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Tip Calculator

Tip, total, and the per-person split — pick 15/18/20/25% or enter your own.

Updated

1 person

Total to pay

$60.00total

$10.00 tip included

Tip
$10.00
Total (bill + tip)
$60.00
You pay
$60.00

Estimates for general information, not financial advice.

In short

How much should I tip on a $50 bill?

A 20 percent tip on a $50.00 bill is $10.00, for a $60.00 total, because tip equals bill times the rate divided by 100. At 15 percent the same bill gives $7.50, at 18 percent $9.00, and at 25 percent $12.50. Split that $60.00 total four ways and each person owes $15.00.

Tipping in the United States is a social convention rather than a legal requirement, and the customary percentage differs sharply by setting and by country.

How to use the tip calculator

Enter the bill, pick a tip percentage, and set how many people are splitting it. The tool returns the tip, the new total, and the per-person amount, because splitting is the usual reason anyone reaches for a tip calculator in the first place.

The defaults are a $50.00 bill at 20 percent for one person, which works out to a $10.00 tip and a $60.00 total. Change any input and the rest follows instantly.

The percentage buttons at 15, 18, 20 and 25 are there to save you the arithmetic, not to tell you what to leave, and the custom field handles any figure the occasion calls for, including a flat amount you have already settled on in your head.

$10.00

Tip at 20%

on the $50.00 default bill

$60.00

Grand total

bill plus tip

$15.00

Each of 4

the total split, tip included

92 percent said they always or often tip at a sit-down restaurant, but a majority, 57 percent, said they would tip 15 percent or less for an average meal, and only about a quarter said 20 percent or more.
Pew Research Center survey of 11,945 US adults, August 2023, published November 2023

That is what people actually do rather than what the terminal suggests. The same survey asked about other settings as well, and the share of Americans who always or often tip falls away sharply outside the sit-down restaurant.

Who always or often tips, by setting
A haircut
78 percent
Food delivery
76 percent
A drink at a bar
70 percent
A taxi or rideshare
61 percent
A coffee-shop drink
25 percent
A fast-casual counter
12 percent

Card terminals now prompt in a lot of those last settings, which is a change in the prompt rather than a change in the custom.

One small decision that comes up every time is what you tip on: the pre-tax subtotal or the tax-included total. The long-standing US convention is the pre-tax subtotal, on the reasoning that sales tax is not part of the service, and it is slightly cheaper for you as well.

On a $50.00 subtotal with a combined 7.25 percent sales tax, the check total is $53.63; tipping 20 percent on the subtotal is $10.00 while tipping on the total is $10.73, a difference of 73 cents. Neither is wrong and nobody at the table will notice, but if you want the standard practice, enter the subtotal as the bill.

Some checks also arrive with a service charge already added for large parties, in which case the tip line is on top of a charge you are already paying.

Splitting it across the table?

This tool tips the whole bill and shows one per-person share. The bill split calculator leads with that per-head figure and lets you set the size of the party first.

Open the bill split calculator

Do

  • Enter the pre-tax subtotal if you want the long-standing US convention.
  • Compute the tip on the whole bill, then divide the total across the table.
  • Round each per-person share up to the next whole dollar before you pay.
  • Check whether a service charge has already been added for a large party.

Don't

  • Tip on the tax-included total by accident, which adds 73 cents on a $50.00 subtotal.
  • Let everyone shave their own share down, because the shortfall lands on the tip.
  • Carry the US percentage abroad, where service is often already inside the menu price.
  • Read the terminal presets as the customary amount rather than a saved keystroke.

What each common tip rate comes to at ordinary bill sizes, so you can check the number on the terminal against the number you meant to leave. Every figure is the engine output for bill times rate divided by 100, and the last column is the grand total a 20 percent tip produces.

BillTip at 15%Tip at 18%Tip at 20%Tip at 25%Total at 20%
$10.00$1.50$1.80$2.00$2.50$12.00
$15.00$2.25$2.70$3.00$3.75$18.00
$20.00$3.00$3.60$4.00$5.00$24.00
$25.00$3.75$4.50$5.00$6.25$30.00
$30.00$4.50$5.40$6.00$7.50$36.00
$40.00$6.00$7.20$8.00$10.00$48.00
$50.00$7.50$9.00$10.00$12.50$60.00
$60.00$9.00$10.80$12.00$15.00$72.00
$75.00$11.25$13.50$15.00$18.75$90.00
$80.00$12.00$14.40$16.00$20.00$96.00
$100.00$15.00$18.00$20.00$25.00$120.00
$125.00$18.75$22.50$25.00$31.25$150.00
$150.00$22.50$27.00$30.00$37.50$180.00
$200.00$30.00$36.00$40.00$50.00$240.00
Arithmetic, not data, so these do not go stale: computed July 2026 at exact rates and rounded to the cent for display. The percentages themselves are conventions, not rules. Survey figures cited elsewhere on this page come from Pew Research Center fieldwork of 7 to 27 August 2023, published 9 November 2023.

Tipping outside the United States

Conventions outside the United States are different enough that carrying the US habit abroad is the common mistake. In France, service has been included in menu prices by law since 1987, which is what "service compris" on the menu means, and anything extra is a small optional round-up.

The Japan National Tourism Organization tells visitors plainly that tipping is not customary in Japan and can cause confusion or embarrassment. Read the local convention first, then use this tool to hit whatever number that convention points at.

