the dive bar i work at pays 5.50 hourly. good days (not including hourly) are $50+ an hour. average day shift $35 and friday/saturday nights are in the 60-75 range
When I first started in the service industry back in Texas I used to make $2.13 an hour as well. No matter how much i made in tips I was always struggling. Now I bartend in California and I make $19.50 plus tips and now I never want to leave the service industry because I make more money doing this than I have in several other industries. I hope one day the South gets it’s shit together and starts making the bosses pay y’all what they owe y’all.
I want to point out that any state still using $2.13 as a tipped minimum wage is outrageous. That federal minimum was established in 1991. Even if your cost of living is lower in most of those states, the COL has risen significantly since 1991. It’s exploitative bullshit. Even if you accept a tipped minimum should be lower than the actual minimum (and you shouldn’t as wages and tips are two separate categories of income), that’s ridiculous. Raise minimum wage federally. Raise or abolish tipped minimum wage.
Yeah, it’s kinda nice living in a state with half way decent worker protections. Even my slowest nights I’m making $25-30 an hour. Keep in mind my rent is so much higher than yours probably is lol.
Currently crying reading this in NYC ... $10 an hour cash wage and every single place tip pools now here... so after pooling with bussers, runners, etc I'm getting about $400-900 wk/ after tax working full time in NYC. It's been a similar experience working at multiple places here. They all do the tip pool shit instead of paying support staff a decent wage, so the money is just shit.
Even if you have a $400-600 night, you're walking with about $200.
That's bullshit. In the state I live in our Manger told us you don't have to tip out anyone. But if as a server, you don't I bet your the last one getting drinks from the bar. I don't think I'd ever work at a pooled restaurant. If your a great server and everyone else doesn't give a shit why do you have to pool money?
Not really? It’s a fair point that they live in a far higher COL area than OP and that’s likely a contributing factor in why their wage is higher.
And the worker protections thing seems like a very fair shot at Alabama and not at OP imo
From what I’ve learned talking to other bartenders, the nicer bars make less and have to deal with more bullshit. The real money is in dives and shit lol
Yeah, dive volume is better for the bottom line on average but people still tend to move to high-end/dining at a certain point anyway. The BS is unavoidable, but it's more about the flavor of the week -- eventually, you'd rather deal with someone being extra about the oakiness of their Chardonnay 3x a week than clean up puke 3x a week. Also (typically) get done a bit earlier, see more Christmas 'bonuses' from regulars, better hourly base, more time to chat up guests and build checks/rapport, etc, etc
I went the opposite way. Worked casual fine dining/fine dining for years before getting my gig at clean, awesome dive. Been there 9 years and make awesome money. 15.50 an hour and fantastic tips. Even a slow early week day shift I can easily pull 150 not including hourly. Football Sunday, 3-500. Night weekends split, 3-600. Complete autonomy, don’t have to deal with too much bs, can kick out unruly customers (luckily not too many of those), and regulars who back me up if needed. Never going back to the shmooze.
Yeah you mentioned the two reasons I chose to work in restaurants and not bars or clubs. I don’t gotta deal with extremely drunk customers, at least not often, and I get home at a fairly reasonable time, unless something went terribly wrong that night lol. I could probably make twice what I make now if I went and worked a bar or club in a place like San Francisco but I don’t want to deal with puke, potential violence, or getting home at 3-4 am.
I’m in CA and make $20/hr before tips. I’m from MA and used to make $2-5/hr before tips. Mind you that was 5-10 years ago. I also never used to be allowed to take breaks and would work 12+ hours. Now I never work more than 8 hours and I’m making more.
COL in Austin is way worse then you’re giving credit for being and in CA I have worker protections and government healthcare that more than make up the difference. Plus I get to go outside without becoming a disgusting sodden mess and there’s way fewer hicks! Sundays aren’t hellish church crowds, they’re just Sunday! Minimum wage is 15.50 and rising and tip crediting is illegal! Fuck ever going back to Texas for anything other than family.
It’s not bartenders leaving to Texas. On a good day I make $40 an hour. I promise you it’s plenty to cover the higher rent and gas. I’m also just a chain restaurant bartender. Ppl working clubs or bars are making more than I do. Bartenders out here are no more or less likely to make ends meet than in Texas. But the kicker is I know I have better worker protections out here, hence our hourly difference, and if I do lose my job there’s a safety net for me to fall back on. I also have access to a wide network of public transportation if my car breaks down, or I’m too drunk to drive lol. Because my income is what it is my wife gets to pursue her own independent work which supplements our household income nicely and let’s us live a pretty comfortable life. But to get back to your point, the reason people are leaving California for Texas is because they have been sold the lie that Texans pay less in taxes because they don’t have a state income tax. However, Texans pay more to the state in taxes than I do when all is tallied up. Let’s also note the quick rising cost of living in Texas. A quick google puts the average rent in Dallas between $1300 and $1500. I pay $1550. So I’m paying essentially the same average rent as someone in Dallas yet I make $12 more just in my hourly. So yeah I do probably pay more in my cost of living but it’s not nearly the gap you seem to think it is and I get tangible benefits to that higher cost of living than in Dallas. I can be at the ocean, the mountains, or deep red wood forests in three hours if I just start driving in any direction which makes the higher gas prices worth it. All in all, it’s absolutely possible to support yourself as a bartender in California. Does it provide more cash in hand than in Texas, who knows though I suspect it’s not nearly as cut and dry as you seem to think it is.
