It’s Shocking How Bad Bartenders Get Tipped In Iowa

Bartenders in Iowa are serving stiff drinks and getting stiffed on tips at the same time. Chances are you know a bartender that works in Iowa because they're your friend or you frequent your local watering hole. While you're thinking to yourself "I tip them really well," you might not be so generous to someone that's not your usual bartender.

A new study shows that Iowa is one of the worst bartender-tipping states in the U.S. It's not that Iowa drinkers are tipping a smaller amount than others, it's that patrons aren't tipping at all.

Iowa Bartenders Are Getting Stiffed

Upgraded Points wanted to look at what people are up to at their local watering holes and how good (or bad) they are tipping their bartenders.

After looking at many bar tabs in the Hawkeye state, they found that 7.8% of Iowa bargoers don't tip their bartenders at all. Think about that. That means for every 25 drinks, about 2 people won't tip their Iowa bartenders.

For those that do tip their bartenders, the average Iowa bar patron tips 20%. For those who don't tip, you're welcome for the rest of us being so Iowa nice.

On another bright side, Iowa isn't the worst state when it comes to not tipping. Iowa's neighbor to the north, Minnesota, and drinkers in Kansas tied for first with 8% of people not tipping their bartenders in those two states.

Iowa Likes Cocktails More Than Beer

Besides seeing how much money bartenders are not getting in Iowa, Upgraded Points also wanted to know a few other things with this survey:

• What drinks are people ordering?
• What types of bars are people going to?
• What amount are people willing to spend on a high-quality cocktail?

Iowa prefers cocktails over beer, according to this survey. They found that Moscow Mules is Iowa's top cocktail but they like to frequent breweries the most. Iowa's most preferred beer is Blue Moon.

To conduct this survey, Upgraded Points surveyed 2,217 American drinkers, aged 21 and up, across 44 states with the sole purpose of finding out 4 things:

1. What drinks are people ordering?
2. What types of bars are people going to?
3. How good (or bad) people are tipping?
4. What amount are people willing to spend on a high-quality cocktail?

Find more results from this survey here.