The majority of Americans tip restaurants 15% or less, tip nothing at all: Experts advise leaving a gratuity of between 15% and 20% when dining out as standard etiquette. It appears that not all Americans agree.
According to a Pew Research Center survey of 11,945 American adults, over one in five (18%) tip less than 15% for an average lunch at a sit-down restaurant, and an additional 2% tip nothing at all. 37% of respondents, or more, stated that their typical tip is 15%.
The study’s co-author, Drew DeSilver, expressed surprise at the conclusion that 57% of respondents tip 15% or less.
“Compared to most other countries, the United States has a more developed tipping culture,” he continued. However, there is such little consensus regarding [it].
Since Pew has not conducted polls on tips in the past, it is unknown how these shares have changed over time.
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Why there’s a tip weariness among consumers
For a sit-down meal, Americans are more inclined to tip than for any other type of service. According to Bankrate, two-thirds of adult Americans always tip their servers when they eat out. According to the Pew survey, 81% of people always tip when they eat at a restaurant—this is a larger rate than when they have their hair done, get takeout, buy a drink at a bar, or use a ride-hailing or taxi service, for example.
In 2023, etiquette expert Diane Gottsman suggests leaving a 15%–20% gratuity for sit-down restaurant service.
But research indicates that a recent drop in tip amounts may be the result of “tip fatigue.” For instance, according to Toast data, the average gratuity at full-service restaurants nationally dropped to 19.4% of the entire check in the second quarter of 2023, the lowest since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additionally, according to Bankrate, from 2019 to 2022, the percentage of Americans who always tip restaurant waitstaff decreased by 4 percentage points.
According to Michael Lynn, a professor at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and an authority on tipping and consumer behavior, “people’s willingness to tip, even in restaurant settings, is going down.”
Early in the pandemic, Americans adopted tipping as a method to support service workers and their employers, and as a result, they became more generous tippers. They’re now becoming “fed up,” according to Lynn.
He explained, “You can understand why: We’re being asked to tip in situations and for services that aren’t customarily tipped.” “And we’re being asked to tip higher amounts.”
“Tip creep” is the term used to describe the spread of tip suggestions. It takes place at a time when pandemic-era inflation, which peaked last year at a level not seen in forty years, is squeezing household finances.
Buy social approval with tips
According to Lynn, one of the issues with tip amounts is that there isn’t a “centralized authority” to set standards.
When deciding whether and how much to tip, the majority of people—77%—cite service quality as a “major factor,” according to Pew.
But in the end, according to Lynn, social approval—from our dining companions, wait staff, and others—is a far bigger predictor of consumer behavior than service.
With tips, “we’re buying approval,” Lynn remarked.
Merely 23% of participants in the Pew survey identified societal pressure as a significant issue.
