Tip Calculator
Work out the tip in dollars for a bill, split it evenly or by what each person actually ordered, and see the total per person. Service presets load a customary rate from the Emily Post general tipping guide and show its cited range, you can tip on the pre-tax subtotal or the post-tax total, and a reverse check tells you what percent a tip already added really is.
How to work out a fair tip — and who owes what
A tip is just the bill times the percent you choose, but a few small decisions — pre-tax or post-tax, which service, and how to split a group check — are where people second-guess themselves. Here is how each one works so the number the calculator shows is one you can stand behind.
Pick the service to load a customary rate from the Emily Post guide and see its cited range. The rate stays editable — the range is guidance, not a rule.
Tips are figured on the pre-tax subtotal unless you enter a tax amount and switch to the post-tax total. Once tax is entered the tool shows both figures and the difference.
Leave people at 1 for a single payer, raise it for an even split, or switch to the uneven split to allocate tax and tip by each person's own order.
A mandatory service charge or auto-gratuity is legally not a tip (US DOL Fact Sheet #15). Decide separately whether to add anything on top; the reverse check shows what percent it already is.
This works out a tip on your bill. It is not a payroll tip-income tax tool for employers and not a staff tip-pool splitter.
Example: an $85.40 dinner at 18%, split three ways
Take an $85.40 sit-down dinner with $7.47 in sales tax, tipped at 18%. The tip is figured on the pre-tax subtotal by default: $85.40 × 0.18 = $15.37. Add the bill and the tax and the total to pay is $85.40 + $7.47 + $15.37 = $108.24. Split three ways, that is $36.08 each. Prefer to tip on the post-tax total instead? The tip rises to $16.72 — a difference of just $1.34 on this check.
How much to tip by service (Emily Post ranges)
Customary tip ranges by service, taken from the Emily Post Institute general tipping guide. Restaurant and buffet figures are calculated on the pre-tax bill. Where Emily Post is silent — rideshare and tattoo — the row says so rather than inventing a number.
| Service | Customary tip | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Sit-down restaurant | 15-20% of the pre-tax bill | Emily Post |
| Buffet (light wait service) | 10% of the pre-tax bill | Emily Post |
| Food delivery | 10-15% of the order; $2-5 for pizza | Emily Post |
| Bartender | $1-2 per drink, or 15-20% of the tab | Emily Post |
| Hair salon | 15-20% (ask to split among those who served you) | Emily Post |
| Nail, facial, waxing, or massage | 15-20% | Emily Post |
| Taxi | 15-20% of the fare (at least $1) | Emily Post |
| Rideshare (Uber, Lyft) | Commonly 15-20% | Convention — not in the Emily Post guide |
| Tattoo artist | Commonly 15-20% | No single authoritative standard |
Source: Emily Post Institute, general tipping guide. Ranges are customary guidance, not rules — you decide the final amount. Rideshare and tattoo tipping are widely practiced at 15-20% but are not part of the Emily Post general guide, so they are labeled as convention rather than sourced norms.
How to calculate a tip
A tip is the bill times the percentage you choose: tip = bill × (tip % ÷ 100). At 20% of a $50 restaurant check the tip is $50 × 0.20 = $10.00, making the total $60.00. The quick chips cover the everyday 15%, 18%, and 20%, and the rate always stays editable. Each service preset loads a customary starting rate from the Emily Post guide — restaurant 20%, buffet 10%, delivery 15% — but nothing forces it; you set the final number. For plain "what is 20% of 50" math outside a bill, the percentage calculator is the more direct tool.
Tip on the pre-tax subtotal or the post-tax total?
Etiquette guides, Emily Post among them, figure the tip on the pre-tax subtotal, so that is the default here. Tipping on the post-tax total is also common; it simply adds your tip percentage of the tax on top. On the $85.40 dinner above with $7.47 tax, an 18% tip is $15.37 pre-tax versus $16.72 post-tax — a difference of $1.34. On a small check the gap is a few cents; on a large one it grows, which is why the tool shows both figures and the difference once you enter a tax amount and lets you pick. Neither choice is wrong.
Splitting a group check — evenly or by what each person ordered
For an even split, raise the people field and the calculator divides the grand total equally. When it will not divide cleanly — a $120 total across seven people is $17.14 each — it reassigns the leftover $0.02 to one payer so the shares still add up to $120.00 exactly. When people ordered very different amounts, an even split overcharges the light eaters. Switch to the uneven split and enter each person's own subtotal; the calculator allocates the tax and tip in proportion to what each ordered. On a $100 bill with $8 tax at 20%, someone who ordered $30 pays $30 + $2.40 tax + $6.00 tip = $38.40, and someone who ordered $70 pays $70 + $5.60 tax + $14.00 tip = $89.60 — the two totals still sum to the full $128.00. This shares one check fairly; it is not a running who-owes-whom ledger across many bills.
Service charges and auto-gratuities are not tips
A mandatory service charge or automatic gratuity printed on the check is, by the US Department of Labor's definition (WHD Fact Sheet #15), not a tip — a compulsory charge for service is not considered a tip under the FLSA, even when the money goes to staff. Whatever you add on top of it is entirely voluntary. If a gratuity was added for you, switch to the reverse check: enter the tip and the bill it was on and the tool returns the percentage — an $18 gratuity on a $90 bill works out to 20.0%. One more boundary: this page handles the sales tax on your bill, not the payroll tip-income tax an employer withholds for tipped staff, and it does not divide a staff tip pool — those are separate jobs, so there is no payroll or withholding field here.
Food delivery tips and the per-mile debate
The Emily Post guide puts food delivery at 10-15% of the order, with a $2-5 floor for pizza depending on size and difficulty. Because a percentage alone can undertip a small order, the delivery preset flags it: 15% of a $12 order is only $1.80, so the tool suggests rounding up to at least a $2 minimum (it never forces it). Delivery drivers often argue tips should track distance and time rather than order size — the widely shared "$1-2 per mile" rule of thumb from driver communities is one version of that. It is a fairness convention, not an etiquette standard, so the calculator does not compute a per-mile figure; treat it as context when you decide.
References
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate a tip?
How much is a 20% tip on $50?
Should you tip on the pre-tax or post-tax amount?
How much should you tip a hairdresser?
How much do you tip for food delivery?
Is a mandatory service charge or auto-gratuity the same as a tip?
How do you split a bill and tip when people ordered different amounts?
What is a reverse tip calculation?
How much should you tip a tattoo artist?
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