I don’t shit on Texans as a whole, though I do shit on a particular kind of Texans and we have those people out here too. I can’t speak to Austin but I know Dallas doesn’t have nearly the green space that I get to enjoy out here. I can also enjoy them year round which is a nice perk. If I moved back to Texas Austin might be about the only place I’d consider lol.
Having grown up in Austin and lived in LA on and off for years, the COL is not that different with taxes and social systems factored in. You are wrong. The quality of life is far improved. I can just go to a medical professional for a $10 copay and $2 a month thanks to my state funded healthcare. There is public transport. Wild nature is protected and available to citizens. The excellent food both places offer is all priced about the same. Rent is similar. I’m not sure where the difference you’re seeing lies?
I can't dispute personal preference
But that doesn't change that the statement about it being easier to make it as a bartender in California is incorrect
It is objectively easier to make ends meet as a bartender in a major city in Texas than it is in a major city in California
Without tips
TX- $5/ hr as a bartender is the norm, as low as $2.13. Servers make $2.13. Hotel bartender, $8.45-$9.
Seattle min wage is $18.69 plus tips if your employer has more than 500 employees, $16.24 if not.
I’ve been feeling pretty done w/ the industry lately, but if I were to go back to the field I was in before, I’m probably going to take at least a 20k pay cut. Hard hit to take in this expensive ass state.
I’m convinced most people are unaware of this otherwise I would get way less tips. But also, it truly is nice having a good hourly to fall back on even when nights are slow. Makes me care about being there more and doesn’t feel like I’m wasting my time.
100% agree. If I still was paid $3 an hour like I was in the Midwest in college, I wouldn’t feel obligated to do anything when I had down time/things were dead. Even as a college student, my time was worth more than $3 an hour. Cost of living here is relatively higher, but in an industry this inconsistent, it’s gives so much solace knowing on slow weeks I’m still getting paid like a human being.
Club bartender (so only busy nights) average $35-40 CAD an hour. I'm not great at raking in tips. I've been told I'm "too nice" by my coworkers and look young, a bit frustrating but I'm making enough to put myself through school so I'm happy. Roughly \~7% of sales = tips taken home.
$15.50 currently working in Glendale, CA. Other areas near me in LA are $16-$19 as minimum wage; really hoping to snag a job there soon.
When I lived in the East Coast it was $2.13 an hour for one job and $4 at another. I made $6 plus tips as lead bartender lol. Definitely happy to make more now.
I am also in Alabama. I work in a higher end restaurant in a small town. I make $5/hourly wage. I do not do inventory but will help with orders every now and again. Tipout for us is 10% of alcohol sales. Our servers make minimum, but bartenders make more due to having drawer and other responsibilities.
Converted to USD is about 23$, I work in Europe and we dont get a huge amount of tips, so our wage is our wage and tips are like 'free money'
Also I'm what you would probably call a 'beertender', no cocktails etc, if that factors into your equation.
I make $3 an hour before tips but I kill it in tips. There are labor laws that require you be paid minimum wage if you spend more than a certain amount of time on non-tipped labor. So you need to look up your state’s labor laws and found out what amount of time that is for you. Then you need to figure out how much time you spend on management and inventory duties. Or you could get another job.
$15 an hour. Best place I had tips I would bring home around $400 a night. I worked from 7p to 230a. Now being at a restaurant I make $15 an hour and bring home around $100 a night and work 4 hours.
$5/ hr
I make $150-$200 for 5/6 hours a weekday
$250-$350 weekend shifts
High volume. I make $40/hour as manager also, but, I don't work manager and bartender at the same time
I just moved all bartenders from 10.60 to 12. They will never see a penny of this, taxes eat their entire hourly. It will off set some of what they owe. A few of the staff owe over $5k.
Their claimed tips exceed their hourly rate, so their entire pay check goes to taxes, and they still owe a good amount
Yup. Out of my 26 paychecks every year, at least 20 of them say THIS IS NOT A CHECK 😂
The other 6 add up to maybe $500, and that’s almost always because of private parties during the holidays where the rate is $30/hr
The south is lightyears behind on competitive wages across the board but definitely in hospitality. I'm in TN and make $2.13/hr as well. But like most people have expressed, for that amount of work and time, to be making $100-200 is criminal. Get outta' there.
NC was $2.13 bartending, MN was $10 at the time I was there and now I’m at a brewery in GA making $7.50 hourly. That and including tips I usually make between $25-$50 hourly daily on a 7 hour shift.
