tax — $55.00 on a $1,000 order — self-assessed to Brown County; sellers with physical presence or economic nexus must register before collecting; and wholesale sales need a valid resale certificate on file at transaction time. Filing mechanics, exemption certificates, and audit preparation are covered in the Wisconsin sales tax guide.

While not primarily a tourism destination, Green Bay draws visitors for Lambeau Field and Green Bay Packers, and the 5.500% rate applies to their spending on lodging, dining, and attractions.

Green Bay carries significant industrial activity. Manufacturing equipment purchases may qualify for exemptions — verify with Brown County.