(WOWK) —Tipping has become a hot-button issue for many: How much do I tip at a sit-down restaurant? Should I tip at a coffee shop? Should I tip someone after a massage?
Toast, a point-of-sale and management system company that records huge numbers of transactions has released data breaking down tipping trends by state. The average tip in the United States is just under the 20% rate you may have been told is the bar for “good” tipping.
Transactions revealed that tipping trends have little to do with a state’s overall wealth. Some of the worst tippers were found in California, Washington, New York and New Jersey, which are among the highest-earning per-capita states.
Residents of West Virginia and Kentucky were among the best tippers, even though their residents tend to be less affluent.
Delaware is the most-generous state for tipping; The First State’s tipping average is 22%, with Indiana behind it at 20.9%. Texas, Hawaii, New York, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nevada, Florida, Washington and California tip the least, going from 18.9% to 17.6%.
Toast points out that states with higher minimum wages for restaurant workers, such as California and Washington, appeared frequently near the bottom of the generosity ranking.
According to Toast, tipping at both quick-service restaurants – like coffee shops – and full-service restaurant have stayed steady over the past five years, with QSRs seeing a slight dip. In March 2018, full-service restaurants’ average tip percentage was 19.7%, the same as it is in 2023. In the same time period, quick-service restaurants saw a 0.8% decrease.
Toast’s data analysis covered credit or digital payments at quick-service food orders and full-service restaurants. Cash tips were not included in the figures.
Toast said that their rankings came from restaurants using the Toast platform, which has around 85,000 locations.