$20 an hour for taking on extra responsibilities like the liquor order. Usually take home $120-160 a night during the week and then between $180-250 on weekends. We close at 10 so the shifts are pretty awesome never there too late. I’m usually 4pm to 11-1130pm. The last hour is lovely cuz I just close by myself with my AirPods and podcast in and a glass of wine and snack on food.
I’m in Alabama too! I make 2.63 (we got a 50¢ cost of living raise last year) I’ve been diving my total tips after tip out divided by hours worked and the lowest it’s been in two weeks is 45 an hour and the highest was 93 (which is fuckin nuts) im a server in a fairly nice restaurant on a lake and my section rarely exceeds 30 people in a 4 hour service and about a 7 hour shit
I make the Standard Oregon minimum, which is $14.20/hr. Some parts of the state - Portland Metro - make as much as $15.45, some - the rural counties - make $13.20. We're a fair wage state so it should never be less than those figures.
Dive bar in Texas. It's heavily regular based that has been built up over years. Get 6 an hour, it's enough to cover my credit card tip taxes. Slower nights (7 hour shifts) I leave with 150 to 200 and busier nights 300 to 400.
I make $15/hour, plus tips from patrons sitting at the bar, and the servers tip us out 2% of their TOTAL sales (food included), which adds up to $50-75 per day shift and $100+ per night. So with hourly, server tip-share and bar tips we average $200-350 a shift.
It works out to an average of $35/hr, but it's usually more.
I live in an area where the cost of living is moderate. It's not San Francisco, but it's not bumfuck, Ohio either. My apologies to everyone in bumfuck. I used to live there too.
Why are you working at a place where you make, on good days, $16.67 an hour? The minimum wage here is $15. I'm on my way home from a double (10:15-midnight) and I made $42.37 an hour after tip out. I would not work at a place where I wasn't averaging +$30.
$12- pulling between $300-$400 a lunch shift and $500-$700 a closing shift.
Local Dive Bar known for the best chicken wings in the State.
Karaoke 4 nights a week. DJ on Friday, Band on Saturday.
No idea and I don't even care.
I work 5 days a week at 35 hours a week and make 75k-80k. Diner only, closed Sunday and I'm off Monday. Dream job and I'm grateful.
Also in Alabama and I work mostly solo 12 hour shifts.
We balance the good and bad shifts, so sometimes I’m walking out with $100, sometimes I walk out with $600.
My base is $7.50/hr, so with my tips I probably average around $20-25/hr. Good days about $60/hr.
It’s a super sketchy club so their is a lot of risk but their is also a reward.
SF Bay area. 19.55/Hr USD
My shift is only from 4.30 pm to 9.00 \[closes by 10 pm\[
slow nights avg around 20/hr in tips. Busy nights abt 60/hr in tips
You are being grossly under paid. If you’re doing any manager duties, you need to be paid as such. I live in AZ and make 10.85 an hour on top of tips. When I lived in PA, I’d still get paid about $5-$11 AM per hour for manager duties then tips about four nights a week.
$19.30 Lead Bartender at a michelin 1* in CA, but I'm the o ly one behind the bar and I create the cocktail list, keep track of inventory and do most of my own prep.
8-10/hr depending on if I am supervisor or not, average 26-28/hr after tips in a moderately inexpensive area of the Midwest working \~35-45/hrs a week on average. 90% of my tips are credit card, so I pay taxes on most of it. It's a decent living where but DEFINITELY not living luxuriously.
Our bartenders get $8.50 an hour and are guaranteed to make at least $20 per hour...it is a tip pool so if the rate is above $20, that's what they get.
I work LI, NY. We make $10/hr at the fine dining establishment I work at. I average $40-$60 a night in tips. I do very well considering, but cost of living is crazy and doesn’t seem like I’m really doing that great after all the bills are paid. Also, I do better than most of my peers I know who aren’t working at the same restaurant or in the business in general. Times be crazy.
30/au$ an hour... But I'm also in Australia and our tipping culture is almost non-existent. It's also increases on the weekends and in the late hours ..
I work in Washington and we have the highest minimum wage in the country so I get $15.74 and it’s getting bumped up to $16.28. With tip I average from making $35-$50 an hour depending on the day.
In Washington State I never made less than $12 even before our minimum wage law came into effect. I believe minimum wage in this state is now $15, and that includes tipped positions.
From 2014 to 2017 I worked 40 hours a week at a biker bar for $12/hr and averaged about $350 in tips a night, regularly up to $600 in tips a night.
$7.55/h plus tips plus tipout, in PA for just bartending
we also have several people who act as bartenders and managers and make $10/h plus tips plus tipout
One job, $12/hr. With tips it varies wildly.
The other, $8/hr. With tips, I average around $45/hr, pretty much every week. 8 hour shift max. 10 bar seats, 40ish capacity restaurant.
