US Tipping Etiquette Guide: How Much to Tip Everyone

What is the standard tip for every service?

Restaurant service runs 20% for good work, most personal services run 15 to 20%, and hotels and movers use flat amounts. The table below is the whole guide in one place. Find your service, read across, and you have the rate. The sections after the table explain each row with examples.

Two facts explain why the rates look this way. The federal minimum wage for tipped workers is $2.13 an hour, so tips are a large part of the pay, not a bonus on top of it (US Department of Labor, Fact Sheet #15). And tipping keeps spreading: in a 2023 Pew Research Center survey, 72% of Americans said tipping is expected in more places than it was five years ago.

Most rates in this table have a matching calculator in the calculators hub. Pick the service, enter the amount, and the calculator gives you the tip and the total. Movers take flat cash amounts per person, so use the movers section below for crew totals.

Twenty percent is the standard for good service. Fifteen percent is the floor. Everything else on this page builds from those two numbers.

How much should you tip at a restaurant?

Tip 20% of the pre-tax bill for good service at a sit-down restaurant. Fifteen percent is the floor for adequate service, 18% is common, and 22 to 25% says the service stood out. On an $80 check, 20% is $16, and the total becomes $96.

Tip on the pre-tax subtotal. Tax is not part of the service, so the custom leaves it out. In practice the gap is small, often a dollar or two, so tipping on the full total is fine too.

Watch for an automatic gratuity on large-party checks. Restaurants often add an automatic gratuity of 18 to 20% for large parties of 6 to 8 guests or more. Check the bill before you add anything. If the gratuity is already on the check, you have tipped.

Servers share part of your tip with the staff who helped serve you: bartenders, bussers, and food runners. Your 20% reaches more than one person. Shorting the tip lands on the whole team.

Run your check through the restaurant tip calculator. If the table shares the bill, the split bill calculator divides the total, the tax, and the tip across the group.

How much should you tip at a bar?

Tip $1 to $2 per drink at a bar, or 15 to 20% of your tab. Open a tab and tip on the total at the end, or tip as you order and keep the same rate. Tip on the first round. Good tipping early sets the tone for the night, and bartenders remember who tips well.

Craft cocktails take more time and skill than a poured beer. Tip at the top of the range for drinks that took work to build. For a simple round, the middle of the range is fair.

A percentage calculator works out 15 to 20% on any tab in seconds, so you can settle the bill without doing math at the bar.

Cash tips at the bar go straight to the bartender. Card tips work too. Either way, tip on the first round and keep the rate steady all night.

How much should you tip at a salon or barbershop?

Tip 15 to 20% of the service price at a salon or barbershop. On a $50 haircut, that is $7.50 to $10. If someone else washes your hair, give them $3 to $5 on top. For color or work that takes hours, 20% fits the skill and the time involved.

The old rule about never tipping the shop owner is mostly gone. If the owner cuts your hair, tip them like anyone else. Cash is preferred when you can manage it, since it goes straight to the stylist.

The hair salon tip calculator works out the tip on any service price, from a $25 cut to a full color session. Nails follow the same 15 to 20% range, and the nail salon tip calculator covers manicures and pedicures.

How much should you tip for delivery?

Tip delivery drivers 15 to 20% of the order total, with a $4 to $5 minimum on small orders. On a $25 order, 20% is $5, which meets the minimum on its own. Add more for bad weather, long drives, or stairs. Delivery fees usually do not reach the driver, so the tip is the main part of their pay.

Pizza delivery follows the same rule: a $3 to $5 minimum, and 15 to 20% on bigger orders. A $50 pizza order at 20% takes a $10 tip.

Tip in the app before delivery when you can. Drivers see the offered tip before they accept the order, so a fair tip up front often means faster pickup.

The delivery tip calculator applies the same rates to your order total. Check the result against the $4 to $5 minimum on small orders and use the higher number.

How much should you tip a rideshare driver?

Tip rideshare drivers 15 to 20% of the fare. On a $30 ride, that is $4.50 to $6. Tip in the app after the ride, or hand over cash. Add a little more for airport runs, help with heavy bags, or a driver who waited in bad weather while you found the pickup spot.

For a short ride with no bags and no wait, 10% is fair. For anything more, stay in the 15 to 20% range. The fare is often small, so the gap between 10% and 20% is usually a dollar or two.

The Uber tip calculator covers Uber, Lyft, and taxi rides with the same rates.

How much should you tip at a hotel?

Tip housekeeping $2 to $5 per night, left daily. Tip the bellhop $1 to $2 per bag, the valet $2 to $5 when your car returns, the concierge $5 to $20 for real help, and room service 15 to 20%. Keep small bills from check-in day, so no tip waits on a trip to the desk.

Housekeeping is easy to forget, because no one stands at the door waiting for it. Leave the cash each morning, on the pillow, with a short note. Daily tipping reaches the person who cleaned that day.

Check room service bills for a service charge before you add a tip. The charge is not always a tip, and it does not always reach the person who brought your food.

The hotel tip calculator works out the room service percentage, and the table on that page lists every flat-dollar rate. Add the two together for the whole stay total.

How much should you tip movers?

Tip movers $20 to $50 each, in cash, per person, at the end of the job. Use $20 for a small half-day job, and $40 to $50 for full days, stairs, and heavy items. Hand the tip to each mover yourself. Three movers on a full day at $40 each comes to $120 in tips.

Count every person on the crew. A mover who joined late still lifted and carried, and still gets the same rate for the day. Hand each tip over yourself, in cash, once the last box is placed.

