How to Calculate Tip
Calculate a 15%, 18%, 20%, or 25% restaurant tip in your head from the pre-tax subtotal, check the bill for a gratuity already added, and split the tip in a group.
You will end up able to work out a 15%, 18%, 20%, or 25% tip in your head, spot a gratuity that is already on the bill, and split the tip in a group. The method is one move. Shift the decimal point to get 10% of the subtotal, then build the percentage you want from that number.
You are asked for a tip in more places than you used to be. In a 2023 Pew Research Center survey of 11,945 U.S. adults, 72% said tipping is expected in more places than it was 5 years ago, and only about a third said it is extremely or very easy to know how much to tip.
Find the subtotal on your bill
Look for the line labeled "subtotal" on your receipt. This is the cost of your food and drinks before tax, and it is the number to tip on. The Emily Post Institute's tipping guide gives restaurant tips as a percentage of the pre-tax bill. If the bill shows only a total, tip on that. The difference is small. On a $50 meal with 8% tax, a 20% tip is $10.00 on the subtotal and $10.80 on the total.
Calculate 10% by moving the decimal
This is the foundation for every tip calculation. Take your subtotal and move the decimal point one place to the left. That gives you 10%. $56.00 becomes $5.60 $82.50 becomes $8.25 $124.00 becomes $12.40 Check the result against the bill. It has the same digits, with the decimal point one place over.
Good to know: To make the math easier, round your subtotal to the nearest $10 before you start. A $47.83 subtotal becomes $50, and 10% of $50 is $5. A 20% tip worked out that way is $10.00, which is 43 cents more than the exact $9.57.
Build your tip from the 10% base
Once you know 10%, you can reach any of the common tip percentages by adding or doubling. 15% tip: Take your 10% number and add half of it. If 10% is $5.60, half of that is $2.80. Your 15% tip is $8.40. 18% tip: Double your 10% to get 20% ($11.20), then subtract 2% ($1.12). Your 18% tip is $10.08, or $10 rounded. 20% tip: Double your 10% number. If 10% is $5.60, your 20% tip is $11.20. 25% tip: Take your 20% number and add half of your 10% number. If 20% is $11.20 and 10% is $5.60, half of that is $2.80. Your 25% tip is $14.00.
Double the tax line as a shortcut
If your receipt shows the sales tax, you can skip the percentage math and double the tax line. Sales tax is charged on the subtotal, so doubling an 8% tax gives a 16% tip and doubling a 10% tax gives a 20% tip. New York City is an example. Its Department of Finance puts the combined city and state sales tax at 8.875%, so double the tax line is a 17.75% tip. Check the rate on your own receipt before you rely on this. Doubling a 5% tax gives only a 10% tip, and a state with no general sales tax, such as Oregon, gives you no tax line to double. In those places, use the 10% method from steps 2 and 3.
Round up to a clean number
Once you have your tip amount, add it to the bill and round the total up to a whole number of dollars. Say the subtotal is $47.83, tax at 8% adds $3.83, and a 20% tip on the subtotal comes to $9.57. The total is $61.23. Round up to $62. A whole-dollar total is also easier to split in a group.
Split the tip when dining in a group
Calculate the tip on the full subtotal first, then divide. Say four people share a dinner with a $120 subtotal and agree on 20%. The tip is $24. Add it to the bill, tax included, and divide the total by four. There is a faster way. Each person calculates the tip on their own share. If your share of the subtotal is $30, 20% of $30 is $6, so you owe $6 on top of your share of the bill. Four tips of $6 add up to the same $24. If one person ordered far more than the others, split by what each person ordered instead of dividing evenly.
Check for auto-gratuity before adding your own
Read the bill for a line labeled "gratuity" or "service charge" before you add a tip. Some restaurants add one automatically for large parties, and the menu or the bill states the percentage. If the bill already includes it, you do not need to tip again on top of it. Add extra only if the service was exceptional. A charge you have to pay is not a tip in the eyes of the IRS. Its guidance on tips says a service charge added to a bill that the customer must pay counts as non-tip wages when it is paid to an employee, and it lists large party charges, room service charges, bottle service charges, and mandated delivery charges as common examples. The bill does not show how much of a service charge reaches the staff, so ask if that matters to you.
Heads up: Payment screens at counter-service spots show preset tip buttons. Before you tap one, compare its dollar amount with your own figure from step 3, and check whether the screen worked its percentage out on the total with tax. If the preset is higher than your figure, enter your own amount.
If the mental math goes wrong under pressure, round the subtotal to the nearest $10 and start again from step 2. If a payment screen's preset buttons do not match your figure, enter your own amount (step 7). If a group cannot agree on a percentage, have each person tip on their own share (step 6). To make the method stick, work out 10% of your next few receipts before you look at the suggested tips. For a moving crew, our guide on how much to tip movers gives the per-mover and per-day figures. FAQ 2 below covers buffets, FAQ 3 takeout and delivery, and FAQ 6 bartenders.
Questions we get asked about this
Answers from experience, not a textbook.
Tip 15% to 20% of the pre-tax bill at a sit-down restaurant in the United States. That is the range the Emily Post Institute's guide, linked in step 1, gives for wait service. We recommend 20% for good service, because it is the top of that range and the easiest figure to calculate. What people say they tip runs lower. In the Pew survey linked in the introduction, 57% of adults said they would tip 15% or less for an average sit-down meal, and a quarter said 20% or more. In the same survey, 92% of adults who eat at sit-down restaurants said they always or often leave a tip.
Less than at a table-service restaurant. The Emily Post Institute's guide gives 10% of the pre-tax bill for wait service at a buffet. For a tip jar at a counter it says there is no obligation, and suggests tipping occasionally if the server or barista provides a little something extra or if you are a regular customer. In the Pew survey linked in the introduction, among people who use each service, 25% said they always or often tip when buying a coffee and 12% when eating at a fast casual restaurant.
Takeout carries no obligation to tip, according to the Emily Post Institute's guide. It suggests 10% for extra service, such as curb delivery, or for a large, complicated order. For delivery, the same guide gives 10% to 15% of the bill, and $2 to $5 for pizza delivery depending on the size of the order and the difficulty of the delivery.
Yes. If you used a coupon or received a free item, calculate your tip on the original price before the discount, because the server did the same amount of work. A gift card is a way of paying, not a discount, so tip on the subtotal as usual.
At a full-service restaurant in the United States, leave a tip even when the service was poor. Federal law lets an employer pay a tipped worker a cash wage of $2.13 an hour, and the Department of Labor's state table showed 15 states using that figure as of July 1, 2026. The employer has to make up the difference only if tips fail to bring the worker to the $7.25 federal minimum wage, so a worker paid that cash wage gets most of their pay from tips. For poor service, tip the bottom of the range, 15%, and tell a manager what went wrong. Your tip can also reach other staff. The Department of Labor says employers may require servers to pool tips with coworkers such as bussers and service bartenders.
The Emily Post Institute's guide gives $1 to $2 per drink, or 15% to 20% of the tab. Tip per drink when you pay as you go, and tip the percentage when you run a tab and settle at the end of the night.
Master Your Money
How to Make a Budget
How to Invest in Stocks
How to Write a Check
How to Save Money
How to Negotiate a Salary
How to Calculate Tip
← you’re hereHow to Void a Check