Condensed Consolidating Financial Information (Condensed Consolidating Statements of Earnings and Comprehensive Earnings) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2020	Mar. 31, 2019
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Net revenues	$ 6,359	$ 5,628
Cost of sales	2,173	1,578
Excise taxes on products	1,313	1,239
Gross profit	2,873	2,811
Marketing, administration and research costs	537	533
Asset impairment and exit costs	0	40
Operating income (expense)	2,336	2,238
Interest and other debt expense (income), net	275	384
Net periodic benefit (income) cost, excluding service cost	(27)	(1)
Earnings from equity investments	(157)	(86)
Loss on Cronos-related financial instruments	137	425
Earnings (losses) before income taxes and equity earnings of subsidiaries	2,108	1,516
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	558	395
Equity earnings of subsidiaries	0	0
Net earnings	1,550	1,121
Net (earnings) losses attributable to noncontrolling interests	2	(1)
Net earnings attributable to Altria	1,552	1,120
Net earnings	1,550	1,121
Other comprehensive earnings (losses), net of deferred income taxes	331	(170)
Comprehensive earnings	1,881	951
Comprehensive earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	2	(1)
Comprehensive earnings attributable to Altria	1,883	950
Reportable Legal Entities [Member] | Altria Group, Inc. [Member]
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Net revenues	0	0
Cost of sales	0	0
Excise taxes on products	0	0
Gross profit	0	0
Marketing, administration and research costs	22	35
Asset impairment and exit costs		1
Operating income (expense)	(22)	(36)
Interest and other debt expense (income), net	237	355
Net periodic benefit (income) cost, excluding service cost	0	1
Earnings from equity investments	(134)	(86)
Loss on Cronos-related financial instruments	0	0
Earnings (losses) before income taxes and equity earnings of subsidiaries	(125)	(306)
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	(32)	(75)
Equity earnings of subsidiaries	1,645	1,351
Net earnings	1,552	1,120
Net (earnings) losses attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0
Net earnings attributable to Altria	1,552	1,120
Net earnings	1,552	1,120
Other comprehensive earnings (losses), net of deferred income taxes	331	(170)
Comprehensive earnings	1,883	950
Comprehensive earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0
Comprehensive earnings attributable to Altria	1,883	950
Reportable Legal Entities [Member] | PM USA [Member]
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Net revenues	5,359	4,725
Cost of sales	1,532	1,340
Excise taxes on products	1,267	1,185
Gross profit	2,560	2,200
Marketing, administration and research costs	387	384
Asset impairment and exit costs		35
Operating income (expense)	2,173	1,781
Interest and other debt expense (income), net	(18)	(25)
Net periodic benefit (income) cost, excluding service cost	(22)	0
Earnings from equity investments	0	0
Loss on Cronos-related financial instruments	0	0
Earnings (losses) before income taxes and equity earnings of subsidiaries	2,213	1,806
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	550	459
Equity earnings of subsidiaries	126	95
Net earnings	1,789	1,442
Net (earnings) losses attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0
Net earnings attributable to Altria	1,789	1,442
Net earnings	1,789	1,442
Other comprehensive earnings (losses), net of deferred income taxes	3	5
Comprehensive earnings	1,792	1,447
Comprehensive earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0
Comprehensive earnings attributable to Altria	1,792	1,447
Reportable Legal Entities [Member] | Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Net revenues	1,008	913
Cost of sales	649	248
Excise taxes on products	46	54
Gross profit	313	611
Marketing, administration and research costs	128	114
Asset impairment and exit costs		4
Operating income (expense)	185	493
Interest and other debt expense (income), net	56	54
Net periodic benefit (income) cost, excluding service cost	(5)	(2)
Earnings from equity investments	(23)	0
Loss on Cronos-related financial instruments	137	425
Earnings (losses) before income taxes and equity earnings of subsidiaries	20	16
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	40	11
Equity earnings of subsidiaries	0	0
Net earnings	(20)	5
Net (earnings) losses attributable to noncontrolling interests	2	(1)
Net earnings attributable to Altria	(18)	4
Net earnings	(20)	5
Other comprehensive earnings (losses), net of deferred income taxes	28	23
Comprehensive earnings	8	28
Comprehensive earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	2	(1)
Comprehensive earnings attributable to Altria	10	27
Total Consolidating Adjustments [Member]
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Net revenues	(8)	(10)
Cost of sales	(8)	(10)
Excise taxes on products	0	0
Gross profit	0	0
Marketing, administration and research costs	0	0
Asset impairment and exit costs		0
Operating income (expense)	0	0
Interest and other debt expense (income), net	0	0
Net periodic benefit (income) cost, excluding service cost	0	0
Earnings from equity investments	0	0
Loss on Cronos-related financial instruments	0	0
Earnings (losses) before income taxes and equity earnings of subsidiaries	0	0
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	0	0
Equity earnings of subsidiaries	(1,771)	(1,446)
Net earnings	(1,771)	(1,446)
Net (earnings) losses attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0
Net earnings attributable to Altria	(1,771)	(1,446)
Net earnings	(1,771)	(1,446)
Other comprehensive earnings (losses), net of deferred income taxes	(31)	(28)
Comprehensive earnings	(1,802)	(1,474)
Comprehensive earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0
Comprehensive earnings attributable to Altria	$ (1,802)	$ (1,474)