diff --git a/src/Property/Selector/SpecificityCalculator.php b/src/Property/Selector/SpecificityCalculator.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..56327c87
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Property/Selector/SpecificityCalculator.php
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace Sabberworm\CSS\Property\Selector;
+
+/**
+ * Utility class to calculate the specificity of a CSS selector.
+ *
+ * The results are cached to avoid recalculating the specificity of the same selector multiple times.
+ */
+final class SpecificityCalculator
+{
+    /**
+     * regexp for specificity calculations
+     *
+     * @var non-empty-string
+     */
+    private const NON_ID_ATTRIBUTES_AND_PSEUDO_CLASSES_RX = '/
+        (\\.[\\w]+)                   # classes
+        |
+        \\[(\\w+)                     # attributes
+        |
+        (\\:(                         # pseudo classes
+            link|visited|active
+            |hover|focus
+            |lang
+            |target
+            |enabled|disabled|checked|indeterminate
+            |root
+            |nth-child|nth-last-child|nth-of-type|nth-last-of-type
+            |first-child|last-child|first-of-type|last-of-type
+            |only-child|only-of-type
+            |empty|contains
+        ))
+        /ix';
+
+    /**
+     * regexp for specificity calculations
+     *
+     * @var non-empty-string
+     */
+    private const ELEMENTS_AND_PSEUDO_ELEMENTS_RX = '/
+        ((^|[\\s\\+\\>\\~]+)[\\w]+   # elements
+        |
+        \\:{1,2}(                    # pseudo-elements
+            after|before|first-letter|first-line|selection
+        ))
+        /ix';
+
+    /**
+     * @var array<string, int<0, max>>
+     */
+    private static $cache = [];
+
+    /**
+     * Calculates the specificity of the given CSS selector.
+     *
+     * @return int<0, max>
+     *
+     * @internal
+     */
+    public static function calculate(string $selector): int
+    {
+        if (!isset(self::$cache[$selector])) {
+            $a = 0;
+            /// @todo should exclude \# as well as "#"
+            $aMatches = null;
+            $b = \substr_count($selector, '#');
+            $c = \preg_match_all(self::NON_ID_ATTRIBUTES_AND_PSEUDO_CLASSES_RX, $selector, $aMatches);
+            $d = \preg_match_all(self::ELEMENTS_AND_PSEUDO_ELEMENTS_RX, $selector, $aMatches);
+            self::$cache[$selector] = ($a * 1000) + ($b * 100) + ($c * 10) + $d;
+        }
+
+        return self::$cache[$selector];
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Clears the cache in order to lower memory usage.
+     */
+    public static function clearCache(): void
+    {
+        self::$cache = [];
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tests/Unit/Property/Selector/SpecificityCalculatorTest.php b/tests/Unit/Property/Selector/SpecificityCalculatorTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..088bd517
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Unit/Property/Selector/SpecificityCalculatorTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace Sabberworm\CSS\Tests\Unit\Property\Selector;
+
+use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
+use Sabberworm\CSS\Property\Selector\SpecificityCalculator;
+
+/**
+ * @covers \Sabberworm\CSS\Property\Selector\SpecificityCalculator
+ */
+final class SpecificityCalculatorTest extends TestCase
+{
+    protected function tearDown(): void
+    {
+        SpecificityCalculator::clearCache();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return array<string, array{0: non-empty-string, 1: int<0, max>}>
+     */
+    public static function provideSelectorsAndSpecificities(): array
+    {
+        return [
+            'element' => ['a', 1],
+            'element and descendant with pseudo-selector' => ['ol li::before', 3],
+            'class' => ['.highlighted', 10],
+            'element with class' => ['li.green', 11],
+            'class with pseudo-selector' => ['.help:hover', 20],
+            'ID' => ['#file', 100],
+            'ID and descendant class' => ['#test .help', 110],
+        ];
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @test
+     *
+     * @param non-empty-string $selector
+     * @param int<0, max> $expectedSpecificity
+     *
+     * @dataProvider provideSelectorsAndSpecificities
+     */
+    public function calculateReturnsSpecificityForProvidedSelector(
+        string $selector,
+        int $expectedSpecificity
+    ): void {
+        self::assertSame($expectedSpecificity, SpecificityCalculator::calculate($selector));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @test
+     *
+     * @param non-empty-string $selector
+     * @param int<0, max> $expectedSpecificity
+     *
+     * @dataProvider provideSelectorsAndSpecificities
+     */
+    public function calculateAfterClearingCacheReturnsSpecificityForProvidedSelector(
+        string $selector,
+        int $expectedSpecificity
+    ): void {
+        SpecificityCalculator::clearCache();
+
+        self::assertSame($expectedSpecificity, SpecificityCalculator::calculate($selector));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @test
+     */
+    public function calculateCalledTwoTimesReturnsSameSpecificityForProvidedSelector(): void
+    {
+        $selector = '#test .help';
+
+        $firstResult = SpecificityCalculator::calculate($selector);
+        $secondResult = SpecificityCalculator::calculate($selector);
+
+        self::assertSame($firstResult, $secondResult);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @test
+     */
+    public function calculateCalledReturnsSameSpecificityForProvidedSelectorBeforeAndAfterClearingCache(): void
+    {
+        $selector = '#test .help';
+
+        $firstResult = SpecificityCalculator::calculate($selector);
+        SpecificityCalculator::clearCache();
+        $secondResult = SpecificityCalculator::calculate($selector);
+
+        self::assertSame($firstResult, $secondResult);
+    }
+}