How much does each tip percentage add to a bill?
On a $100 restaurant bill in the US, a 15% tip is $15.00, 18% is $18.00, 20% is $20.00 and 22% is $22.00. Going from the low end to the high end costs you $7.00 on that bill.
For you, that's a few dollars a meal. For the server, it adds up. Someone selling $1,000 of food and drink a shift, 5 shifts a week, collects $37,500 a year in tips at a 15% average and $55,000 at 22%. That $17,500 difference comes from the same few dollars per table.
The tip chart for common bills
Here's the tip on bills of $25, $50, $75, $100, $150 and $200 at each of the four rates people use most in the US, worked out with the site's tip calculator.
Tip amount on common US restaurant bills at 15%, 18%, 20% and 22%
Download CSVTip on the bill amount as entered. Tip calculator, rounded to the cent.
| $25.00 | $3.75 | $4.50 | $5.00 | $5.50 | $30.00 |
| $50.00 | $7.50 | $9.00 | $10.00 | $11.00 | $60.00 |
| $75.00 | $11.25 | $13.50 | $15.00 | $16.50 | $90.00 |
| $100.00 | $15.00 | $18.00 | $20.00 | $22.00 | $120.00 |
| $150.00 | $22.50 | $27.00 | $30.00 | $33.00 | $180.00 |
| $200.00 | $30.00 | $36.00 | $40.00 | $44.00 | $240.00 |
A quick way to check the math in your head: 20% is a tenth of the bill, doubled. On a $50 bill a tenth is half of $10.00, so double it and you're there. For 15%, take a tenth and add half of that again. 18% and 22% are a little harder to do in your head, which is why most card readers now show them as buttons.
15%, 18%, 20% or 22%?
There's no law on this, just custom, and custom has drifted up. Fifteen percent used to be the default for table service. Many diners now treat 18% to 20% as normal for a sit-down meal and save 22% or more for great service or a long, demanding table.
In dollars, the spread is smaller than it feels when you're choosing a button. On a $50 dinner, the difference between 15% and 22% is $3.50. On a $150 dinner it's $10.50. On $200, it's $14.00.
How to split a bill with tip
The tip calculator also splits a check evenly. A $200 bill shared by four people with a 20% tip comes to $60.00 each, of which $10.00 is tip. At 18% it's $59.00 each, and at 22% it's $61.00.
The calculator only splits evenly. If one person had the steak and another had a salad, you'll need to split it by what each person ordered and add the tip to each share.
A related question is whether to tip on the bill before or after sales tax. The calculator tips on whatever amount you enter. Tipping on the pre-tax subtotal is common and perfectly polite; tipping on the total adds the tip rate times the tax, a small amount on most bills.
What tips add up to for a server
To show what the rate means on the other side of the table, we ran the tip calculator on a week of sales for a server: $1,000 a shift, 5 shifts a week, which is a full schedule at a busy sit-down restaurant. We then multiplied the weekly tips by 50 working weeks.
What tips add up to for a server, by average tip rate
Download CSV$1,000 of sales a shift, five shifts a week, 50 weeks. Social Security and Medicare at 2026 employee rates. Federal and state income tax, tip-outs and the hourly cash wage are not included.
| 15% | $150 | $750 | $37,500 | $2,869 |
| 18% | $180 | $900 | $45,000 | $3,443 |
| 20% | $200 | $1,000 | $50,000 | $3,825 |
| 22% | $220 | $1,100 | $55,000 | $4,208 |
At a 20% average, that server makes $200 a shift in tips, $1,000 a week and $50,000 a year. At 15%, it's $37,500. At 22%, $55,000.
Those numbers are tips only. Most tipped workers also get an hourly cash wage from the employer, which in many states is lower than the regular minimum wage because tips are expected to make up the rest. The cash wage varies a lot by state, so it isn't included here. Many servers also share part of their tips with bussers, bartenders and hosts, which brings the figure down.
Tipped workers' take-home: the tax on tips
Tips are wages in the eyes of the IRS. Servers are expected to report them to their employer, and reported tips go on the W-2 along with the hourly wage.
Social Security and Medicare apply to every reported dollar. On $50,000 of tips, that's $3,825 a year, or about 7.6% of the tips. At a 15% average it's $2,869, and at 22% it's $4,208. That leaves $46,175 of the 20% figure before income tax.
Federal income tax is where it gets complicated. Starting with tax year 2025, there's a federal deduction for qualified tips in eligible jobs. It can be claimed whether or not you itemize, it has a yearly cap, and it phases out at higher incomes. It reduces federal income tax only, not Social Security or Medicare, and many states don't follow it for state income tax.
The site's paycheck calculator doesn't model that deduction yet. Rather than show a federal income tax figure we know would be too high for a tipped worker, this page stops at Social Security and Medicare. If you're a server working out your own take-home, check the IRS guidance on the tips deduction and your actual pay stubs.
What this leaves out
- The hourly cash wage. Only tips are counted for the server. Add your employer's hourly pay for the full picture.
- Tip-outs and tip pools. Money shared with other staff isn't subtracted.
- Income tax. For the reason above, no federal or state income tax is shown for the server.
- Uneven weeks. Restaurant sales swing with the season and the day of the week. We used the same $1,000 a shift every shift.
- Service charges. Some restaurants add an automatic service charge for large groups. That's not always treated as a tip, legally or by the restaurant, so read the bill before adding more.
- Sales tax. The tip chart tips on the bill as entered. It doesn't add sales tax for you.
Do your own tip math
Use the tip calculator to get the tip, total and per-person share for any bill and rate. If you need to add sales tax first, the sales tax calculator handles that. For the wage side, the minimum wage calculator shows your state's regular minimum wage, and minimum wage by state compares all 50 states. The paycheck calculator shows take-home on regular wages.
