The City With The Best Tippers Is A Mountain Gem With Award-Winning Restaurants, Per A 2025 Study

From mountain hikes in Colorado parks to award-winning craft breweries, there are a lot of reasons for tourists to visit Denver. But a new study shows that there's a very good reason for food and beverage workers to make a home in Denver, too: the Mile-High City has the best tippers in the United States. The dining rewards app inKind analyzed data (via Food & Wine) from 4,500 restaurant partners from January to August 2025, to examine the average tips given by the roughly three million app users. The results show that Denver restaurants have the highest tippers, with users leaving tips averaging 21.18% of the bill. Close behind was Austin, with a 21.06% average, followed by Seattle with 20.98%, Miami  with 20.43%, and Houston with 20.28%.

Denver also has one of the highest tipped minimum wages in the country, at $15.79 per hour for 2025 and $16.27 per hour for 2026. While Colorado's governor and many restaurant owners have called for the minimum tipped wage to be lowered, the current minimum tipped wage combined with high tips make Denver an attractive environment for workers in the food and hospitality industry despite the city's relatively high cost of living. "If you want talented people who have creativity and experience and customer service skills to be in this industry, you have to offer them something," one Denver bartender told Rocky Mountain PBS.

That talent that is alive and well in Denver has begun to make this mountain gem somewhat of a foodie city. In fact, Denver is home to a thriving food scene. Along with longtime favorites like Buckhorn Exchange, Colorado's oldest restaurant, Denver is home to more than 30 Michelin-recognized restaurants and an eclectic mix of culinary traditions. In Denver, you can eat bison tacos at Tocabe, one of the few Native American restaurants in the United States; snack on chilled tofu at modern Chinese eatery Hop Alley; try sugar-rubbed steaks at Bastien's Restaurant; or enjoy a green chili–smothered burrito at El Taco De Mexico.

In 2025, the Wolf's Tailor became Denver's first restaurant to earn two Michelin stars, with the Michelin guide praising their "rigorous commitment to local sourcing as well as gorgeously manicured presentations." Only 40 restaurants in the United States have earned this distinction. That same year, Mezcaleria Alma (pictured above) was featured in the New York Times' The Restaurant List, honoring the 50 best restaurants in the United States. It also has a Michelin star.

In 2025, UK-based travel publication Escapism Magazine named Denver "America's next great food city," writing, "Long associated with the Rocky Mountain fare of meat and potatoes, Denver is now home to a wave of creative restaurants and craft breweries, where altitude inspires experimentation and global flavours mingle with local traditions."