The number of Americans planning on tipping this holiday season has dropped, reflecting the increased financial pressures weighing on consumers in 2025.
According to a new study from the personal finance-focused website Bankrate, “fewer Americans are planning to tip their service providers this holiday season compared to last year,” affecting professions from housekeepers and trash collectors to gardeners and mail carriers.
Why It Matters
As noted in the report, the decline in tipping serves as yet another signal of the strains affecting everyday Americans in 2025. Consumers are grappling with higher prices and a slowdown in the labor market that has left many pessimistic about their own financial outlook and the economy at large.
What To Know
Bankrate surveyed 2,445 U.S. adults in late October, finding that 1,895 or 78 percent plan to tip at least one form of service provider, with declines across all categories compared to last year.
The share of Americans who plan on tipping housekeepers has slid to 56 percent from 57 percent in 2024. Tipping for trash collectors has dropped to 21 percent from 26 percent. But child care providers can expect the largest decline, as the portion of likely tippers has fallen to 47 percent from 55 percent.
“Most people do care about these important community members but they are also feeling their own financial stress, anxiety and budget shortfalls,” wrote financial planner Bobbi Rebell in the report. “That can overshadow generosity, which can be considered optional.”
However, tipping amounts have stayed broadly flat or seen slight decreases compared to last year, which Bankrate’s experts attributed to higher earners making up the difference. A notable exception was landscapers and gardeners, who have seen their projected median tips jump to $50 from $30.
And the survey found that younger Americans feel the greatest pressure to tip, with 44 percent of Gen Zers saying they consider this an obligation compared to 38 percent of Gen X respondents and 29 percent of Baby Boomers.
What People Are Saying
Bankrate Senior Industry Analyst Ted Rossman told Newsweek: “This is another example of the K-shaped economy: the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Tipping frequency is down, yet when people do tip, the amounts are expected to be flat or even up in some cases. As we see elsewhere in the economy, upper-income households are propping up the overall statistics.”
“If you’re a service industry worker who gets fewer tips this year, that essentially amounts to a pay cut at the same time all of your expenses are rising. The decline isn’t likely to be dramatic, but it’s one more thing adding to rising cost of living pressures that are already manifesting in other ways [inflation, higher interest rates, high housing/childcare/medical costs, tariffs, rising unemployment, rising loan delinquencies, etc.].”
What Happens Next
Beyond tipping, a previous survey by Bankrate found that Americans remain anxious about their finances going into the end of the year, with 41 percent expecting gifts to be more expensive and a greater share relying on credit cards to finance their holiday purchases.
Update 12/4/25, 10:21 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Ted Rossman of Bankrate.