The full guide to how much to tip movers covers crew sizes, stairs, heavy items, and the cash question in detail.

How much should you tip a tattoo artist?

Tip your tattoo artist 15 to 20% of the session price, and 25% for custom work you love. On a $300 session, 20% is $60. On a $500 custom piece, 25% is $125. Tip in cash at the end of the session, after you have seen the finished work and heard the aftercare steps.

Deposits do not change the rate. Ask how the deposit counts before you sit down, and tip on the full session price. Touch-ups follow the same range, even when the touch-up itself is free.

Work out the tip on your session price with the tattoo tip calculator. Small tattoos, deposits, and touch-ups are covered in the guide to how much to tip a tattoo artist.

How much should you tip for a massage or a manicure?

Tip 15 to 20% for a massage and for nail services. On a $100 massage, that is $15 to $20. On a $60 manicure and pedicure, that is $9 to $12. The rate matches salons and barbershops, because the work is skilled, hands-on, and personal, and the tip is part of the pay.

Booked through a spa or a shop, the tip still goes to the person who did the work. Tip in cash when you can. If the front desk handles the payment, ask that the tip goes to your therapist or technician by name.

The massage tip calculator works out 15 to 20% on any session price.

What about takeout and counter service?

Takeout and counter orders take 0 to 10%, and the tip is optional, not expected. You do the carrying, the clearing, and often the ordering yourself. Leave a small tip when the help was kind, and skip it without guilt when the order was plain. Full table service is different: that takes 15 to 20%.

Tip screens changed the feel of the counter. A screen that starts at 20% for a coffee you carried yourself is a prompt, not a rule. You decide. A kind word and a fair tip for real help beat a guilty tap every time.

Large takeout orders deserve more thought. A $100 order that took care to pack well earns a tip, even though you carried it out yourself. Use your judgment, and tip for the work you saw.

How do you work out any tip in seconds?

Find 10% first, then build from it. Move the decimal point one place left: 10% of $60 is $6. Double it for 20%, which is $12. Add half of it for 15%, which is $9. The trick works on any bill, and it beats staring at the check while the table waits.

For any bill, the tip percentage calculator gives the tip at 15%, 18%, 20%, and 25% in one view.

When should you tip more than the standard rate?

Tip above the standard rate when the service cost someone real effort: bad weather, heavy bags, stairs, a long wait, a hard request filled well, or care that went past the job. Tip at the low end when the service was quick and plain. The rate is a starting point. What happened in front of you sets the final number.

• Tip more in bad weather. Rain, snow, and heat make every outdoor job harder.
• Tip more for stairs, heavy bags, and long carries.
• Tip more when someone fixed a problem you caused, or filled a request that took real work.
• Tip less, and speak up, when the service was poor. A small tip plus a word with the manager says more than silence.
• Never tip less because the check was large. The percentage already scales with the bill.

One habit covers nearly every case. Decide the rate before the moment arrives, keep small bills ready, and tip when the help happens. Guessing at the table is what makes tipping feel hard. A rate you already know makes it easy.

How do you split a check and still tip fairly?

Split the check after you work out the tax and the tip, not before. Figure the tip on the pre-tax subtotal, add the tax and the tip to the subtotal, then divide the total by the number of people. On a $120 check with $9.60 tax and a $24 tip, the total is $153.60, and four people pay $38.40 each.

An even split works when everyone ordered about the same amount. Add tax and tip first, then divide. If each person adds a tip alone, the shares drift apart, and the table ends up short or over. One total, divided once, keeps every share equal.

When one person ordered far more than the rest, split by what each person ordered. Tax and tip follow the food, in the same share as each person's food. If Ana ordered $70 of a $120 check, she pays 58.3% of the $24 tip, which is $14. Her share of the $9.60 tax is $5.60, so her full share is $70 plus $5.60 plus $14, which is $89.60.

Rounding needs one decision, not four. On an $88.50 total split four ways, each share is $22.125, which rounds to $22.13. Four shares of $22.13 come to $88.52, two cents over the total. Pick the rounded share and move on.

The split bill calculator handles the order for you. Enter the pre-tax total, add the tax, pick the tip rate, and set the number of people. It shows the tip, the total, and each share in one view.

What should you check on the bill before you add a tip?

Read three lines before you add anything: the subtotal, the tax, and any gratuity or service charge already on the check. A gratuity is a tip. A service charge may not be. If an automatic gratuity of 18 to 20% is already on the check, you have tipped, and adding 20% more doubles the tip by mistake.

The double tip is the expensive mistake. On a $120 check with a 20% automatic gratuity, the check already carries a $24 tip. Add a second 20% and the tips total $48. That is 40% of the check. One glance at the lines above the total line prevents it.

A service charge is a different line with a different meaning. It may go to the house, not to the person who served you. If the check says service charge or service fee, ask where it goes before you add more. If the line says gratuity, the tip is already paid. The IRS treats automatic gratuities as service charges, not tips (Revenue Ruling 2012-18), which is why the label on the line matters.

The same check applies away from the table. A delivery fee on an app order is not the driver tip. A service charge on a room service bill is not always a tip for the person who brought the food. Read the lines, ask when the meaning is unclear, and tip the person who did the work when no tip is on the bill.

What else do people ask about tipping in the US?

These five questions come up in nearly every tipping conversation: the standard rate, okay service, tip screens, cash against card, and service charges. The answers use the same rates as the table at the top of this guide, so the whole page stays consistent from the first row to the last answer.