Tip Pool Calculator
Split a shift's tips by hours, points, role shares or equally, or tip out to bussers, runners and hosts, every share to the cent. Free, no sign-up.
How tips are shared
Split
The tip pool
Enter the tips to share and each person's hours.
General information, not legal, tax or HR advice. See our Terms.
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A tip pool, worked out
$640 in tips shared by five people, by hours and by points (1 for servers and the bartender, 0.5 for the busser and the host).
| Person | Hours | By hours | By points × hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Server 1 | 6 | $147.69 | $178.60 |
| Server 2 | 5 | $123.08 | $148.84 |
| Bartender | 6 | $147.69 | $178.60 |
| Busser | 5 | $123.08 | $74.42 |
| Host | 4 | $98.46 | $59.54 |
| Total | 26 | $640.00 | $640.00 |
Leftover cents go to the largest remainders, so the shares add up to the pool exactly. Sources: DOL Fact Sheet 15; 29 USC 203(m)(2)(B).
Frequently asked questions
Divide the tips by the total hours worked by everyone in the pool, then multiply by each person's hours. $640 over 26 hours is $24.62 an hour, so a 6-hour shift earns $147.69.
A share of each server's or bartender's tips or sales handed to support staff such as bussers, food runners and hosts. At 2% of sales, a server with $1,100 in sales tips out $22.
With a tip credit, only staff who customarily and regularly receive tips, such as servers, bussers and service bartenders. Paying everyone at least the full minimum wage with no tip credit lets cooks and dishwashers in. The employer, managers and supervisors never take tips from the pool.
Federal law sets none: the FLSA does not cap any employee's contribution to a valid mandatory pool. North Carolina does where its minimum wage law covers the business: tipped employees keep at least 85% of their tips.
Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington require the full state minimum wage before tips, per the Department of Labor's July 2026 table. Pick the state in the calculator and it leaves the tip credit off, so under federal law a pool may include cooks and dishwashers there.
In some states. North Dakota allows a pool only among tipped employees, and only after more than 50% of all of them vote for it, with a written record of each vote; North Carolina keeps at least 85% of each tipped employee's tips where its minimum wage law covers the business. The calculator applies the state you pick.
Related tools and calculators
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- Payroll CalculatorTake-home pay and the employer's cost of a paycheck in any state: the 2026 federal W-4 math, FICA caps, state withholding and unemployment.Calculate a paycheck
- Overtime CalculatorTime and a half and double time, the regular rate with bonuses, salaried, tipped and piece-rate pay, and each state's daily overtime rules.Calculate overtime
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