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In short: When NYC yellow taxi riders pay by credit card, they almost always tip. In TLC trip records for September 2025 – August 2026, 91.3% of yellow card trips had a tip, and card tips equalled 21.5% of the meter fare. When a rider tipped, the median tip was $3.51. Cash tips are not recorded at all, so nobody can say from TLC data how much cash riders tip.
We counted 29.0 million clean yellow trips with payment_type 1 (credit card). The tip_amount field "is automatically populated for credit card tips. Cash tips are not included" (TLC yellow dictionary).
The numbers at a glance
Month by month
Yellow card tipping was steady at 21.1–21.5% of the fare until May 2026, then rose to 23.1% in June 2026 and stayed above 22% through August. The data does not say why. We hold only 12 months of trip files, so we do not show a longer trend.
How big are the tips?
Over half of card trips (57%) carried a tip of 25% or more of the meter fare. That is partly arithmetic: the meter fare leaves out surcharges, which on a short Manhattan trip can be several dollars.
By rate code and airport
Rate code 99 ("Null/unknown") card trips show almost no tips; those 1.2 million trips pull the overall tipped share down from about 95% to 91%. We cannot tell from the data why their tips are missing.
Airport trips are tipped at similar rates but in bigger dollars: LaGuardia pickups 95.7% tipped (median $11.37), JFK pickups 92.8% (median $14.95), and trips to Newark (not counting trips from JFK or LaGuardia) 90.8% (median $21.89). More on the flat fare: JFK flat-fare trip data.
By hour of pickup
Tipping is lowest in the early morning — 73.1% of card trips at 5am — and highest in the evening, peaking at 94.3% at 9pm. The share of fare tipped follows the same pattern, from 15.6% at 5am to 23.3% at 6–7pm.
The cash and Flex Fare blind spots
- Cash was 8–10% of yellow trips each month. In our count, tips appear on almost none of them (0.006%) — not because cash riders don't tip, but because cash tips are never entered.
- Flex Fare trips (code 0) were 18–30% of trips. TLC defines a Flex Fare trip as an e-hail trip with "an upfront, non-metered, binding fare" (Chapter 51). Only 8.4% of them show a tip in the file. Tips given inside the e-hail app may not reach this field; we did not count them as card tips.
- TLC's own Industry Indicators report about 89% of yellow trips "paid with credit card" in 2026, much higher than the 61–71% coded
payment_type1 in the raw files. TLC does not say how it counts Flex Fare trips there, so don't mix the two figures.
Tip screen rules
Card payments in a yellow taxi, including the tip, go through the vehicle's technology system. Drivers must accept cards through that system, and rule 80-17(e)(1) sets fines for card payment violations — see the card payment rule and taxi payment rules. Owners may charge drivers a capped card fee; see credit card fees for drivers and the credit card surcharge.
More: app tipping, card vs cash payments, what's inside a taxi fare, yellow fare per trip and the money hub.
Frequently asked questions
How much do NYC taxi riders tip by card?
In TLC trip records for September 2025 – August 2026, 91.3% of yellow taxi credit-card trips had a tip, and card tips added up to 21.5% of the metered fare. The median tip, when given, was $3.51.
How much do riders tip on the JFK flat fare?
On JFK flat-fare card trips (rate code 2), 94.9% were tipped and the median tip was $16.34, about 20% of the $70 flat fare.
Why does the data say nothing about cash tips?
TLC's yellow taxi data dictionary says the tip field is 'automatically populated for credit card tips. Cash tips are not included.' So any tip statistic covers card trips only.
When do taxi riders tip least?
Early morning. Only 73% of card trips starting at 5am were tipped, against 94% for trips starting at 9pm.
Why do tips look high as a percent of the fare?
We divide the tip by the meter fare only. The amount a rider pays also includes surcharges, so a tip worked out on that larger total looks bigger as a share of the meter fare. The data does not show how each rider chose the tip. When tipped, the median tip was 27% of the meter fare.
Sources
Last reviewed against the official sources on .
- TLC Trip Record Data (yellow taxi, Sep 2025 – Aug 2026) nyc.gov
- TLC Data Dictionary – Yellow Taxi Trip Records (March 18, 2025) nyc.gov
- TLC Rule Book, Chapter 51 (Flex Fare definition) nyc.gov
- NYC Open Data: TLC Industry Indicators (v6kb-cqej) data.cityofnewyork.us
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TLC Help is not a law firm and is not affiliated with the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission or OATH. Explanations on this site are general information, not legal advice. Legal representation is provided by independent attorneys and OATH-registered representatives in our network.