In the United States, 18–20% at a sit-down restaurant, on the pre-tax amount. Almost everywhere else the number collapses: 10–12.5% in the UK and Ireland, and usually already printed on the bill; rounding up or 5–10% across most of continental Europe; nothing at all in Japan, South Korea, mainland China, Australia and New Zealand. Before you pick a percentage anywhere, check the bill for a service charge — if one is there, that is the tip, and adding another pays twice.
What to tip, by country
These are norms for a sit-down meal with table service, which is the case people actually worry about. Counter service, bars and taxis are further down.
| Where | Restaurant | What catches people out |
|---|---|---|
| United States, Canada | 18–20% | 15% was the standard a generation ago and now reads as the low end. Tax is added at the register in both countries, so the menu price is not the total — and the tip goes on the amount before that tax. |
| United Kingdom, Ireland | 10–12.5% | Usually added for you as a "discretionary service charge". If it is there, do not add more. You can ask for it to be taken off. |
| France | Optional | Service is included in the listed price by law. Locals round up or leave a couple of euros for a good meal, not a percentage. |
| Germany, Austria, Switzerland | Round up, roughly 5–10% | You say the total you want to pay when handing over cash or card. Leaving coins on the table is not the custom. |
| Italy | Often nothing | The coperto, typically 1–3 euros a head, is a cover charge, not a tip. Lazio banned it in 2006, so in Rome the same money tends to appear as pane or servizio instead. A servizio line is the tip. |
| Spain, Portugal, Greece | Small change to 10% | Rounding up is normal and nobody counts. Ten percent is a generous restaurant tip, not a floor. |
| Netherlands, Nordic countries | Round up | Hospitality pay does not depend on tips. A tip is a compliment, and 5–10% is already handsome. |
| Japan, South Korea | None | Money left on a table gets returned to you. Upmarket restaurants and hotels add a service charge instead, often 10%. |
| Mainland China | None | Hong Kong is the exception: restaurants there add 10% as a matter of course. |
| Australia, New Zealand | Not expected | Hospitality staff get the statutory minimum wage with no tip credit. Ten percent marks something genuinely good. |
| Mexico | 10–15% | Expected, and closer to the US pattern than to the European one. |
| Brazil | 10%, usually on the bill | The taxa de serviço is legally optional and paid in practice. It is the tip. |
| Argentina, Chile | Around 10% | Often suggested on the bill or asked for at the terminal. Cash is still common and often preferred. |
| India | 5–10% | A service charge cannot be made compulsory: the consumer authority banned that in 2022 and the Delhi High Court upheld the ban in 2025. If one is on the bill anyway, you can ask for it to come off. |
| UAE and the Gulf | 10–15% if nothing is added | Many bills already carry a service charge or a municipality fee, which are not the same thing. |
Treat this as a snapshot of habit, not a rule. Customs drift, tourist districts drift fastest, and the surest guide is what the table next to you does.
Why is tipping so much higher in the US?
Because there a tip is payroll rather than a bonus. Federal law lets an employer pay a tipped worker $2.13 an hour in direct wages against a federal minimum of $7.25, and count up to $5.12 of tips as a "tip credit" covering the gap. The employer has to top the worker up if tips fall short, but the baseline expectation is that customers pay most of the wage. Seven states — Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington — refuse the tip credit and require the full state minimum in cash before a single tip is counted. Plenty of other states set a tipped wage above $2.13 without abolishing the credit, so the floor under your server depends on which state you are sitting in.
That one legal difference explains most of the international spread. Where staff are paid a normal wage, a tip is a gesture and 5% means something. In the US it is a large share of someone's income.
Is the tip already on the bill?
This is the mistake that costs real money, and it is easier to make abroad because the wording is unfamiliar. Look for a service charge, servizio, taxa de serviço, servicio or a flat 10% line you did not order. If one is there, the tip has been taken. In the UK the charge is discretionary and you may ask for it to be removed, though most people do not. Since 1 October 2024, employers in England, Wales and Scotland have had to pass on in full the tips they receive or control, rather than keeping a cut; Northern Ireland is not covered by that law.
The other trap is the opposite: knowing you owe roughly 12% of an unfamiliar total while five people wait for you to finish. That is the moment to stop doing arithmetic out of pride. A tip calculator that also splits the bill gives you the tip, the total and each share, and it says when the shares do not add up — three people splitting 100.00 pay 33.33 each and leave the table a cent short. What it cannot do is see your bill. It does not know the custom where you are standing and it cannot tell that a service charge is already on the check, so that line is still yours to look for.
Do you tip before or after tax?
