How Much Is Food Tax in VA? Grocery, Meals, and Local Rates

Food tax in Virginia comes in two very different rates depending on what you buy. Groceries and certain essential hygiene products are taxed at a flat 1% statewide. Prepared food and restaurant meals are taxed at the full general sales tax rate, which runs from 5.3% to 7% depending on where you are, and most localities pile a separate meals tax on top of that.

The 1% Rate on Groceries

The combined state and local sales tax on food purchased for home consumption is 1% everywhere in Virginia, regardless of city or county.¹ The state’s portion of the sales tax on qualifying food and hygiene products was eliminated on January 1, 2023, leaving only the 1% mandatory local portion.²

What Counts as a Grocery at 1%

Virginia uses the same definition of food that the federal food stamp program uses, which covers most of what you would buy on a normal supermarket run.³ Fresh produce, meat, dairy, bread, canned goods, frozen foods, cereal, and most nonalcoholic beverages all get the 1% rate. Cold prepared foods packaged for home consumption qualify too, including pre-made deli salads, sliced deli meats, and cold sandwiches from a grocery store cooler.¹

One item people often assume qualifies but doesn’t: seeds and plants that grow edible food.³ Those are taxed at the full rate.

Essential Personal Hygiene Products

The 1% rate also applies to a specific list of essential personal hygiene products, which surprises many shoppers. It covers diapers, disposable incontinence undergarments, incontinence pads and bed sheets, tampons, sanitary napkins, menstrual cups, pantyliners, period panties, and other products designed to absorb menstrual flow.¹ General toiletries do not. Shampoo, soap, and toothpaste are taxed at the full general sales tax rate.

What Gets Taxed at the Full Rate

The dividing line between grocery food and prepared food comes down to heat and immediate consumption. Hot prepared foods packaged for immediate consumption, whether eaten in the store or taken to go, are taxed at the full general sales tax rate.¹ A rotisserie chicken from the hot case, soup from the deli counter, or hot coffee all fall on this side.

Some vendors are treated as selling prepared food no matter what the item is. That includes caterers, concession stands, mobile food vendors, ice cream trucks, movie theaters, carnival and fair vendors, theme parks, stadiums, hamburger and hot dog stands, and vending machines.¹ A cold bottled water from a stadium vendor is taxed at the full rate.

There is also an 80% rule for stores themselves. Any retail establishment where more than 80% of total sales come from prepared food for immediate consumption must charge the full general sales tax rate on everything it sells, even items that would qualify for 1% at a regular grocery store.³ A bottle of water from a fast-food restaurant is taxed differently from the same bottle at a supermarket.

General Sales Tax Rates by Region

Prepared food and restaurant meals are subject to Virginia’s general sales tax, which changes by location. The base rate is 5.3% statewide (a 4.3% state tax plus a 1% mandatory local tax), and several regions add surcharges on top of that.⁴

5.3% in most of Virginia outside the regions below.
6% in Central Virginia (including Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield), Hampton Roads (including Norfolk, Virginia Beach, and Newport News), and Northern Virginia (including Fairfax County, Arlington, and Loudoun).
6.3% in several southside localities including Danville, Halifax County, Henry County, and Pittsylvania County.
7% in James City County, Williamsburg, and York County.

Local Meals Tax

Most Virginia cities and many counties impose a separate local meals tax on prepared food and restaurant meals in addition to the general sales tax. Virginia law authorizes counties to charge up to 6% on food and beverages sold by restaurants, and cities and towns often have independent authority to set their own rates.⁵ Arlington County, for example, charges a 5% meals tax as of July 2025.⁶

Stack these together and a restaurant meal in Arlington can carry 6% general sales tax plus 5% meals tax, for 11% total in taxes. In Williamsburg the combination of a 7% general rate and the local meals tax pushes the total higher still. The meals tax is collected by the restaurant alongside the regular sales tax and appears either as a single line or two separate charges on your receipt.

SNAP and WIC Purchases

Food purchased with federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits is fully exempt from Virginia sales tax. Not even the 1% local portion applies.⁷ The same exemption applies to purchases made through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).⁸ Both exemptions cover only eligible food items under each program; any non-food items in the same transaction are taxed at their normal rate.

Reading a Mixed Receipt

Registers are programmed to apply the correct rate to each item, so a receipt that includes both groceries and prepared food should show different tax rates applied to different lines. If a receipt shows one tax rate on a purchase that clearly mixes grocery items with hot or prepared food, the store’s system may be set up incorrectly and the total is worth a second look.

1
Virginia Department of Taxation. Grocery Tax
2
Virginia Department of Taxation. Grocery Tax Reduced to 1% Beginning Jan. 1, 2023
3
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-611.1 – Exemption for Food Purchased for Human Consumption and Essential Personal Hygiene Products
4
Virginia Department of Taxation. Retail Sales and Use Tax
5
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code – Article 7.1 Food and Beverage Tax
6
Arlington County. Meals, Food, and Beverage Tax Increase Effective July 1, 2025
7
Virginia Department of Taxation. Sales Tax Exemptions – Section: Food Stamps and WIC
8
eCFR. 7 CFR 246.3 – Administration