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Map: States with the best and worst tippers in 2024

By FOX TV Digital Team
Updated  June 13, 2024 1:06pm EDT
Consumer
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Is tipping at a tipping point?

Traditionally, 15 percent was an average tip, with 20 percent for excellent service. Now, the suggested tips on many restaurant bills include 22 percent, 25 percent and even 30 percent. As FOX News correspondent Jonathan Serrie reports, it's a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new report says the amount service industry workers are tipped in the U.S., on average, depends on where you live. 

The Q1 restaurant trends report from Toast, a digital restaurant platform, analyzed restaurant data in all 50 states to see which ones tip the most and least. Tipping rates are from restaurants on the Toast platform where a tip was added to the order via a card or digital payment. Cash tips and transactions without tips are not included in the analysis.

Overall, tips remained generally flat compared to the same time last year, but the Toast report says that’s good news for restaurant employees. Roughly one in three Americans believe tipping culture has gone too far in recent years. 

Total tips averaged 18.9% nationwide in Q1 2024. Full-service restaurant tips also remained flat 19.4%, and so did quick-service restaurant tips, which averaged 16%.

States with the best tippers

The report broke down tips at both full-service restaurants, quick-service restaurants and overall tipping rates in each state. 

RELATED: Bad service, no tip: Most Americans demand quality before tipping

According to the Toast report, Delaware residents tip the most, with an average of 22.1%. The state also tops the list for tipping at full-service restaurants (22.5%), and quick-service restaurants (19.1%).

States with the worst tippers 

The bottom of the list for tippers is California, the Toast report says. That’s especially true for full-service restaurants, where the average tip was 17.9%.  

But when it comes to quick-service restaurants, New Jersey residents tip the least, with an average tip of 13.8% in Q1 2024.

How much do people in your state tip? 

Here’s a breakdown of your state’s overall tipping rate, according to Toast:

Who gets the biggest tips?

The Toast report comes on the heels of a new Bankrate survey on tipping culture, in which 59% of Americans said they view tipping negatively. This includes people who believe businesses should pay employees better, are annoyed about pre-entered tip screens or would be willing to pay higher prices to be done with tipping altogether. 

RELATED: Has tipping gone too far? 1 in 3 Americans think so

For that survey, Bankrate surveyed more than 2,400 U.S. adults between April and May 2024.

GettyImages-2156988743.jpg

Man selecting 20% tip while using hand held credit card scanner at restaurant, Queens, New York. (Photo by: Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Among the U.S. adults who use each of the following services, here’s a breakdown of how many people always tip:

  • Servers at a sit-down restaurant: 67% (up from 65% last year)
  • Hair stylists/barbers: 55% (up from 53% last year)
  • Food delivery people: 51% (up from 50% last year)
  • Taxi/rideshare drivers: 41% (up from 40% last year)
  • Hotel housekeepers: 22% (down from 23% last year)
  • Coffee shop baristas: 20% (down from 22% last year)
  • Furniture/appliance delivery workers: 15% (down from 17% last year)
  • When picking up takeout food: 11% (down from 13% last year)
  • Home services/repair people: 10% (same as last year)

RELATED: Here's who gets tipped the most and least, survey says

FOX’s Stephanie Weaver contributed to this report. 

Consumer