"The common belief about tipping culture in America is that it's out of control. Higher overall menu costs, rising mandatory service fees on food delivery apps, and the proliferation of tablet-based transactions mean tipping prompts now appear in situations where tipping was never the norm. As someone who works on the team running a payment platform processing thousands of payments daily, I can confirm that this belief is only half true, especially for small businesses."
"The average tip percentage is 15.46%, with everyday categories such as restaurants, fast food, and transportation clustering between 14% and 16%. Meanwhile, relationship-driven services consistently earn higher percentages. Barbering and beauty services average 17%, for example, while miscellaneous personal services, such as handymen, pet care, and tattoo/piercing services, hit 18.3%. But look at the dollar amounts, not just the percentages, and you'll see tipping's economic footprint is actually expanding."
Tipping prompts have proliferated into nontraditional situations due to higher menu costs, mandatory service fees on delivery apps, and tablet-based transactions. Data from 89,068 verified tipping transactions across all 50 states in 2025 show an average tip percentage of 15.46%, with restaurants, fast food, and transportation clustering between 14% and 16%. Relationship-driven services average higher percentages: barbering and beauty 17%; miscellaneous personal services 18.3%. The average tip amount is $12.44, with specialty services like automotive repair often exceeding $20 per interaction. Small and micro-sized businesses must design checkout tip prompts carefully to avoid prompting fatigue that erodes customer goodwill.
Read at Fortune
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