Do All Grocery Store Purchases Earn Grocery Cash Back Rewards?

The cash back earned buying groceries with your rewards credit card can make for a helpful stash to cover your next purchase, travel plans or put some money back into your account. But you might be surprised that errands to some stores won’t earn boosted grocery rewards, even if you’re buying food.

In part, it depends on which credit card you’re using and that card issuer’s restrictions. For example, most rewards credit cards state you won’t earn boosted grocery rewards at superstores like Walmart and Target or at wholesale clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club. But earning rewards at the grocery store also depends heavily on a four-digit code that you might not be looking for. To know whether you’ll earn rewards on your next grocery purchase, learn what counts and what doesn’t.

Do grocery store purchases always earn cash back rewards?

Even with a card offering a grocery or U.S. supermarket bonus rewards category, you might find that you won’t earn boosted rewards at certain stores. With the best grocery credit cards, you’ll still earn a small amount of rewards on your purchase even if it doesn’t qualify as a grocery purchase under your card issuer.

The Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi*, for instance, earns boosted rewards on your Costco and Costco.com purchases. But the cardholder agreement specifically says that purchases made at bakeries, grocery or other warehouse clubs don’t qualify for the enhanced rewards rate. Instead, you’ll only earn a smaller base rate that applies to non-category purchases.

How to check the merchant category code for the retailer

Behind the scenes, a merchant category code (MCC) identifies the type of products or services a merchant primarily sells, which helps credit card networks identify which spending to reward you for. You may run into it if you’re looking over your credit card statement and see it listed next to the store you swiped your card at. Both Visa and Mastercard use the code 5411 to identify grocery stores and supermarkets, for instance. If that code comes through on your statement, you’ll know you’re earning the best rewards for that purchase on your rewards card that features boosted grocery store rewards.

Some merchants may not qualify for cash back rewards in a certain category, even though you might think they do. It can be tricky to know which retailers count towards your credit card’s boosted rewards, but there are a few simple ways to check.

• Look up your favorite store’s MCC
• Make a small purchase to verify that it’s part of the higher rewards category.
• Check the MCC from a previous statement with a purchase from that retailer.
• Review your credit card’s terms and conditions for specific restrictions.

What purchases most often qualify for grocery rewards?

Whether you’re shopping at your small local grocer or a nationwide supermarket chain, you could very well qualify for boosted rewards in the grocery stores category. Many cards even include online grocery orders as part of their bonus categories.

So the good news is there’s no one in a back room scouring over your receipt and deciding whether the cleaning supplies you bought at the supermarket qualify as “groceries.” If you bought the product at a properly coded grocery store, it earns grocery rewards. Still, each issuer has their own set of rules around what’s included.

American Express

American Express famously offers cards that reward U.S. supermarket purchases, like the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express. To reduce confusion for cardholders, there’s a non-exhaustive list of stores that qualify for the highly rewarding U.S. supermarket category. So if your Amex card earns rewards on U.S. supermarket purchases, you won’t have any trouble at these stores, among many others:

• ALDI
• FreshDirect
• Gelson’s
• Hy-Vee
• Kings Food Markets
• Meijer
• ShopRite
• Smart & Final
• Stop & Shop
• Trader Joe’s
• Vons
• Whole Foods
• Winn-Dixie

Chase

Chase explains that merchants in the grocery store category include, “supermarkets, merchants that offer a full-service grocery line of merchandise including a deli and bakery as well as smaller grocery stores.” Chase also specifies that delivery service merchants are included if they classify as a grocery store merchant.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card specifically offers a higher rewards rate for online grocery purchases only (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs). Chase considers grocery pickup and delivery orders placed online as eligible for these rewards as long as it’s from a grocery store merchant.

Discover

Cards like the Discover it® Cash Back feature rotating categories which may offer higher rewards on grocery purchases for a limited time. For example, with activation, you could earn a 5 percent cash back on up to $1,500 in grocery stores and wholesale clubs between for the second quarter of 2025 (then 1 percent). Discover discloses that grocery store purchases include some unconventional options, like supermarkets, meat lockers, bakeries, smaller grocery stores, grocery delivery services and wholesale clubs where Discover cards are accepted.

Capital One

The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card offers elevated cashback at grocery stores, which includes purchases at these types of stores:

• Supermarkets
• Specialty markets
• Dairy product stores
• Meat lockers
• Freezers

The only catch is, superstores like Target and Walmart are specifically excluded.

What purchases usually do not qualify for grocery rewards?

Most cards have similar guidelines on what qualifies for earning grocery rewards. Depending on the type of credit card you have, it’s common not to earn grocery rewards with the following types of merchants, even if you’re buying food:

• Meal-kits
• Meal delivery services
• Wholesale clubs
• Superstores (like Target or Walmart)
• Convenience stores
• Pharmacies and drugstores
• Specialty markets
• Bakeries
• Dairy product stores
• Candy, nut or confectionaries
• Freezer or meat lockers

In general, your bonus rewards depend on where you’re shopping rather than what you’re buying. One notable exception is that some issuers will not award points or miles for gift card purchases, regardless of where you buy the giftcard. It’s not a huge deal for most people, but worth keeping in mind if you were hoping to earn a bunch of rewards through purchasing gift cards.

Most rewards card disclosures also mention the importance of merchant category codes in receiving the enhanced rewards rate on purchases, often warning that without the right MCC, the purchase won’t earn additional cash back. Keep in mind that card issuers don’t set the MCCs. That’s the store’s responsibility.

If you have a card that offers rewards on groceries or at grocery stores, check the fine print of your rewards program or cardholder agreement. There’s a good chance the issuer will tell you exactly what does and doesn’t count.

The bottom line

Retailers are classified into various merchant category codes based on the business type. This, along with your issuer’s rewards structure and rules, determines whether you get rewards under a specific category for shopping at a certain store. In general, if a store is classified as a grocery store, and you have a credit card that rewards grocery purchases, you should be rewarded for the purchases made at that store. To be sure which stores count, check with your issuer to see if the store you prefer qualifies for grocery rewards.

The information about the Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi has been collected independently by Bankrate.com. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the card issuer.