Clothing, edition 2026.1

What is a donated sweater worth for taxes?

Knitwear is where the published guides are least interested in fiber and most interested in whether the piece is intact, which is not what most donors expect.

Typical value, good condition: $10
Published range, good condition: $8 to $12

Values, edition 2026.1

What a donated sweater is generally worth

Fair market value is a range, so these are ranges. The suggested figure sits inside the band the source guide published for that condition.

Sweater: fair market value ranges by condition, edition 2026.1
Item	Like new	Good	Fair	Source
Sweater	$12 to $15	$8 to $12	$4 to $8	Source 1 for Sweater
Cardigan	$12 to $15	$8 to $12	$4 to $8	Source 1 for Cardigan
Cashmere sweater	$12 to $15	$8 to $12	$4 to $8	Source 1 for Cashmere sweater
Sweater vest	$7 to $9	$5 to $7	$3 to $5	Source 1 for Sweater vest
SweaterMen's Clothing	$10 to $12	$7 to $10	$4 to $7	Source 4 for Sweater

Values are per item, in 2026 dollars, from the DeductiBee valuation dataset, edition 2026.1. A range is what the source guide published; the suggested figure is the point inside it we prefill, not a price.

How this range was derived

Published: salvation-army-donation-value-guide "Sweater" $4-$16; goodwill-gii-donor-valuation-guide "Sweaters (Women's)" $5-$15; goodwill-nne-donation-value-guide "Sweater" $4-$13. Consolidated by lower median to L*=$4, H*=$15; tiers split at 0/35/70/100% of the span per CITATIONS.md §3.4-3.6.

Like new: Unworn or barely used, with tags or as good as. The top of the published range.
Good: Used, complete, clean, and working, with no notable damage. The middle of the range.
Fair: Visible wear but still usable and saleable. The bottom of the range, and generally the lowest condition that can be claimed at all.

What moves the number

What drives the value of a donated sweater

The tier you pick is the biggest lever on this page. Here is what actually decides it.

The sources behind this page put cashmere on the same band as a pullover, a cardigan, and a turtleneck. That is genuinely how it was published, and we are not going to add a premium we cannot cite, so a cashmere sweater in unworn condition argues its case through the Like new column rather than through a higher row. If a specific piece is worth substantially more than the band, that has to rest on your own evidence of what it sells for used.

What does move a sweater is structural. Pilling under the arms and along the sides is normal wear and lands a piece in the middle of the range. A stretched cuff or hem that no longer springs back, a dropped stitch running down the body, or a single moth hole moves it to the bottom or out of deductible condition entirely, because a hole in knitwear grows every time it is handled.

Sweater vests are priced on their own lower line, and the men's and women's tables do not agree on the plain sweater band, so the table shows both rather than picking one. Check which drawer the piece came out of before you pick a row.

Backing up the tier

What evidence supports the condition you claimed

A number you can trace and defend is worth more in an audit than a generous one you cannot.

Lay the sweater flat and photograph it whole, then hold it up to a window and photograph it backlit. Backlighting is the one technique that reliably shows moth damage and thinning at the elbows before anyone else finds it, and a clean backlit frame is a stronger argument for the top tier than a flattering photograph of the front. Note the fiber content from the care label while it is in front of you.

Not the same thing

Items people log as a sweater by mistake

Filing an item under the wrong line is the quietest way to end up with a number you cannot support.

Sweatshirts and fleece pullovers
A crewneck sweatshirt is filed under activewear, not knitwear, and carries a different band. The test is construction rather than warmth: knit is a sweater, looped fleece is a sweatshirt.
A cardigan worn as a jacket
A knitted cardigan stays on the sweater line even if it lives on a coat hook. A tailored blazer or suit jacket is a different item on a different row, and mixing them means one of the two is on the wrong number.
Sweater vests
The sleeveless version has its own published line below the full sweater band. It is a small difference per piece and a real one across a stack of them.

Where to go next

Up, sideways, and out

Every value on this page comes out of the clothing section of the donation value guide, which shows the rest of the category with the same sourcing.

Also in Sweaters

Pullover$10, good
Turtleneck$10, good
Other$10, good

Full ranges, all three tiers, and the sources for each are in the clothing valuation guide.

FAQ

Questions about donating a sweater

Is a cashmere sweater worth more than a wool one?

In a shop, usually. In the guides this page draws on, the two share a published band, and we carry that through rather than inventing a premium. The honest way to reflect the difference is the condition tier and, if the piece is genuinely exceptional, your own comparable-sales evidence.

Can I claim a sweater with a moth hole?

Generally no. A hole in knitwear means the piece is not saleable as it stands, which puts it below the good used condition requirement that applies to household goods and clothing. Moth-damaged wool is a textile-recycling donation rather than a deduction.

Does pilling drop a sweater to the lowest tier?

Not by itself. Pilling is ordinary wear on a garment that still fits and still sells, which describes the middle tier well. The bottom tier is for pieces with visible wear that a buyer would notice on the rack, such as stretched cuffs or a faded body.

Where these values come from

Every range on this page traces to one of these. Values are derived from the published ranges, never copied from another product’s valuation database, and never invented where no source covers an item.

Valuation Guide for Goodwill Donors
Goodwill Industries International (compiled list, republished by member affiliates)
Primary value source. A published range from this guide can set the low or high end of an item's band. Fetched and read 2026-08-04.
Donation Value Guide - What is my Donation Worth?
Goodwill Northern New England
Primary value source. A published range from this guide can set the low or high end of an item's band. Fetched and read 2026-08-04.
Donation Value Guide (The Salvation Army Thrift Stores | Donation Valuation Guide)
The Salvation Army (Thrift Stores / Adult Rehabilitation Centers)
Primary value source. A published range from this guide can set the low or high end of an item's band. Fetched and read 2026-08-04.
Thrift Store Valuation Guide
Catholic Charities Maine (Catholic Charities Thrift Store)
Corroborating check. Used to sanity-check a band. Never moves a figure on its own. Fetched and read 2026-08-04.
Valuation Guide for Goodwill Donors (single average price variant)
Goodwill Industries International (single-value variant; copy hosted by Goodwill Industries of East Texas)
Corroborating check. Used to sanity-check a band. Never moves a figure on its own. Fetched and read 2026-08-04.

The rules behind the thresholds

Publication 561, Determining the Value of Donated PropertyIRS, IRS publication
Publication 526, Charitable ContributionsIRS, IRS publication
Instructions for Form 8283IRS, IRS form

A value is evidence, not a ruling. Deductibility depends on your own facts, including whether the organization is qualified and what records you kept. This is record-keeping software, not tax advice.

One item is never one item

A sweater is rarely the only thing in the car.

DeductiBee carries this same dataset on your iPhone, so the rest of the load gets valued and photographed at the drop-off instead of reconstructed in April.

Same numbers, offline

Edition 2026.1 ships inside the app, so a value never depends on a server being up in January.

Condition on the record

The tier you picked and the photo that supports it stay attached to the item, on your device.

Free to start, with 20 new item entries a year. Pro is $19.99 a year.