Toast data ranks Delaware top tipper at 21.4%, California lowest at 17.1%

Summary

ABC News reported on a new Toast restaurant-trends release that ranks states by average tipping percentage at restaurants using the company's payment platform. The broadcast highlighted the six most generous states (Wyoming, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, New Hampshire) all above 20% and identified California and Washington as the lowest at a little over 17%, naming Delaware the single best at 21.4%. It presented the list as a straightforward consumer-interest story without additional analysis or interviews.

The sourcing was limited to the single Toast report; no external experts or competing data sets were cited. The segment used on-screen graphics to display the state list and percentages.

Editorial Assessment

The claims are factually accurate and line up directly with Toast's published Q2 2026 state-by-state table. Viewers receive a clear snapshot of credit-card tipping variation but miss important context: the data cover only Toast-platform transactions, exclude all cash tips, and calculate "overall" as total tips divided by gross processing volume rather than a simple average of full-service and quick-service checks. High-tipping states tend to allow a lower tipped minimum wage while California and Washington require full minimum wage plus tips, a structural factor that likely influences customer behavior but was not mentioned. The short format therefore presents real numbers without the caveats that would let audiences interpret them as a pure measure of generosity.