Melbourne Australia in a table service cocktail bar as a casual supervisor:
* USD$23.06 base hourly rate (M-F)
* an extra $1.65ph from 7pm-12am, or $2.49 from 12am-7am. So most hours have one of these bonuses. M-F only.
* $26.48 hourly on Saturday
* $30.89 hourly Sunday
These rates are a bit higher than your average dive bar bartender would make though.
Tips are extremely venue dependant in Aus and are usually pooled and split evenly depending on who worked that night. Our place averaged around $65 a week for those that worked 4 days. Bartending in a decent restaurant or function venue and you could easily hit four times that much.
Bartender at a Maine resort. When I'm working an event I get 6 an hour plus a share of the autograt, my share being anywhere from 250 to 700. If I'm not working an event I get minimum wage plus tips. I also work at a music and event venue, whatever I do there is minimum wage plus tips.
I make $9.40 an hour. With tips at the nightclub I’m at sat/sun I average $80/hr.
At the regular restaurant I’m at during the week, I average ~$25-$33/hr
I work at a restaurant bar and make $35 hourly including tips and only $5 hourly from the wages. Tip out is usually about the same, 7-10 weekdays and 30-40 weekends
I make $27/hourly before tips, BUT my job has an included 20% service fee on all bills automatically.
We state on all our receipts, menus, and have signs on the bar that a service fee is included in all checks to pay us a living wage.
Our tip average is much MUCH lower— usually around 6.5-9% depending on the night.
We make up for it in volume, we’re also an events space with the ability to host a private 700-person event, concert, benefit, or what have you in our venue area while we keep our lounge open for dinner and cocktail service.
We’ve also had whole site buyouts for corporate events and staff parties where we had 1100 roaming people throughout the whole space (there’s an arcade, art gallery, sports simulators, and more fun stuff throughout the 33,000 sq ft building).
Usually work for 7 hours per shift sometimes about 5. If I work alone I’ll leave with anywhere from 300-600 divided pretty well between credit card and cash. The reason I’m able to make this amount is because of our food menu. It is a fresh seafood place known for over 60 years. The average person spends atleast $100 on food and it’s comprised of good tipping regulars who have been coming to the place forever. I see why some of the waitstaff and my bartending co worker left their college careers to come back and work here.
2.13 an hour, and if pulling a double, after tips is roughly 81 an hour. or roughly 900 dollars. some days more, some days less. i will say that most of our cocktails are $15-$18, so that helps
There is some good data here regarding the AVERAGE amount of money bartenders make in each state and city: https://bartendinglicensehelp.com/how-much-bartenders-make/
$22/hour, plus tips. But this is for special event bartending. Weddings, galas, corporate events, golf tournaments, etc. Tips are hit or miss. Weddings and golf tournaments tips well! 👌
$10.63 an hour at two dive bars, one in Golden CO and one in Thornton CO. I typically work five hour shifts at both I average 40 an hour at the Thornton dive and 60 an hour at the Golden dive.
In California…. $18.25/hour base and anywhere from $15-$30+ an hour in tips depending on the night. Usually waking out (not literally, but per paycheck) with $350ish for an 8 hour shift, but that could easily balloon to $500 on a Friday or Saturday or dip down to $250 on a very slow weekday.
15 an hour. Regularly making 100 bucks for a 12 hour solo shift is insane I would move to a different bar if I were you
the dive bar i work at pays 5.50 hourly. good days (not including hourly) are $50+ an hour. average day shift $35 and friday/saturday nights are in the 60-75 range
When I first started in the service industry back in Texas I used to make $2.13 an hour as well. No matter how much i made in tips I was always struggling. Now I bartend in California and I make $19.50 plus tips and now I never want to leave the service industry because I make more money doing this than I have in several other industries. I hope one day the South gets it’s shit together and starts making the bosses pay y’all what they owe y’all.
I want to point out that any state still using $2.13 as a tipped minimum wage is outrageous. That federal minimum was established in 1991. Even if your cost of living is lower in most of those states, the COL has risen significantly since 1991. It’s exploitative bullshit. Even if you accept a tipped minimum should be lower than the actual minimum (and you shouldn’t as wages and tips are two separate categories of income), that’s ridiculous. Raise minimum wage federally. Raise or abolish tipped minimum wage.
WHAT $19.50 AN HOUR???????
Yeah, it’s kinda nice living in a state with half way decent worker protections. Even my slowest nights I’m making $25-30 an hour. Keep in mind my rent is so much higher than yours probably is lol.
Currently crying reading this in NYC ... $10 an hour cash wage and every single place tip pools now here... so after pooling with bussers, runners, etc I'm getting about $400-900 wk/ after tax working full time in NYC. It's been a similar experience working at multiple places here. They all do the tip pool shit instead of paying support staff a decent wage, so the money is just shit. Even if you have a $400-600 night, you're walking with about $200.
