The wage structure is what makes tipping structural

Tipping in the United States is not a politeness convention layered on top of a normal wage; it is built into how tipped workers are paid. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act the federal minimum wage is USD 7.25 an hour, but an employer may pay a tipped employee a cash wage of as little as USD 2.13 an hour and claim a tip credit of up to USD 5.12 against the rest, according to the Department of Labor's tipped minimum wage tables read on 7 September 2026. If tips do not bring the worker up to the full minimum, the employer has to make up the shortfall, but the tip is doing the work first.

States can be stricter. The same Department of Labor table lists jurisdictions that require the full state minimum wage before tips, among them Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. New York sits in between: the New York State Department of Labor publishes a general minimum wage of USD 17.00 an hour in New York City, Long Island and Westchester from 1 January 2026, and allows hospitality employers to pay food service workers a cash wage of USD 11.35 with a USD 5.65 tip credit in those areas. Only hospitality employers may take that credit.

The practical point for a visitor is that the percentage you are expected to leave does not drop in the states with higher base wages. The expectation is national; the wage law underneath it is not.

Sit-down restaurants: the one situation with a firm norm

At a full-service restaurant with table service, 18 to 20 percent of the pre-tax bill is the current working norm in American cities, with 15 percent read as a mild complaint and 25 percent as generous. You add the tip yourself: either write it on the tip line of a paper card slip and total the bill, or enter it on the card terminal when it is brought to the table.

Two habits confuse visitors. First, the bill is usually brought only when you ask for it, and the server will not clear you out; lingering is normal, and so is saying "could we get the check, please." Second, the tip is calculated on the food and drink, not on the tax, which is discussed below. Splitting a bill across several cards is routine and does not annoy anyone.

Counter service and the tablet prompt

Counter service is where the American tipping expectation genuinely stops being fixed. When you order at a till and carry your own coffee or sandwich away, there is no table service to tip for, and leaving nothing is not a social offence. What has changed is that the payment terminal now asks anyway: a screen flips toward you with three suggested percentages and a "no tip" option, often while the person who took your order is watching.

Treat the prompt as a request, not a bill. Something in the range of one to two dollars, or a low single-digit percentage, is a normal response for a drink made to order; skipping it at a shop where you did nothing but pay for a packaged item is equally normal. The awkwardness of the screen is a design decision by the payment provider, not a statement of what is owed.

Bars, taxis, rideshares and deliveries

Bars, taxis, rideshares and delivery apps each use a slightly different unit, and knowing which one applies stops you either over-tipping or looking careless.

  • Bar, paying per round: USD 1 to 2 per drink handed over, more for a cocktail that takes real work.
  • Bar, running a tab: treat the closing total like a restaurant bill at 18 to 20 percent.
  • Taxi: roughly 15 to 20 percent, rounded up to a convenient number; the card terminal in the cab will suggest percentages.
  • Rideshare: tip in the app after the ride, usually 15 to 20 percent; the driver is not expecting cash.
  • Food delivery: tip in the app at the point of ordering, commonly 15 to 20 percent with a floor of a few dollars on a small order. Delivery fees and service fees go to the platform, not the courier.

Airport and hotel bell staff work on a per-bag basis rather than a percentage, typically a couple of dollars a bag, and a doorman who finds you a taxi in the rain is worth a few dollars.

Hotels, salons and guided tours

Hotel housekeeping is the tip most often forgotten, because the person is deliberately invisible. A few dollars per night left in the room with a short note works better than a single lump sum at checkout, since different staff may clean the room on different days. Concierge staff are tipped when they actually solve something, such as securing a hard restaurant booking, rather than for answering a question.

Hair and beauty salons follow restaurant logic: around 20 percent to the person who did the work, and separately to anyone who washed your hair. Guided tours vary with format. On a walking or bus tour, USD 5 to 10 per person for a half-day and more for a full day is a reasonable range; on a private tour, 15 to 20 percent of the tour price is closer to the norm. Free walking tours are tip-funded by design, and the guide will say so at the end.

Service charges are not tips, legally or practically

A mandatory service charge added to your bill is a different thing from a tip, and federal regulation says so directly: "A compulsory charge for service, such as 15 percent of the amount of the bill, imposed on a customer by an employer's establishment, is not a tip," according to 29 CFR 531.55. The same section notes that where the employer distributes those sums to employees, "they may be used in their entirety to satisfy the monetary requirements of the Act."

That is the whole issue in two sentences. A service charge is the restaurant's revenue, which it may or may not pass on as wages; a tip is money that belongs to the worker. Large groups, prix-fixe menus, hotel room service and an increasing number of restaurants that advertise "no tipping" apply one. When a service charge appears, an additional tip is not expected, and if the bill still shows a blank tip line you can leave it empty without explanation.

Where to check before you commit to a number

Check the bill itself first, because it is the only document that tells you whether a service charge has already been applied and whether the terminal's suggested percentages are calculated before or after tax. For the wage rules behind all of this, the Department of Labor publishes the federal figures and a state-by-state table of tipped minimum wages, and each state labour department publishes its own current rates; both change on fixed dates, usually 1 January or 1 July.

This guide covers customer-facing tipping in ordinary travel situations. It does not cover tipping norms in casinos, on cruise ships, at private clubs, or in industries with their own gratuity structures, and it does not address the tax treatment of tips for workers, which is a separate subject with its own rules.