Grocery taxes by state vary widely in 2026: roughly eight states still apply a state-level sales tax to food bought for home consumption, with rates running from about 1.225% in Missouri to the full general sales tax rate in Idaho and South Dakota. Most other states exempt unprepared food from the state sales tax, but local city and county taxes can still apply at checkout. What you actually pay depends on your state, your local jurisdiction, what you buy, and how you pay.
States That Still Tax Groceries in 2026
Several states repealed or reduced their grocery taxes in the last two years. Arkansas and Illinois both eliminated their state-level grocery taxes effective January 1, 2026. Kansas zeroed out its state food sales tax in January 2025, and Oklahoma removed its state grocery tax in late 2024.
The states that continue to charge a state-level tax on groceries, with their approximate rates:
- Alabama — 3% state rate, reduced from 4% in 2023. A temporary suspension of the state portion ran from May 1 through June 30, 2026, under Act 2026-604. Local taxes still apply.
- Hawaii — 4% general excise tax on groceries, with counties authorized to add up to 0.5%.
- Idaho — 6%, the state’s full sales tax rate, with no reduced grocery rate. Idaho offsets this with a per-person tax credit.
- Mississippi — 5% on groceries eligible for SNAP purchases, reduced from the state’s 7% general rate.
- Missouri — 1.225% state rate, plus local taxes that vary widely.
- South Dakota — 4.2%, the full general sales tax rate. That rate is scheduled to return to 4.5% on July 1, 2027.
- Tennessee — 4% state rate on groceries, compared to a 7% general sales tax rate. Local taxes add to the total.
- Utah — 3% combined, split between 1.75% state and 1.25% local.
“No State Tax” Doesn’t Always Mean No Tax
Living in a state that exempts groceries does not guarantee a zero-tax receipt. Many states let cities and counties levy their own sales taxes on food even when the state does not. Colorado is a clear example: the state charges no sales tax on food, but individual cities and counties can tax it, and many do. Home-rule cities that run their own sales tax systems can set their own rules on whether food is taxable at all.
Two shoppers in the same state can end up with very different totals. Someone buying groceries in an unincorporated area might pay nothing, while a shopper ten miles away in a city with a local grocery tax pays several percent. The tax on any purchase is the sum of every taxing authority with jurisdiction where the sale happens: state, county, city, and sometimes special districts.
The recent state repeals show how this plays out. Arkansas eliminated its 0.125% state grocery tax on January 1, 2026, but most of the state’s 575 local jurisdictions continue to tax groceries at their full local rates, which run as high as 6.125% in some areas. Illinois authorized local governments to adopt a 1% grocery tax to replace the eliminated state tax. Shoppers in these states may still see a food tax line on their receipts, and the practical savings from the state repeal can be modest.
What Counts as a Grocery for Tax Purposes
Whether an item gets the reduced grocery rate or full exemption depends on how the state defines “food.” Most states that draw these lines follow the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, a multi-state compact that standardizes tax categories. Under that agreement, food and food ingredients means anything sold for human consumption that people eat or drink for taste or nutritional value, whether fresh, frozen, canned, or dried.1Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board. Streamlined Sales Tax Project Discussion Paper Food Definition Issues
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco are always excluded from the grocery category and taxed at the full general sales tax rate.1Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board. Streamlined Sales Tax Project Discussion Paper Food Definition Issues Prepared food, candy, soft drinks, and dietary supplements each fall into their own tax buckets, and that is where most register surprises come from.
Prepared Food
If a grocery store sells you something in a heated state, mixes two or more ingredients together for you, or hands it to you with utensils like a fork or napkin, that item is legally “prepared food” and taxed at the full sales tax rate in most states.2Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board. AM14002 Foods Requiring Additional Cooking or Baking Definition Prepared Food A raw chicken from the meat case is a grocery. A rotisserie chicken from the deli counter is prepared food. In Tennessee, that is the difference between a 4% grocery rate and a 7% general rate.
Food that the seller only cut, repackaged, or pasteurized does not count as prepared. Raw eggs, fish, meat, and poultry that still need to be cooked by the consumer are also excluded, even if the store combined them with a marinade or seasoning.2Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board. AM14002 Foods Requiring Additional Cooking or Baking Definition Prepared Food
Candy
Under the SSUTA, candy is a sweetener-based preparation combined with chocolate, fruits, nuts, or other flavorings, shaped into bars, drops, or pieces. If it contains flour, it is not legally candy. A chocolate bar is candy. A Kit Kat, which contains a flour wafer, is not, and gets taxed as a regular grocery item. Candy also cannot require refrigeration to qualify for the candy tax category.
Soft Drinks and Bottled Water
Any non-alcoholic beverage with natural or artificial sweeteners is a soft drink for tax purposes, unless it contains milk or milk substitutes, or is more than 50% fruit or vegetable juice by volume. Sweetened iced tea is a soft drink. Orange juice is a grocery, even with added sugar, because it crosses the 50% juice threshold.
Plain bottled water is included in the food exemption in most states that exempt groceries, but some states treat it separately. A few tax bottled water at the full sales tax rate even when other groceries are exempt, on the theory that tap water is a free alternative. Flavored or sweetened water almost always gets taxed as a soft drink.
Dietary Supplements
Dietary supplements are defined by their labeling. A product carrying a “Supplement Facts” panel (as required by FDA regulations for supplements) is taxed as a dietary supplement rather than as food, even if it looks and tastes like a food product. Protein powder with a Supplement Facts panel gets different tax treatment than a protein bar with a Nutrition Facts panel.
SNAP and WIC Purchases Are Always Tax-Free
Federal law prohibits states from collecting sales tax on food bought with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. A state cannot participate in SNAP if the Secretary of Agriculture determines that state or local sales taxes are being collected on SNAP purchases.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 7 USC 2013 – Establishment of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Retailers program their checkout systems to automatically remove sales tax from SNAP transactions, and every state in the program (all of them) must ensure local jurisdictions comply.
Purchases made with WIC vouchers and checks get similar protection. Under 42 U.S.C. § 1786, states that exempt food from sales tax must extend that exemption to WIC purchases, and localities that normally tax groceries are required to exempt food bought with WIC benefits.
Tax Credits That Give Some Money Back
A few states that tax groceries offer income tax credits to return some of what residents pay in food taxes over the year. You still pay tax at the register, but recoup part of it when you file your state return.
Idaho provides a flat grocery tax credit of $155 per person (taxpayer, spouse, and each dependent) for tax year 2025 and beyond. Idaho taxpayers can alternatively claim the actual sales tax they paid on food purchases, up to $250 per person, if they kept records. If the credit exceeds your tax liability, Idaho refunds the difference.
Hawaii offers a refundable food/excise tax credit scaled to income, available to residents who are physically present in the state more than nine months during the tax year. The credit applies per qualified exemption on the return, so family size increases the benefit.
Kansas eliminated its state food sales tax in 2025 but still maintains a food sales tax credit for qualifying taxpayers. To be eligible, you generally need to be 55 or older, blind, disabled, or have a dependent child under 18 who lived with you all year, and your federal adjusted gross income must be $30,615 or less. The credit is nonrefundable, so it only helps if you have Kansas tax liability to offset.
These credits are claimed on your regular state return. If you qualify, claiming them costs nothing, but many eligible residents never do, especially those whose income is low enough that they do not normally file a state return.