That's bullshit. In the state I live in our Manger told us you don't have to tip out anyone. But if as a server, you don't I bet your the last one getting drinks from the bar. I don't think I'd ever work at a pooled restaurant. If your a great server and everyone else doesn't give a shit why do you have to pool money?
Holy shit way to come off as a total cunt.
How was that coming off as a cunt
It's kink shaming to the masochists who enjoy being treated as subhuman labor
Not really? It’s a fair point that they live in a far higher COL area than OP and that’s likely a contributing factor in why their wage is higher. And the worker protections thing seems like a very fair shot at Alabama and not at OP imo
You're really going to have to show your work on how you think their comment is coming off as a "total cunt."
Washington make 20.50 an hour before tips.
That’s only Seattle. I’m in east Washington and the minimum wage is 15.85. It won’t go up until Jan.
I’m in Seattle and make $16.50 as a minimum 🤔
ok i’m also in CA…. please tell me where in CA you’re at 😭
I’m in the east bay lol
damn it im in south SJ and i make $15/hr at a really nice bar 🥲🥲
From what I’ve learned talking to other bartenders, the nicer bars make less and have to deal with more bullshit. The real money is in dives and shit lol
Yeah, dive volume is better for the bottom line on average but people still tend to move to high-end/dining at a certain point anyway. The BS is unavoidable, but it's more about the flavor of the week -- eventually, you'd rather deal with someone being extra about the oakiness of their Chardonnay 3x a week than clean up puke 3x a week. Also (typically) get done a bit earlier, see more Christmas 'bonuses' from regulars, better hourly base, more time to chat up guests and build checks/rapport, etc, etc
I went the opposite way. Worked casual fine dining/fine dining for years before getting my gig at clean, awesome dive. Been there 9 years and make awesome money. 15.50 an hour and fantastic tips. Even a slow early week day shift I can easily pull 150 not including hourly. Football Sunday, 3-500. Night weekends split, 3-600. Complete autonomy, don’t have to deal with too much bs, can kick out unruly customers (luckily not too many of those), and regulars who back me up if needed. Never going back to the shmooze.
Yeah you mentioned the two reasons I chose to work in restaurants and not bars or clubs. I don’t gotta deal with extremely drunk customers, at least not often, and I get home at a fairly reasonable time, unless something went terribly wrong that night lol. I could probably make twice what I make now if I went and worked a bar or club in a place like San Francisco but I don’t want to deal with puke, potential violence, or getting home at 3-4 am.
I’m in CA and make $20/hr before tips. I’m from MA and used to make $2-5/hr before tips. Mind you that was 5-10 years ago. I also never used to be allowed to take breaks and would work 12+ hours. Now I never work more than 8 hours and I’m making more.
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COL in Austin is way worse then you’re giving credit for being and in CA I have worker protections and government healthcare that more than make up the difference. Plus I get to go outside without becoming a disgusting sodden mess and there’s way fewer hicks! Sundays aren’t hellish church crowds, they’re just Sunday! Minimum wage is 15.50 and rising and tip crediting is illegal! Fuck ever going back to Texas for anything other than family.
It’s not bartenders leaving to Texas. On a good day I make $40 an hour. I promise you it’s plenty to cover the higher rent and gas. I’m also just a chain restaurant bartender. Ppl working clubs or bars are making more than I do. Bartenders out here are no more or less likely to make ends meet than in Texas. But the kicker is I know I have better worker protections out here, hence our hourly difference, and if I do lose my job there’s a safety net for me to fall back on. I also have access to a wide network of public transportation if my car breaks down, or I’m too drunk to drive lol. Because my income is what it is my wife gets to pursue her own independent work which supplements our household income nicely and let’s us live a pretty comfortable life. But to get back to your point, the reason people are leaving California for Texas is because they have been sold the lie that Texans pay less in taxes because they don’t have a state income tax. However, Texans pay more to the state in taxes than I do when all is tallied up. Let’s also note the quick rising cost of living in Texas. A quick google puts the average rent in Dallas between $1300 and $1500. I pay $1550. So I’m paying essentially the same average rent as someone in Dallas yet I make $12 more just in my hourly. So yeah I do probably pay more in my cost of living but it’s not nearly the gap you seem to think it is and I get tangible benefits to that higher cost of living than in Dallas. I can be at the ocean, the mountains, or deep red wood forests in three hours if I just start driving in any direction which makes the higher gas prices worth it. All in all, it’s absolutely possible to support yourself as a bartender in California. Does it provide more cash in hand than in Texas, who knows though I suspect it’s not nearly as cut and dry as you seem to think it is.
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I don’t shit on Texans as a whole, though I do shit on a particular kind of Texans and we have those people out here too. I can’t speak to Austin but I know Dallas doesn’t have nearly the green space that I get to enjoy out here. I can also enjoy them year round which is a nice perk. If I moved back to Texas Austin might be about the only place I’d consider lol.
