ILLINOIS (WCIA) — New data suggests that Illinoisans are the worst tippers in the country, after a team of analysts asked Americans in all 50 states how much they tip on average.
USA TODAY Blueprint partnered with OnePoll to survey 5,000 people on America’s tipping culture. Overall, they found that the average tip percentage in the U.S. is 17.94 percent. Californians take that up almost five percentage points more by tipping 22.69% on average, making California the state with the largest tips.
The top 10 best tipping states are listed below.
| Ranking | State | Average Tip Percentage |
| 1 | California | 22.69% |
| 2 | Missouri | 22.05% |
| 3 | Florida | 21.68% |
| 4 | Arizonia | 20.66% |
| 5 | Rhode Island | 20.50% |
| 6 | Washington | 20.23% |
| 7 | Colorado | 19.85% |
| 8 | Pennsylvania | 19.64% |
| 9 | Connecticut | 19.14% |
| 10 | Georgia | 19.00% |
Illinois fell at the opposite end of the spectrum, granting the smallest tips. The state averaged a 14.22% tip percentage on average.
The top 10 worst tipping states are listed below.
| Ranking | State | Average Tip Percentage |
| 1 | Illinois | 14.22% |
| 2 | Mississippi | 14.98% |
| 3 | South Carolina | 15.13% |
| 4 | New Mexico | 15.32% |
| 5 | Tennessee | 15.40% |
| 6 | Oklahoma | 15.51% |
| 7 | Wisconsin | 15.78% |
| 8 | North Dakota | 16.05% |
| 9 | West Virginia | 16.16% |
| 10 | Utah | 16.23% |
Analysts found that tipping percentage seems to increase as individual income increases. When participants were asked if they were tipping more than they used to, 37.50 percent said they were tipping the same amount. However, more than half of the participants said they were tipping either a little or a lot more now than they had before.
People were also asked why they tip. The top three reasons were: feeling an employee earned the tip, tips simply being customary in some industries and feeling guilt if they don’t tip.
Click here to view the full report and the methodology behind the analysis.
