Tip Calculator

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 — because splitting is the usual reason people reach for it — the per-person amount up front. The defaults are a $50.00 bill at 20% 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 reflect common US sit-down customs: 15% on the low end, 18% and 20% as the typical range, and 25% for service you want to reward. None of these are rules — tipping in the US is a custom, not a law — but a sit-down restaurant generally lands around 18–20%, and the buttons just save you the mental math. The custom field is there for anything in between or for a flat amount you’ve already decided on.

Norms shift by setting, so treat the percentage as a starting point. At a bar, people often leave roughly $1–2 a drink, or 15–20% on a tab you run. Delivery is commonly 10–15% with a few-dollar minimum, since a small order still takes a full trip to bring. For a taxi or rideshare, around 15% is typical. The same engine handles all of these — you’re just choosing the percentage the occasion calls for.

A small but real decision is what you tip on: the pre-tax subtotal or the tax-included total. Tipping on the pre-tax subtotal is the standard convention, and because sales tax isn’t part of the service, it’s also slightly cheaper. If you’d rather tip on the full total, enter that number as the bill instead — the math is identical, only the base changes.

When you split, the tool leads with the per-person figure so everyone can pay their share at a glance. To keep the tip landing at the percentage you intended, tip on the whole bill first and then divide the total — splitting before tipping, or having each person round their own share down, quietly erodes what the server actually receives. Divide the grand total evenly and the intended percentage holds.

The formula

The tip is a percentage of the bill; the total adds it back, and the split divides that total across the group:

tip = bill × (tip% ÷ 100)
total = bill + tip
per person = total ÷ split

Worked example with the defaults — a $50.00 bill at 20% for one person: 50 × (20 ÷ 100) = $10.00 tip, and 50 + 10 = $60.00 total. Split that $60.00 four ways and each person owes $15.00. Drop the rate to 18% on the same $50.00 bill and the tip becomes $9.00 instead.

Notice the split divides the total, not the bill — so the tip is shared along with the food, and the percentage you chose still holds across the table. Tip on the full bill first, then divide, and everyone pays an equal, fair share.

Frequently asked questions

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