Most Americans tip 15% or less at a restaurant — and some tip nothing, poll finds

When it comes to dining, tipping astatine slightest 15% to 20% is accepted etiquette, accidental experts.

It seems galore Americans disagree.

Almost 1 successful 5, 18%, of radical tip little than 15% for an mean repast astatine a sit-down edifice — and an further 2% extremity thing astatine all, according to a Pew Research Center survey, which polled 11,945 U.S. adults. More than a third, 37%, said 15% is their modular tip.

"That did astonishment me," Drew DeSilver, co-author of the study, said of uncovering that much than fractional of people, 57%, extremity 15% oregon less.

"The U.S. has a much highly developed tipping civilization than astir different countries," helium added. "But there's specified a deficiency of statement astir [it]."

Pew hasn't done humanities polling connected tips, truthful it's unclear however these shares person trended implicit time.

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Americans are much apt to extremity for a sit-down repast than immoderate different service: Two-thirds of U.S. adults ever extremity a server erstwhile they dine, according to Bankrate. The Pew survey recovered that 81% ever extremity for a edifice meal, a higher percent than extremity for haircuts, nutrient delivery, buying a portion astatine a barroom oregon utilizing a taxi oregon rideshare service, for example.

Etiquette adept Diane Gottsman recommends tipping 15% to 20% for sit-down edifice work successful 2023.

However, studies suggest "tip fatigue" has led extremity amounts to diminution recently. For example, the mean nationwide extremity astatine full-service restaurants fell to 19.4% of the full cheque successful the 2nd 4th of 2023 — the lowest magnitude since the commencement of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Toast data.

And the stock of radical who ever extremity edifice waitstaff fell by 4 percent points from 2019 to 2022, according to Bankrate.

"People's willingness to tip, adjacent successful edifice settings, is going down," said Michael Lynn, a prof astatine Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration and an adept connected user behaviour and tipping.

Americans became much generous tippers successful the aboriginal days of the pandemic, embracing the signifier arsenic a mode to assistance work workers and their employers. Now, they're getting "fed up," Lynn said.   

"You tin recognize why: We're being asked to extremity successful circumstances and for services that aren't traditionally tipped," helium said. "And the amounts we're being asked to extremity are higher."

The proliferation of extremity prompts has travel to beryllium known arsenic "tip creep." It comes astatine a clip erstwhile pandemic-era inflation — which peaked past twelvemonth astatine a precocious unseen successful 4 decades — has pinched household budgets.

One of the challenges comparative to extremity amounts is the deficiency of a "centralized authority" to usher norms, Lynn said.

Most radical — 77% — mention work prime arsenic a "major factor" erstwhile choosing whether and however overmuch to tip, according to Pew.

However, work is yet a anemic predictor of user behavior, Lynn said. In fact, social approval — from our eating partners, waitstaff and others — are overmuch stronger determinants.

"We're buying approval" with tips, Lynn said.

Just 23% of Pew survey respondents cited societal unit arsenic a large factor.