A check lands on the table after a Friday dinner, the tablet swings around, and a thumb hovers over three preset percentages. Most of the time the thumb lands in about the same place, and the national numbers show it.
The average tip at full-service restaurants was 19.1% in the second quarter of 2026, while quick-service restaurants averaged 15.8%, according to Toast’s tipping trends page, which the restaurant technology company last updated on Sept. 15, 2026. Salon senior food editor Ashlie D. Stevens reported the same figures on Oct. 26, noting that they come from card and digital transactions that included a tip.
Nine Quarters of Toast Data Keep Landing Near 19%
Toast publishes a quarter-by-quarter table, and the full-service line barely moves. It read 19.3% in the second quarter of 2024, stayed there through the fourth quarter of 2024, reached 19.4% in the first quarter of 2025, and then slipped to 19.1% in the second quarter of 2025.
The next three quarters were 19.2%, 19.2% and 19.3%. The second quarter of 2026 brought the figure back to 19.1%, a dip of two-tenths of a point from the quarter before. Toast says the rate has stayed between 19.1% and 19.4% across the past two years, and it describes 19.1% as a seven-year low.
Across all tipped transactions, Toast puts the overall average at 18.7%, a slight dip. The company notes that this overall number is total tips divided by gross processing volume, not an average of the full-service and quick-service rates.
Anyone who has argued over the tablet screen knows the debate about etiquette is louder than the numbers. A list of dining-out blunders on Frenz Hub shows how many table habits draw strong opinions, yet the average tip has hardly changed in two years.
Counter Service Sits Three Points Lower at 15.8%
Quick-service restaurants tell a flatter story. The table shows 15.8% from the fourth quarter of 2024 through the second quarter of 2026, nine quarters in a row. Toast’s own text calls the quick-service rate flat for seven consecutive quarters, so the table is the safer count.
Takeout orders average lower still, at 13.8%. The gap between full-service and quick-service runs about 3.5 percentage points on Toast’s page, and the table gaps range from 3.3 to 3.6 points.
In dollars, the difference is easy to picture. On an $80 sit-down check, a 19.1% tip comes to about $15.28. On a $20 counter order, 15.8% comes to about $3.16. Toast measures tips against totals that include taxes and fees, so the percentage on the tablet may differ slightly from a tip figured on the pre-tax food total. Frenz Hub’s list of restaurant red flags is one more reminder that service quality and check size shape what lands on that screen.
What the Toast Figures Include and Leave Out
The base matters for reading any average. Toast says its data covers card and digital tip transactions at locations that have tipping enabled, and cash tips are excluded. The company cites about 180,000 locations as of June 30, 2026, and the figures are a quarterly snapshot of all tipped transactions rather than a same-store comparison. Restaurants that joined or left the platform during a quarter are part of the sample.
That means the 19.1% describes restaurants that use Toast, not every dining room in the country. The history behind the practice is covered in Wikipedia’s entry on tipping, and the company itself has its own entry in Wikipedia’s article on Toast.
The same caution applies to individual tables. Restaurant stories that travel, from people kicked out of restaurants to single checks, can look very different from the average, such as a Charleston server who asked TikTok what to do when a customer lowered a 25% tip to 9%, or a diner who questioned an 18% gratuity added to a $300 dinner for five. Both sit far from the national middle.
Delaware Reaches 21.4% While California Sits at 17.1%
Toast also breaks out tip rates by state for 2026. Delaware has the highest overall rate at 21.4%, with 21.8% at full-service restaurants and 18.2% at quick-service spots. West Virginia follows at 20.7%, then New Hampshire at 20.5% and Indiana at 20.4%. Kentucky, Ohio and Wyoming tie at 20.3%.
At the other end, California has the lowest overall rate at 17.1%, with 17.6% at full-service restaurants and 14.8% at quick-service spots. The District of Columbia comes in at 17.3%, Washington at 17.6%, and Florida and Nevada tie at 18.1%.
The spread from top to bottom is 4.3 points on the overall rate. A diner in Delaware who tips the state average on an $80 check leaves roughly $17.12, against about $13.68 at the California average. Local habits, menu prices and check sizes all feed those differences, though Toast’s page does not say which factor matters most.
Regulars Say They Round Up
Toast also ran a survey of 1,500 U.S. adults who dine out or order in at least twice a month. It found that 77% say they tip more at restaurants where they are regulars. Of those, 46% add 5% to 10% and 37% add 10% to 15% or more on top of a standard tip.
Bankrate’s 2024 tipping survey, fielded by YouGov among 2,445 U.S. adults from April 29 to May 1, 2024, found that habits differ across diners. According to Bankrate’s report, 63% of men who go to sit-down restaurants said they always tip, against 71% of women.
The picture across these sources is steady. A tip near 19% at a sit-down restaurant, closer to 16% at a counter and a bit lower for takeout is where the Toast data has settled, and the second quarter of 2026 did not change that. Anyone planning holiday dinners out can use those figures as the going rate.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Image: Florian Plag – CC BY 2.0/Wikimedia Commons
