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Tipping in restaurants has long been the norm here in the United States, but despite the fact that it’s a common (and expected) practice, how much you tip, when, and where, remains a personal and often highly controversial choice.
A recent survey by CreditCards.com shed some light into the differences between tipping habits not only across the country, by between different age groups, genders, and even political affiliations.
According to the survey, America’s most generous tippers include men, baby boomers, and people who hail from the Northeast – these respondents all reported leaving an average 20 percent tip when dining out, as did Republicans and those who use a credit or debit card to tip.
By contrast, Southerners and Democrats alike reported tipping an average of 15 percent of the total bill, and women tended to tip about 16 percent.
Collectively, about 80 percent of the survey’s 1,002 respondents reported always tipping in restaurants, with the median tip rate being 18 percent, and people earning over $75,000 annually top the charts in terms of the average size of their tips.
Tipping isn’t limited to restaurants – nearly one-third of those surveyed tip both the baristas in coffee shops and housekeepers in hotels, while two-thirds also tip their stylist or barber. Whether or not you tip when getting your hair done often depends on your age – the older you are, the less likely you are to tip outside of restaurants.
In fact, tipping isn’t the norm across the world – in many countries tips aren’t expected, while leaving a tip in some regions is considered to be an insult. In Japan, leaving a tip can lead to confusion, while China is also a no-tipping country. Switzerland’s labor laws mean that restaurant staff are already well-compensated through their salary, and therefore, servers do not rely on tips to make up part of their wages.