Californians Are The Stingiest Tippers, Study Finds

CALIFORNIA — The Golden State ranks dead last for tipping, and two of its largest cities are at the bottom of the list among major metros, according to a recent analysis by the payment platform Toast.

The company analyzed internal data from restaurants that used its system for payment processing over three months at the end of last year to determine average tips added to restaurant bills in all 50 states and 12 metro areas.

Two California metros were included in the more granular analysis, pulling data from restaurants around San Francisco, Oakland, Fremont, Los Angeles, Long Beach and Santa Ana.

Among the dozen major metros, Cleveland was home to the biggest tippers and is the only one to average more than 20 percent. Denver was a close second, where patrons tipped 19.8 percent on average.

San Francisco placed last, averaging 17 percent, followed by Los Angeles at 17.5 percent. Rounding out the bottom three was Seattle at 18 percent.

Metro Areas Ranked By Average Tips

Top 5

1. Cleveland (20.6%)
2. Denver (19.8%)
3. Salt Lake City (19.6%)
4. Phoenix (19.5%)
5. Richmond (19.3%)

Bottom 5

1. San Francisco (17%)
2. Los Angeles (17.5%)
3. Seattle (18%)
4. Washington, D.C. (18.6%)
5. New York (18.7%)

Looking at state-level data, Delaware claimed the top spot by a full point, where customers added 21.8 percent to the average bill, and the leading 15 states all saw average tips higher than 20 percent.

On the other end of the spectrum, California thudded to the bottom, with tips averaging 17.5 percent. Washington and Florida only fared a little better, averaging 18.2 percent and 18.3 percent, respectively.

Toast said California continued its streak as "the least generous state for tipping" on its platform, while Delaware claimed Indiana's crown for the first time.

States Ranked By Average Tips

Top 5

1. Delaware (21.8%)
2. Indiana (20.8%)
3. Wyoming (20.8%)
4. Kentucky (20.7%)
5. West Virginia (20.6%)

Bottom 5

1. California (17.5%)
2. Washington (18.2%)
3. Florida (18.3%)
4. Nevada (18.4%)
5. Hawaii (18.7%)

The tipping analysis was part of Toast's larger restaurant trends report, which illustrates trends in sales data collected from nearly 80,000 locations across the United States. Since researchers are only able to measure card-based and digital payments, cash tips are not incorporated into the math.

>> Check out the full report on Toast's website.