Tipping Statistics

Survey Question 1: Tipping Frequency

How often do you leave a tip for restaurant workers/servers?

Multiple choice, 1 per respondent

35 responses

74.3% (26 respondents): Every time I can

14.3% (5 respondents): When I can afford it

8.6% (3 respondents): Once in a while

2.9% (1 respondent): Never

Survey Question 2: Who Receives Tips

SCOOT ON UP – Junior Drayce Moore makes a drink at the Scooters in Atlantic. He frothed the milk before he continued making the drink. Moore worked with freshmen Maddie Myers and Rayden Wheeler on a busy Thursday night. (Ali Williams)

What type of worker should get tipped?

Checklist, multiple choices per respondent with an option of a short-answer "other"

35 responses

91.4% (32 respondents): Waiters/Waitresses/Servers

62.9% (22 respondents): Drivers (bus, Uber, etc)

60% (21 respondents): Hotel/motel cleaning staff

54.3% (19 respondents): All workers in an establishment who offer courtesy services

51.4% (18 respondents): Restaurant cooks

45.7% (16 respondents): Bellhops

34.3% (12 respondents): Counter personnel

2.9% (1 respondent): Other- "Anyone who doesn't make minimum wage. Also, most people probably aren't aware that servers tip out their bartenders, bar-backs, cooks, etc., and that these are tipped employees."

2.9% (1 respondent): Other- "With the current situation of tips being seen as included in a worker's pay I believe they should be receiving tips, but ideally tips would be unnecessary because their actual wages would be enough and tips would not be expected in order to make a living."

0% (0 respondents): No worker needs tips

Survey Question 3: Employment

Have you ever worked a job as a "tipped employee," where the majority of your income came from tips? The minimum wage for tipped employees is different from standard employees.

Multiple choice, 1 per respondent

35 responses

45.7% (16 respondents): No, I have never worked as a tipped employee

31.4% (11 respondents): Yes, I have worked as a tipped employee in the past

17.1% (6 respondents): Yes, I currently work as a tipped
employee

5.7% (2 respondents): No, I have never had a job

Minimum Wage for Tipped Employees

Two hands hold a collection of cash tips. (J. Molina)

The U.S. Department of Labor's table of minimum wages for tipped employees in 2023 lists and compares the wages across the nation and its surrounding territories, including minimum cash wage. Among other employment standards, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 established a minimum wage for all tipped employees at $2.13 an hour.

7 states and 1 U.S. territory require employers to pay tipped employees the full state minimum wage before tips, meaning that the minimum wage for tipped employees is the same as the minimum wage for other non-tipped employees.

28 states, 1 U.S. territory, and the District of Columbia require employers to pay tipped employees a minimum cash wage above the minimum cash wage required under the federal FLSA. Iowa is included in this category with a tipped employee’s minimum wage standing at $4.25 per hour.

15 states and 3 U.S. territories have in place a minimum cash wage that is the same as that required under the FLSA, meaning all the minimum wages for tipped employees is exactly $2.13.

The History of Tipping

A restaurant customer tips their waiter. (J. Molina)

The most agreed-upon origin of tipping culture came from medieval Europe and master-serf dynamics, according to the 7shifts blog. The servitude of the indentured would sometimes be met with tips from impressed visitors. This tipping of good servitude in Europe continued into the mid-1800’s, which some wealthy Americans brought back with them after travelling, much to the disliking of those who saw the practice as “un-American”.

The attitudes eventually shifted and tipping rooted itself in the American South after the Civil War. Restaurant Business Online.com further explains that service jobs like railway porters were often the first entry-level jobs that former slaves took on. Their wages were not always stable nor guaranteed, so they often relied on the gratuity of their customers in the form of tips.

MK Library in 2021 states that in the early 20th century, as more and more establishments switched to a tipping norm, the practice was not always met with positivity. Customer reactions when asked for tips ranged from uncomfortable to hostile. Some hotels and restaurants enacted anti-tipping rules, and several states even tried to ban the practice altogether. This anti-tip movement did not last forever, and tipping culture continues to be recognized in the states today.

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