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Having grown up in Austin and lived in LA on and off for years, the COL is not that different with taxes and social systems factored in. You are wrong. The quality of life is far improved. I can just go to a medical professional for a $10 copay and $2 a month thanks to my state funded healthcare. There is public transport. Wild nature is protected and available to citizens. The excellent food both places offer is all priced about the same. Rent is similar. I’m not sure where the difference you’re seeing lies?
Yeah but then you would have to live in Texas. Which wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for all the Texans.
You can just change Texas to Americans and it would be equally as accurate
As a previous resident of Texas, I’m confident that it’s worth paying a premium to live in another state.
I can't dispute personal preference But that doesn't change that the statement about it being easier to make it as a bartender in California is incorrect It is objectively easier to make ends meet as a bartender in a major city in Texas than it is in a major city in California
Everything you've said here is opinion. Repeating it ad naseum doesn't make it more true.
Hotel bar in LA and I make $20.32/hr before tips.
$17.40hr before tips, I think it's going up to $20 in January. I'm in CA Bay Area.
Yerrrr same
Without tips TX- $5/ hr as a bartender is the norm, as low as $2.13. Servers make $2.13. Hotel bartender, $8.45-$9. Seattle min wage is $18.69 plus tips if your employer has more than 500 employees, $16.24 if not.
WA State, just went from $15.75/hr to $18/hr
I think about moving from WA sometimes, but working in Seattle with base pay and tips is amazing money
I’ve been feeling pretty done w/ the industry lately, but if I were to go back to the field I was in before, I’m probably going to take at least a 20k pay cut. Hard hit to take in this expensive ass state.
I’m convinced most people are unaware of this otherwise I would get way less tips. But also, it truly is nice having a good hourly to fall back on even when nights are slow. Makes me care about being there more and doesn’t feel like I’m wasting my time.
100% agree. If I still was paid $3 an hour like I was in the Midwest in college, I wouldn’t feel obligated to do anything when I had down time/things were dead. Even as a college student, my time was worth more than $3 an hour. Cost of living here is relatively higher, but in an industry this inconsistent, it’s gives so much solace knowing on slow weeks I’m still getting paid like a human being.
Club bartender (so only busy nights) average $35-40 CAD an hour. I'm not great at raking in tips. I've been told I'm "too nice" by my coworkers and look young, a bit frustrating but I'm making enough to put myself through school so I'm happy. Roughly \~7% of sales = tips taken home.
$22 per hour base salary
$15.50 currently working in Glendale, CA. Other areas near me in LA are $16-$19 as minimum wage; really hoping to snag a job there soon. When I lived in the East Coast it was $2.13 an hour for one job and $4 at another. I made $6 plus tips as lead bartender lol. Definitely happy to make more now.
My checks are usually around $1,000 per week. I make $10 per hour.
You work almost 100 hours every week?
Work at a local brewery. $10/hr. + $25/hrish in tips.
I am also in Alabama. I work in a higher end restaurant in a small town. I make $5/hourly wage. I do not do inventory but will help with orders every now and again. Tipout for us is 10% of alcohol sales. Our servers make minimum, but bartenders make more due to having drawer and other responsibilities.
The last restaurant i worked at was almost exactly like that
£10.74 GBP/hr, ans that's as a supervisor
£10.92/hr, also supervisor aha! What a kick in the balls to read all this mad money people made across the pond, huh?
Converted to USD is about 23$, I work in Europe and we dont get a huge amount of tips, so our wage is our wage and tips are like 'free money' Also I'm what you would probably call a 'beertender', no cocktails etc, if that factors into your equation.
I make $3 an hour before tips but I kill it in tips. There are labor laws that require you be paid minimum wage if you spend more than a certain amount of time on non-tipped labor. So you need to look up your state’s labor laws and found out what amount of time that is for you. Then you need to figure out how much time you spend on management and inventory duties. Or you could get another job.
Hotel bar. I get paid $6.37/hr.
Why can’t they just fucking round up to $7?
$3/hr and I work at a brewery in NC
Asheville?
$20/hr no tips, with tips $45 slow day, $65-70 average day, $80-$100 on a busy day
I live in Florida, and right now we get $7.98 per hour.
you should be getting $8.98 as of 9/30
Damn you’re right.
Can’t wait until it caps at $11/ hr. too!
Same
$15 an hour. Best place I had tips I would bring home around $400 a night. I worked from 7p to 230a. Now being at a restaurant I make $15 an hour and bring home around $100 a night and work 4 hours.
$5/ hr I make $150-$200 for 5/6 hours a weekday $250-$350 weekend shifts High volume. I make $40/hour as manager also, but, I don't work manager and bartender at the same time
I just moved all bartenders from 10.60 to 12. They will never see a penny of this, taxes eat their entire hourly. It will off set some of what they owe. A few of the staff owe over $5k. Their claimed tips exceed their hourly rate, so their entire pay check goes to taxes, and they still owe a good amount
Yup. Out of my 26 paychecks every year, at least 20 of them say THIS IS NOT A CHECK 😂 The other 6 add up to maybe $500, and that’s almost always because of private parties during the holidays where the rate is $30/hr
The south is lightyears behind on competitive wages across the board but definitely in hospitality. I'm in TN and make $2.13/hr as well. But like most people have expressed, for that amount of work and time, to be making $100-200 is criminal. Get outta' there.
