New Study Reveals Which States Are the Best and Worst Tippers

If you're the kind of restaurant patron who prides yourself on being a great tipper, just remember this: the residents of Alaska have got you beat.

According to a new study conducted by the payment service Square, spenders in the 49th state are the most generous with their gratuities, coughing up 17 percent on average. Arkansas and North Carolina followed close behind, tipping around 16.9 percent and 16.7 percent, respectively.

As reported by the business publication Quartz, Square collected "tens of millions" of credit card transactions (not cash) from restaurants, taxi services and other vendors to arrive at their results, which not only determined the average tip from state to state, but also the percentages of patrons who bother to tip at all.

For instance, though Alaska may boast the highest average tips, only 60.5 percent left a tip at all. That puts them in fifth place behind Illinois (61.1 percent) Colorado (60.8 percent), Montana (60.7 percent) and Louisiana (60.6 percent), and directly tied with Washington.

Of course, Square's study also determined the worst least frequent tippers in the country as well. Square says they can apparently be found in Delaware, which holds the distinction of the worst average tip (14 percent) and lowest percentage of tippers (37.9 percent).

But don't be so quick to pass judgment on Delaware. Consumer behavior specialist Michael McCall tells Quartz that "there are certain cultural norms that develop across the country in terms of tipping," and he points to Delaware's many thoroughfares as a cultural deviation that could potentially skew the data. "If you’re traveling through and not coming back, there’s probably less incentive to tip well," he believes.

To see where your state ranks, head to Quartz.com.