An item costs $380 before tax, and the sales tax is $20.88.

Find the sales tax rate. Write your answer as a percentage.

To find the sales tax rate, we first need to calculate the total cost of the item including tax:

Total cost = Cost before tax + Sales tax
Total cost = $380 + $20.88
Total cost = $400.88

Now, we can find the sales tax rate by dividing the sales tax amount by the original cost before tax and then converting it to a percentage:

Sales tax rate = (Sales tax / Cost before tax) * 100%
Sales tax rate = ($20.88 / $380) * 100%
Sales tax rate = 0.055 * 100%
Sales tax rate = 5.5%

Therefore, the sales tax rate is 5.5%.