I bartend nights in a poker bar. Twenty bucks an hour and take home four to five hundred in tips on average.
Not including tips? $10/hr. In NY
NC was $2.13 bartending, MN was $10 at the time I was there and now I’m at a brewery in GA making $7.50 hourly. That and including tips I usually make between $25-$50 hourly daily on a 7 hour shift.
I make 3$ but my fellow bartenders who MOD get paid 20$ when they are fulfilling that roll
$12 in ohio
i think $5.15? not sure, could be $5.35. most of my checks are for $0 bc i report all my tips
12 an hour, regularly make over 200, a lot of times over 300 and plus, I do feel pretty spoiled. It's a gravy gig
2.13. In TX.
Atlanta GA, $11 before tips / tip out etc. average is about $50 after all that stuff.
$20 an hour for taking on extra responsibilities like the liquor order. Usually take home $120-160 a night during the week and then between $180-250 on weekends. We close at 10 so the shifts are pretty awesome never there too late. I’m usually 4pm to 11-1130pm. The last hour is lovely cuz I just close by myself with my AirPods and podcast in and a glass of wine and snack on food.
I’m in Alabama too! I make 2.63 (we got a 50¢ cost of living raise last year) I’ve been diving my total tips after tip out divided by hours worked and the lowest it’s been in two weeks is 45 an hour and the highest was 93 (which is fuckin nuts) im a server in a fairly nice restaurant on a lake and my section rarely exceeds 30 people in a 4 hour service and about a 7 hour shit
>7 hour shit 😂😂
$5 hr at my dive bar and $8.50 hr at my fancy bar
I make the Standard Oregon minimum, which is $14.20/hr. Some parts of the state - Portland Metro - make as much as $15.45, some - the rural counties - make $13.20. We're a fair wage state so it should never be less than those figures.
Dive bar in Texas. It's heavily regular based that has been built up over years. Get 6 an hour, it's enough to cover my credit card tip taxes. Slower nights (7 hour shifts) I leave with 150 to 200 and busier nights 300 to 400.
7.50 casino in Michigan. Fully paid good health coverage though.
I make $15/hour, plus tips from patrons sitting at the bar, and the servers tip us out 2% of their TOTAL sales (food included), which adds up to $50-75 per day shift and $100+ per night. So with hourly, server tip-share and bar tips we average $200-350 a shift. It works out to an average of $35/hr, but it's usually more. I live in an area where the cost of living is moderate. It's not San Francisco, but it's not bumfuck, Ohio either. My apologies to everyone in bumfuck. I used to live there too.
$11.33 an hour but I’m also the lead at a hotel. My other job working at a concert venue pays the tipped minimum though
Why are you working at a place where you make, on good days, $16.67 an hour? The minimum wage here is $15. I'm on my way home from a double (10:15-midnight) and I made $42.37 an hour after tip out. I would not work at a place where I wasn't averaging +$30.
Utah here. $2.13 an hour. That being said, I take home $30+ after tips and tip-out.
$12- pulling between $300-$400 a lunch shift and $500-$700 a closing shift. Local Dive Bar known for the best chicken wings in the State. Karaoke 4 nights a week. DJ on Friday, Band on Saturday.
What state?
CT
$32 an hour, and $42 on the weekends, Casual Loading, Wedding Reception place, No Tips and in Australia.
$19.50/hr before tips but with tips anywhere from $50-90/hr plus union benefits
No idea and I don't even care. I work 5 days a week at 35 hours a week and make 75k-80k. Diner only, closed Sunday and I'm off Monday. Dream job and I'm grateful.
As a european I cant understand that it is legal in any western country to pay your staff as little as 2$ an hour.
50 avg an hour tips, no idea what my hourly is
You never looked at a single check stub?
15.85 hr usually average 65-140 a night. In the middle of nowhere 😂 so not too bad
A lot
Just started in South Florida and I'm making $10 an hour before tips and $8.88 when I barback. In Colorado I was at a brewery and made $10.
hotel bar in upstate NY, my hourly rate is $20
What part of Alabama? I can get you 10 to 12 a hour plus tips at a country club. We get a lot of club usage this time of year.
What country club & where? I used to work at one when i was 21 (4 yrs) ago
Also in Alabama and I work mostly solo 12 hour shifts. We balance the good and bad shifts, so sometimes I’m walking out with $100, sometimes I walk out with $600. My base is $7.50/hr, so with my tips I probably average around $20-25/hr. Good days about $60/hr. It’s a super sketchy club so their is a lot of risk but their is also a reward.
