Tip amounts
Average suggested tip by setting
How suggested percentages differ across self-service, counter-service, retail, and other settings.
How this was calculated
Averages use percentage buttons only and exclude fixed-dollar options. A setting with few reports should not be compared to a large category without noting the sample size.
Only approved, non-demo reports with a known city and state are included. Placeholder locations such as “Location not reported,” “Online,” and “N/A” are excluded. Duplicates and pending submissions are excluded. This is descriptive archive data, not a survey of all U.S. businesses.
What stands out
self_service is the largest setting group with percentage data (11 reports). The average is a description of shown buttons, not what customers actually paid.
This is an editorial reading of the current archive, not a causal claim. As more reports arrive or corrections are made, the takeaway can change.
| setting | reports | average tip | highest tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| self_service | 11 | 16.8 | 30 |
| counter | 7 | 17 | 35 |
| table | 6 | 22.6 | 40 |
| retail | 4 | 18.8 | 25 |
| takeout | 1 | 15 | 15 |
| other | 1 | 20 | 20 |
What this page can and cannot tell you
It can show how the published archive is distributed by place, time, setting, and prompt details. It cannot estimate the true rate of tipping requests across all businesses, prove that a business-wide policy exists, or replace the original source. Use the links above to inspect individual reports before repeating a statistic.
See the underlying reports. Browse the archive or add a documented report.