Nearly 9 in 10 Americans were annoyed by tipping as of 2025

72% of Americans say tipping is now expected in more places than it was 5 years ago

This change has been driven by multiple factors, including point-of-sale systems from fintech companies such as Square that prompt customers for tips directly. Americans also increased tipping during the pandemic in an effort to support local businesses struggling financially due to a lack of physical foot traffic.

Fintech companies made it easier for merchants to request tips, leading to fatigue

In recent years, companies such as Square and Toast have created touch screen technologies prompting customers at coffee shops and casual restaurants to tip upwards of 25%. Despite the interesting psychological conundrum this presents to consumers, one tech columnist argues that shoppers don’t need to succumb to the pressure.

Women tend to tip more often than men

For instance, among people who visit hair salons or barber shops, 62% of female respondents said they always tipped. Only 45% of men said the same. This article includes more takeaways and stats about how Americans tip, and who receives them.

Americans spend an average of nearly $500 per year on tipping at restaurants and bars

The habit runs contrary to economic rationality: Why pay more for a good or service you have already received when it isn’t mandatory? Researchers found that people tip, in part, to avoid the psychological pain of not fitting in.

Only 28% of Americans think restaurant prices are fair

Seven in 10 Americans dine out at least once a month, but only 28% of diners think menu prices are fair, a 2025 YouGov survey found. That changes only slightly by income, with 44% of higher-income Americans finding the prices fair.

19th-century Americans discovered tipping in Europe

Tipping waiters was a custom in medieval Europe, where masters gave their serfs money for exceptional work. Wealthy Americans vacationing in Europe in the mid-1800s discovered the behavior and brought it back to the US.

In the 1920s, Prohibition helped cement tipping norms in the US

During Prohibition, restaurants lost significant revenue, given that they could no longer legally serve customers high-margin alcohol. As a result, many of these restaurants leaned more heavily on tips to ease the financial pressure of paying employees.

Since 1913, Americans have paid income taxes at varying rates

In the 2020s, the top marginal tax rate has floated around 37%, relatively lower than previous eras. Some have called for boosting the rate significantly to tax the highest earners.

Visual Capitalist projects the fastest-shrinking jobs in America by 2034

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will be fewer jobs for cashiers, bank tellers, data entry clerks, and more over the next decade.

Americans are reading fewer books than in the past

A 2022 Gallup survey found that Americans are reading fewer books than ever before. An additional study found that the time people spend reading has dropped over the last 20 years. The most compelling narrative for the shift? Screens have stolen potential readers, occupying the time that they otherwise would’ve spent with books.

35% of polled Americans said they'd view people differently if they knew they had a mental illness

In April 2025 polling, mental health remained highly stigmatized in the US. Though 88% of US adults say a mental health disorder is nothing to be ashamed about, 84% of them think the term "mental illness" carries a stigma and only about half of respondents said they'd feel comfortable sharing their mental health struggles with others.

Over one-third of Americans have lost money on a gift card

They've done so by letting it expire (20%), losing the card (17%), or due to a retailer going out of business before they could redeem a card (12%). That's according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited Bankrate research from 2024. This article explains how to maximize your gift card's value.

30% of Americans make New Year's resolutions

The practice is more popular among younger people: In a Pew Research Center study, nearly half of people under 30 reported making at least one resolution. The majority of Americans (of all ages) who didn’t make resolutions said they simply don’t like the tradition.

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

A vast majority of Americans support term limits for Congress

In a 2023 poll, 87% of respondents said they supported imposing term limits on members of Congress. The overwhelming bipartisan backing makes term limits one of the most consistently popular political reforms in the United States.

Sharp partisan divides shape how Americans view immigration enforcement

A January 2026 survey shows large party gaps: Both sides broadly support recording arrests, but Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to support sharing officer locations and to oppose profiling, masked officers, and neighborhood-based enforcement.

Tourists are significantly influenced by pop culture

A 2024 study from Expedia Group found that two-thirds of tourists said movies and TV influence where and how they travel.

The aviation industry built trust in automation by keeping pilots in the cockpit

Nearly 70% of Americans feel uncomfortable riding in a driverless car, and 81% of them would not fly on a pilotless plane. However, automated systems on planes were slowly introduced and advertised as enhancing safety—an approach that may benefit driverless vehicles.

Some US states are now revising their happy hour bans

While states like Massachusetts started banning happy hour in the 1980s as an anti-overconsumption measure, not every state has kept these bans intact. This article dives into the arguments for and against revising the happy hour ban in Massachusetts, the first state to institute such a ban.

When your 9-to-5 becomes optional

You've seen the headlines. But what would actually happen if everyone's 9-to-5 became optional? We dug into the data. Traced automation philosophy back thousands of years. Examined what happened when elevator operators disappeared. Looked at Alaska's 40-year experiment paying every citizen. And investigated the Philippines, where 89% of call center jobs are now at risk. What we found was more positive than bleak. This video explores three questions: What does the data actually show? What does history tell us about this kind of disruption? And what happens when work becomes optional?

Three ways the US population will change over the next decade

This article lists the top three ways the US population will change over the next decade. Using population data from the US Census Bureau and the UN Population Division, the piece explores what America might look like 10 years from now, which...

In late 2025, the top 10 companies in the S&P 500 made up more than 40% of the index's total value

This raised concerns for investors about the index's risk exposure. As many large tech companies continued posting record highs, analysts argued that the top-heavy index was becoming less representative of the economy as a whole.

Trump's H-1B fee hike could reshape US industries and global talent flows

Analysts warn the new H-1B fee could trigger labor shortages in tech, medicine, and universities; push firms to offshore more work; and drive skilled Indian workers and students toward other countries—weakening America's innovation edge.

Americans only became intolerant of body odor in the last century

Daily bathing only became a societal norm in the last century. Today, Americans routinely bathe and buy more deodorant than any other country, spending roughly $6 billion annually on odor-reducing products. The rise of industrialized soaps, deodorants, and antiperspirants—and extensive marketing around them—stimulated this demand.

Dozens of US women in labor turned away from hospital between 2022 and 2024

An Associated Press analysis of federal hospital investigation data concluded that more than 100 pregnant women in medical distress were turned away from emergency rooms or treated negligently since 2022.

Most TV viewers simultaneously watch a second screen

83% of American TV watchers simultaneously watch a second screen, like a phone, laptop, or tablet. Sometimes that screen might complement what's on the screen (like fantasy football managers watching a game while watching their rosters) but other times it is entirely unconnected.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

Despite being favored by 87% of Americans, Congress does not have term limits.

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

11 people died from firework injuries in the US in 2024.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

Lesser-known phobias include turophobia, or the fear of cheese, and nomophobia, the fear of being without your cell phone.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

70 years ago today, city officials in Santa Cruz, California, banned rock 'n' roll to protect its youth from corruption after witnessing a 'provocative' concert the night before.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year