The three-line tip formula, worked on a $50 bill Three lines, in order tip = bill × (tip% ÷ 100) total = bill + tip per person = total ÷ split the percentage does the work the tip rides on top divide the TOTAL, not the bill WORKED EXAMPLE · $50.00 BILL · 20% · SPLIT 4 WAYS $50.00 bill, at 20% $10.00 tip = 50 × 0.20 $60.00 total = 50 + 10 $15.00 each, ÷ 4 The calculator also reports each person’s share of the tip alone: $10.00 ÷ 4 = $2.50.
Bill x rate, plus the split -> the tip and the per-person total.

The formula, worked line by line

The tip is a percentage of the bill, the total adds it back, and the split divides that total across the group. Three lines, in that order, and the order is the part people get wrong: the tip is computed on the whole bill and the split comes last, so the percentage you chose survives the division.

The percentage itself is the only judgement call in the expression. Everything after it is arithmetic that cannot be argued with, which is why the useful thing a calculator does here is not the multiplication but the reminder that dividing before you tip, rather than after, quietly changes what the server receives.

tip = bill × (tip% ÷ 100)
total = bill + tip
per person = total ÷ split
50 × (20 ÷ 100) = 10.00, so total = 60.00
Tip and total from a billA $50 bill at 20 percent is a $10 tip, $60 total.BILL × TIP% = TIPbill$50tip @ 20%$10bill + tip$60total to pay$60
A $50.00 bill at 20% is a $10.00 tip and a $60.00 total — $15.00 each split four ways.
The default check, settled
Bill
$50.00
Tip at 20 percent
50 × (20 ÷ 100) = + $10.00
Total
$60.00

Split that $60.00 four ways and each person owes $15.00, of which $2.50 is their share of the tip. Drop the rate to 18 percent on the same bill and the tip becomes $9.00 for a $59.00 total, or $14.75 each across four people. Push it to 25 percent and it is $12.50 and $62.50, which is $15.63 each once the cents are rounded up.

Notice that the split divides the total rather than the bill. If four people instead split the bare $50.00 at $12.50 each and then each added 20 percent of their own share, the arithmetic happens to land in the same place, because percentages distribute across addition.

What does not land in the same place is the far more common table habit of everyone rounding their own share down to a convenient note. Four people shaving 40 cents each off $15.00 leaves the pot $1.60 short, which comes out of the tip and not out of the restaurant.

A note on what the tip is calculated against. Using the pre-tax subtotal is the US convention, and the gap is small: on a $50.00 subtotal at a combined 7.25 percent sales tax the check reads $53.63, and 20 percent of that is $10.73 rather than $10.00.

Enter whichever base you intend to tip on, since the engine simply multiplies what you give it. This page is general information about a social convention and about arithmetic, not advice about what you personally ought to pay anyone.

Questions people ask

How much do most people actually tip at a US restaurant?

Less than the terminal suggests. Pew Research Center surveyed 11,945 US adults in August 2023 and found that 92 percent always or often tip at a sit-down restaurant, but 57 percent said they would leave 15 percent or less for an average meal, and only about a quarter said 20 percent or more. So the 18 to 20 percent figure often quoted as standard sits above what a majority of people report doing. Tipping is a convention, not a rule, and quality of service was the factor 77 percent named as a major influence on the amount.

Covered in depth in How Much Should You Tip? Rates by Situation, With the Math

Should I tip on the pre-tax subtotal or the after-tax total?

The pre-tax subtotal is the long-standing US convention, on the reasoning that sales tax is not part of the service you received, and it costs you slightly less. The gap is small: on a $50.00 subtotal with a combined 7.25 percent sales tax the check comes to $53.63, so 20 percent is $10.00 on the subtotal against $10.73 on the total, a difference of 73 cents. Either is perfectly acceptable and nobody will check. Enter whichever base you mean to use, because the calculator simply applies the percentage to the number you give it.

How do I split a tip fairly between several people?

Compute the tip on the whole bill first, then divide the grand total by the number of people. A $50.00 bill at 20 percent is a $60.00 total, which is $15.00 each across four people, and $2.50 of each share is tip. Doing it in that order keeps the rate you chose intact. The habit that erodes it is everyone rounding their own share down to a convenient note: four people shaving 40 cents each leaves the pot $1.60 short, and the shortfall comes out of the tip rather than out of the restaurant.

What are the usual conventions for delivery, bars and rideshares?

They vary by setting, and the honest summary is that there is no single number. The Pew survey found large differences in how often people tip at all: 76 percent always or often tip for food delivery, 70 percent for a drink at a bar, 61 percent for a taxi or rideshare, 25 percent for a coffee-shop drink and just 12 percent at a fast-casual counter. Card terminals now prompt in many of the settings at the bottom of that list, which reflects a change in the prompt rather than an established custom. Use the custom percentage field for whatever you decide.

Do I tip the same way outside the United States?

No, and assuming otherwise is the usual traveller mistake. In France service has been included in menu prices by law since 1987, which is what "service compris" means, so anything extra is a small optional round-up rather than an expected percentage. The Japan National Tourism Organization advises visitors that tipping is not customary in Japan and can cause confusion. In the United Kingdom the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 took effect on 1 October 2024 and requires employers to pass tips and service charges to staff in full. Check the local convention first, then use the tool to hit that number.

Sources

Where the constants and formulas on this page come from. Each line names the figure it backs.

  1. Every survey figure on this page: that 92 percent always or often tip at a sit-down restaurant, 57 percent leave 15 percent or less, 77 percent name service quality as a major influence, and the setting-by-setting rates of 76, 70, 61, 25 and 12 percent.

    Tipping Culture in America: Public Sees a Changed LandscapePew Research Center, Fieldwork 7–27 August 2023, published 9 November 2023