In the US the convention is before. Sales tax goes to the state, not to the restaurant, and it varies by city, so tipping on it means the same meal earns a server a different amount depending on where it was eaten. What card terminals do is calculate their suggested tips on the post-tax total. On 100 of food with 9% sales tax the terminal works from 109, so the button marked 20% takes 21.80 — 21.8% of the food. Not outrageous, but not what the button says either.
This whole problem is specific to the US, and it is worth knowing why it does not happen in Europe. There the tax is baked into the number on the menu, so what you read is what you pay and there is nothing to strip out before tipping. If you have ever wondered how a price that already includes the tax is put together, that mechanism is the reason a European bill has no surprise line at the bottom.
How do you work out a tip in your head?
Ten percent is the decimal point moved one place to the left. Everything else is built from that: double it for 20%, add half of it for 15%, add a quarter for 12.5%. On a bill of 74.00 that is 7.40, so 15% is 11.10 and you are done before the terminal has woken up. When the number is awkward or the percentage is odd, working the percentage out properly is quicker than arguing about it.
How much do you tip bars, taxis and hotels?
In the US: 1–2 dollars a drink at a bar, or 20% if you run a tab; around 15% or a round-up for a taxi or rideshare; 2–5 dollars a night left for housekeeping, daily rather than at the end, because the person who cleaned on Tuesday may not be there on Friday; 1–2 dollars a bag for a porter. Counter service — coffee, a sandwich, a haircut you already paid for — carries no obligation, whatever the screen suggests.
Outside the US, most of this shrinks to rounding: a taxi fare goes up to the next convenient note, hotel tipping is modest and occasional, and in Japan none of it applies at all.
The counter-service prompt deserves its own warning. Those default buttons — 18%, 20%, 25% — are configured in the payment software, not inherited from any custom, and they now appear on transactions nobody tipped on ten years ago. Tapping "no tip" at a self-service counter is not a moral event.
What the percentage does not answer
Three things stay out of reach of any table or calculator, and they matter more than the exact figure.
- Whether the tip reaches the person who served you. It may be pooled with the kitchen, taken partly by the employer, or delayed by card processing. British rules now require full pass-through of the tips an employer handles; elsewhere it depends on the employer. Cash tends to arrive more directly, which is a tendency and not a guarantee.
- Whether an even split is a fair split. It is not, when one person had tap water and another had the tasting menu. Splitting by item means knowing the items, and no calculator can see your table.
- What is normal right now, where you are. Percentages have crept up in North America, barely moved in Europe and stayed absent in East Asia. Any written figure ages.
If you are unsure, ask at the hotel desk on day one. Twenty seconds beats guessing for a week.
When the bill lands and the arithmetic has to happen in front of people, the tip calculator handles the percentage, the split and the pre-tax base in one screen, and it flags the odd cent that an even split leaves behind. Nothing you type into it goes anywhere.
Tipping is one of two arithmetic problems that reliably catch travellers out. The other is units. The metric-to-imperial conversions worth memorising covers the handful that actually come up on a trip, so you can read a speed limit or a weather forecast without reaching for your phone.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I tip in the US?
Between 18% and 20% of the pre-tax amount at a sit-down restaurant, with 20% the safe default in cities. At a bar it is 1–2 dollars a drink, or 20% on a tab. Counter service carries no obligation even when the screen suggests one.
Do you tip in Europe?
Far less than in the US, and in several countries barely at all. France includes service in the listed price by law, and Italian bills tend to carry a coperto or a servizio line rather than a tip. Rounding up or leaving 5–10% is generous in Germany, Spain and the Nordic countries. The UK and Ireland sit at 10–12.5%, usually added to the bill as a discretionary service charge.
Is it rude to tip in Japan?
It is not an insult, but it is not the custom either, and staff will often chase you down the street to return money you left. Upmarket restaurants and hotels add a service charge to the bill instead. The same applies in South Korea and mainland China, though Hong Kong restaurants routinely add 10%.
Should I still tip if there is a service charge on the bill?
No. The service charge is the tip, and adding another on top pays twice for the same thing. In the UK the charge is discretionary and can be removed on request. Watch out for the Italian coperto, which is a per-person cover charge and not a tip at all.
Why does the card machine suggest 25%?
Because the defaults are set in the payment software, not by any custom. The suggestions are also usually calculated on the post-tax total rather than the pre-tax subtotal, so a button marked 20% can be closer to 22% of the food. You can always type your own amount.
How much do you tip a taxi driver?
In the US, around 15% of the fare, or round up on a short ride. In most of Europe, rounding the fare up to the next convenient note is the whole custom. In Japan, Australia and New Zealand, nothing is expected.
Last updated September 19, 2026