About Tipping
Tips are a customary or expected extra payment on top of a service bill — most commonly in restaurants, bars, taxis and personal services. The rules vary dramatically around the world. In the United States, tipping is essentially mandatory for restaurant staff, whose base wage is often below minimum wage and assumes tips will top it up. In Japan, tipping is considered impolite. In much of Europe, a service charge is already built into the bill and any extra tip is a genuine gesture of appreciation.
Because the amount varies by context and location, a good tip calculator should let you set your own tip percentage, adjust party size for group meals, and round the total in a way that makes splitting the bill easy.
How to calculate a tip
Tip = Bill × (Tip % ÷ 100)
Total = Bill + Tip
For a $100 bill at 18% tip: Tip = 100 × 0.18 = $18, Total = $118. For a party of 4, each person pays $29.50.
The standard tip percentages
| Service | US standard | Europe / UK |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurant (sit-down) | 18–20% | 5–10% (often included) |
| Bartender | $1–2 per drink, or 15–20% on tab | Round up, or 5–10% |
| Takeaway / counter service | 0–10% | 0% |
| Taxi / rideshare | 10–15% | Round up |
| Food delivery | 10–15% | 5–10% |
| Hotel housekeeping | $2–5 per night | $1–2 per night |
| Hair salon / barber | 15–20% | 5–10% |
| Massage therapist | 15–20% | 5–10% |
Quick mental math for tips
If you don't have a calculator handy:
- 10% — move the decimal one place left. Bill $48 → $4.80.
- 15% — take 10% and add half again. $4.80 + $2.40 = $7.20.
- 20% — take 10% and double it. $4.80 × 2 = $9.60.
- 18% — take 20% and subtract 10%. $9.60 − $0.96 = $8.64.
Rounding tips
Rounding the tip up to the nearest dollar or nearest $5 makes splitting the bill easier and often gives a modest boost to the server. On a $47.83 bill at 18%, the exact tip is $8.61 and the total is $56.44. Round the tip to $9 → total $56.83. Round the total to $60 → tip becomes $12.17, or 25%. This tool shows you all three options so you can pick.
Common use cases
Restaurants
Work out the tip and split a table bill evenly.
Taxis & Rideshare
Add the correct tip to a taxi or Uber fare.
Bars & Pubs
Calculate a tip on a running bar tab.
Food Delivery
Tip delivery drivers on DoorDash, Uber Eats and similar apps.
Salon & Spa
Calculate tips for haircuts, massages and beauty services.
Hotel Stays
Work out housekeeping tips for multi-night stays.
Privacy and accuracy
This tip calculator runs entirely in your browser. All calculations happen locally in JavaScript with no server calls. Nothing is uploaded, stored or logged.