Here’s how to handle chips by generation
From Gen Z to baby boomers, which generation is the most stingy when it comes to tipping?
Temi Adeoye feels like she tips well at restaurants, but lately she’s been wondering if other people tip as much as she does.
Adeoye, a 28-year-old content creator and comedian from New York City who also works in marketing, posted a TikTok video asking if people still tip more than 20% like she did.
Probably not.
The average tip at U.S. restaurants is less than 20%, according to a new report from Toast, which has been tracking tipping behavior on its app for restaurant partners since 2022. Toast is a digital platform built for restaurants.
The overall average tip for U.S. restaurants across all restaurant types remained stable at 18.8% in the first quarter of 2026.
Is 20% tip still normal?
Adeoye posted: “All my life I’ve tipped 20%. I think that’s the average generous amount and most of my friends tip the same way. But recently when I go to a restaurant they automatically tip me and it starts at 20 and goes up to 25, and sometimes I skip 20 and go straight to 22.”
“Right now, the way my brain works, anything above 22 is just as good service, and unless they do something crazy, I rarely tip below 20. So my question is, is 20% still appropriate?” Adeoye asked.
Adeoye told USA TODAY that she made the TikTok video in April because she was “honestly curious about what would be acceptable” about tipping and was a little surprised by the number of “suggestions” she received for tipping.
“I’m not trying to short-circuit anyone. I find it very frustrating when other people do that,” Adeoye said.
Adeoye’s TikTok followers responded in varying proportions. Most people said they tipped 20% as well, and one woman said she tipped 25% to 30%, but said that might be because she’s in Arkansas, “so it’s a lot easier to tip than if you live in a larger, more expensive city.”
Adeoye said she was shocked to find that some people said they were tipping between 15% and 18%, while others said they were not tipping at all. But they may have been tourists from other countries with different tipping cultures, Adeoye said.
How much do Americans tip?
As of the first quarter of 2026, the average tip at toast restaurants in the United States is 19.3% for full-service restaurants and 15.8% for quick-service restaurants, according to a new report. Quick-service restaurants are typically counter-service or fast-food where you order at a counter, kiosk or drive-thru, Brian Kober, Toast director of brand journalism and news, told USA TODAY.
This data is based on aggregated card and digital chip transactions from approximately 171,000 U.S. restaurants on the Toast platform. Cash tips were not included in the analysis.
At full-service restaurants, tips fell to a seven-year low of 19.1% in the second quarter of 2025, then rose to 19.2% through the second half of 2025.
“Full-service guests consistently tip several points more than quick-service guests, a difference that Toast data has tracked for years,” the report said.
Tips at U.S. quick-service restaurants have remained flat for the sixth straight quarter at 15.8%, down from a pandemic-era high of 16.5%, Kober said.
“Toast research suggests that guests value personal interactions and are less likely to tip for automated or counter-service experiences, which helps explain the persistent disparity between tip rates at QSRs (quick-service restaurants) and FSRs (full-service restaurants),” the report said.
The average tip for takeout service at Toast restaurants in the United States is 13.7% in the first quarter of 2026.
“Takeout still tends to have the lowest tips of any service model, and many guests don’t tip at all, perhaps because there’s less direct service than if you were sitting with a server,” Kober said.
Have tipping patterns changed since COVID-19?
Kober said the percentage of total tips rose during the first few years of the pandemic, but began to subside in 2023 and has remained stable since then.
“After the onset of the pandemic and the rebound in 2023, both full-service and quick-service tips have settled into consistent ranges, which is good news for servers who can count on a stable baseline,” he said.
Kerber said takeout customers tipped more during the pandemic because takeout was the main way to enjoy restaurant food and people wanted to support restaurants and their staff.
Consumers say tips support workers
Adeoye tips 15% on takeout because she wants to support the people who package the food.
Adeoye tips at some quick-service restaurants, mainly because he doesn’t like conflict, but he also understands that some people don’t want to tip at places where they order their food at the counter.
“If someone asked me for a tip right to my face, or if I turned the screen and a prompt for a tip appeared, I would say yes.” However, Adeoye said that fast food restaurants usually don’t leave tips.
She also once had a cashier or restaurant counter employee press the “skip” button herself to ask for a hint before waving the screen around, which she appreciates.
Ultimately, Adeoye said he would like to see food servers earn a good wage and not rely on tips, and that the price includes tips.
“In my ideal world, there would be no (tipping),” she said. “I think it would be better if everyone was paid a good salary.”
Where do people tip the most and least?
According to the report, Delaware tipped the most (22.1% across both restaurant types) and California tipped the least (17.3%). “Total Tips” is calculated by dividing the total amount of tips by the total amount handled.
That’s not the average for full-service and quick-service tips over that period, Toast said.
Here are the top 10 tipping states:
- Delaware: 22.10%
- West Virginia: 21.00%
- New Hampshire: 20.90%
- Indiana, Ohio, and Wyoming were tied at 20.70%.
- Kentucky 20.60%
- Maine: 20.50%
- Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Wisconsin were tied at 20.20%.
- Iowa, Montana and Rhode Island were tied at 20.10%.
- Michigan: 20.00%
- Nebraska 19.90%
Here are the 10 states with the least tips:
- California: 17.30%
- District of Columbia: 17.50%
- Washington: 17.80%
- Nevada: 18.20%
- Florida: 18.30%
- Louisiana: 18.50%
- Texas and Hawaii were tied at 18.60%.
- New York, New Jersey and Mississippi were tied at 18.70%.
- Georgia: 18.80%
- Utah and Arkansas were tied at 18.90%.
Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA TODAY. Contact her at blinfisher@USATODAY.com or follow her at @blinfisher on X, Facebook or Instagram and @blinfisher.bsky.social on Bluesky.. Sign up for our free The Daily Money newsletter, breaking down complex consumer and financial news. Subscribe here.
