Which states leave the best — and worst — tips at restaurants? New report explains

(NEXSTAR) — Tipping has been a hot topic of conversation in recent years, especially when it comes to tip creeping.

While it feels like we’re being asked to tip everywhere for everything, a new report shows Americans are continuing to tip, and relatively well.

Toast, a restaurant point of sale and management system, analyzed data from restaurants that use its platform to determine where a tip was added to an order using either a card or digital payment between July 1 and September 30 of this year. Cash tips were not included.

Overall, Toast found that despite possible tipping fatigue, Americans are tipping an average of 18.9% percent at restaurants, the same as they were through the second quarter of 2023.

Toast was also able to calculate the total average tips being left in each state.

Tippers in the Midwest and Ohio Valley were among the most generous but it was restaurant-goers in Delaware that tipped the best. There, Toast calculated the average tip was 21.3% of the total check amount.

In Wyoming, Wisconsin, Michigan, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and West Virginia, the average tip was around 20%. Of those, Indiana customers tipped the most at 20.6%.

Restaurants in states in the South and west of the Mississippi River, however, received some of the lowest tips on average.

Customers in California left the lowest average tip at 17.4%, Toast found. In nearby Nevada and Utah, the average tip was slightly more than 18%. That same rate was seen in Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Minnesota, New York, and Florida.

When broken down into full-service restaurants versus quick-service restaurants (think sit-down versus fast food), Toast found tipping remained higher at the former (19.4%) than the latter (16.1%).

Customers in Kentucky, Indiana, New Hampshire, and Delaware were, on average, the most generous tippers at full-service restaurants, adding a tip between 21% and 21.8%. Restaurants in California, Florida, and Washington were again on the lower end of the scale, with customers tipping an average of 18% to 18.6% of the total bill.

The highest quick-service tips were in Delaware and West Virginia, where the average gratuity was about 19%. Unlike previous categories, Toast found that Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey left the lowest average tips at quick-service spots at about 14.8%.

How much — or how little — a state tips on average can be influenced by how much the people serving you are making. Toast points to California, where tipping was relatively low but the minimum wage is $15.50 (fast food workers will start making at least $20 an hour next year, thanks to a new bill the state passed this fall). The same could be said for Washington, which has the highest minimum wage in the nation at $15.74.

Alternatively, in some of the states where the tipping rate was the highest, the minimum wage is lower. In Wisconsin, for example, the minimum wage is $7.25, but those in the restaurant industry could be making as little as $2.33 an hour. It is worth noting though that in most states, if a tipped employee does not make enough in wages and tips to reach the state’s minimum hourly wage, the employer must pay them the difference.