This West Coast State Ranks Lowest For Tipping Yet Again

With all the data collected by restaurants and ordering platforms these days, we now have access to an unprecedented amount of information on what and how people pay for food. This includes which states are the stingiest when it comes to tipping. The American practice of tipping at restaurants is something that carries a lot of baggage, mostly because of how ill-defined and confusing the etiquette is. None of this is helped by the fact that the United States has laws regarding tipped wages that vary greatly state-to-state — and that shows up in the average tip stats as well, as high-minimum-wage California once again averaged the lowest tips in 2025.

This info comes from Toast, which has an annual tradition of sharing order data through its digital platform. In 2025, the average tip nationwide at full-service restaurants in America was 19.2%, while quick service saw a slightly lower rate of 15.8%. The Golden State, however, only averaged 17.6% at full-service restaurants, and secured an impressive national low for overall tips at 17.2%. Washington state came second-to-last at a 17.6% overall rate, and New Jersey managed to be the least generous when it came to quick-service tips specifically, averaging 13.6% to California's 14.8%.

On the other end of the tipping spectrum, just like last year's data on the best and worst tippers, Delaware was the most generous. The state averaged a tipping rate of 21.8%, boosted by an unusually higher quick-service tipping rate of 18.2%. That's certainly better than any of California's averages.

While it's easy to write off California as stingy, tipping rates are influenced by what customers know servers are already making. America's baffling tangle of tipped minimum wage laws also means there are three different systems for ensuring service workers' pay. The federal tipped minimum wage is only $2.13 per hour, however employers are required to cover the difference if employees make less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 after tips. Some states stop here, while 28 states have to "pay tipped employees a minimum cash wage above the [federally required] minimum cash wage" (via U.S. Department of Labor).

There are also states that have no separate tipped minimum wage, instead applying the normal wage across the board. California is one of these, and it has the second highest minimum wage in the country at $16.90 per hour, behind only fellow low tipper Washington at $17.13. So, food service workers in these states are starting from a much higher baseline salary — and plenty of customers know it, so they don't feel guilty tipping less. That's a lot different than servers in Delaware starting at $2.23 per hour.

If a server in each state were to clear $200 worth of bills in an hour, the Delaware server would receive $43.60 in tips on average, while the California worker would only get $34.40. However, take the minimum wage into account, and the Delaware server gets $45.83, while in California, that same worker would be making $51.30 per hour. So, Cali customers may be tipping less than other states, but servers there are still making more on average.