Tip Split / Tipping guide / Canada

Tipping in Canada

15-18% typical
CanadaUnited States
Sit-down restaurant15-18%18-20%
Tip basePre-tax subtotalPre-tax subtotal
Card terminal presetsCommon, often starts lowerCommon, often starts higher
Minimum wage for serversVaries by province, generally closer to standard minimum wageOften a lower federal "tipped minimum wage"

Why Canada runs a notch below the US

Most Canadian provinces require restaurants to pay servers at or close to the standard provincial minimum wage, unlike the much lower federal tipped-minimum-wage system common across the US. Tipping is still very much expected, just slightly less steeply, because it is less of a direct wage top-up.

Where it applies

Sit-down restaurants, bars, hair salons and taxis all follow roughly the same 15-18% pattern. Counter-service coffee shops usually show a tip screen on the card reader but leaving nothing is not considered unusual.

Common mistake: visitors sometimes tip on the total shown on the receipt after sales tax (GST/HST/PST) has already been added. Canadians typically tip on the subtotal before tax, which is a few percent less than tipping on the final total.

Hotels

$2-5 CAD per night for housekeeping and $1-2 per bag for a bellhop are reasonable in most Canadian cities, similar to US norms but rarely at the very top of that range.

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