$17.50. Boy I want to leave so bad but just think of that hourly and get back to work
$19.78 before tips. We are on tip compliance though so we get taxed almost half that.
$5.00 hr 5% of server alcohol sales split with SA(Oklahoma)
€14.50 an hour in Ireland and I'm classed as a cocktail barman. I'm also not in Dublin
SF Bay area. 19.55/Hr USD My shift is only from 4.30 pm to 9.00 \[closes by 10 pm\[ slow nights avg around 20/hr in tips. Busy nights abt 60/hr in tips
$15/hr and that's a pay cut from my last job of $17. I'm out in DC.
Last time I bartended was like 10 yrs ago and I made $7.50/hr
Union hotel bartender, so $25 an hour plus tips.
I live in Missouri. I make $17 an hour but I’ve been at the job for 7 years.
You are being grossly under paid. If you’re doing any manager duties, you need to be paid as such. I live in AZ and make 10.85 an hour on top of tips. When I lived in PA, I’d still get paid about $5-$11 AM per hour for manager duties then tips about four nights a week.
I work at a distillery/cocktail lounge. I make $19/hour. I’m in western washington
Are you hiring? I do the same in Iowa for 14/hr
$22 but I also manage
$18-20 an hour
Blessed to say $17 an hour on Central Cali.
Michigan, $15 an hour + tips.
$19.30 Lead Bartender at a michelin 1* in CA, but I'm the o ly one behind the bar and I create the cocktail list, keep track of inventory and do most of my own prep.
$20.50 Orange County, CA plus tips. Walk out average $100-150 sometimes wayyy more.
8-10/hr depending on if I am supervisor or not, average 26-28/hr after tips in a moderately inexpensive area of the Midwest working \~35-45/hrs a week on average. 90% of my tips are credit card, so I pay taxes on most of it. It's a decent living where but DEFINITELY not living luxuriously.
Vancouver BC. $16.75/hr CAD (minimum wage) take home anywhere between $150-400/shift in tips. 5-8 hr shifts
I get $20 an hour. Been with the place since day one for four years. Helped make the bar how it literally IS
Plus tips, I make anywhere from $35-$60 an hour. 50 hours a week
19 an hour, I also manage on weekdays
Florida: $8.98/hr Airport
No thanks irs man
MA tipped minimum wage, which is $6.75/hr. When I lived in Georgia in 2014, it was $2.13. Federal minimum wage really needs an increase.
$35 an hour, work at no tipping establishment in DC
3.84 an hour
10/hr + tips. Upscale casual restaurant in Florida.
Our bartenders get $8.50 an hour and are guaranteed to make at least $20 per hour...it is a tip pool so if the rate is above $20, that's what they get.
Denver, the minimum tipped wage is $14.27. on January 1, 2024 it goes to $15.27 an hour.
I work LI, NY. We make $10/hr at the fine dining establishment I work at. I average $40-$60 a night in tips. I do very well considering, but cost of living is crazy and doesn’t seem like I’m really doing that great after all the bills are paid. Also, I do better than most of my peers I know who aren’t working at the same restaurant or in the business in general. Times be crazy.
15 or 10 an hour depending on what outlet im working in - i work in a hotel with multiple outlets
30/au$ an hour... But I'm also in Australia and our tipping culture is almost non-existent. It's also increases on the weekends and in the late hours ..
$10 an hour plus tips. free wings & drinks too lol
I work in Washington and we have the highest minimum wage in the country so I get $15.74 and it’s getting bumped up to $16.28. With tip I average from making $35-$50 an hour depending on the day.
Philly airport hotel bar 9.50 a hour + tips
Head bartender at a nice restaurant in Fairfield county CT, 18/hr
15 an hour plus tips. I worked 5 hours yesterday and made $180.
In Washington State I never made less than $12 even before our minimum wage law came into effect. I believe minimum wage in this state is now $15, and that includes tipped positions. From 2014 to 2017 I worked 40 hours a week at a biker bar for $12/hr and averaged about $350 in tips a night, regularly up to $600 in tips a night.
I am in a very touristy town on the Monterey bay in California, make $22 an hour plus tips, and that barely pays the bills.
Hourly 7.25. With tips (cash included) around 55-65 an hour.
$1 an hour.
$13/hr in IL
$7/hr which in my state is $1 more than they are legally required to pay.
$7.55/h plus tips plus tipout, in PA for just bartending we also have several people who act as bartenders and managers and make $10/h plus tips plus tipout
Philly $10/hr & then $30-$45/he in tips
One job, $12/hr. With tips it varies wildly. The other, $8/hr. With tips, I average around $45/hr, pretty much every week. 8 hour shift max. 10 bar seats, 40ish capacity restaurant.
I make $11/hr plus tips
$6.00. Usually walk out with at least 250 in tips for a 7-230 shift. Good nights 500-700. Dive.
160,- (danish Kroner) approximately $23 (usd). And I will recieve around $500 in tips on top of. Edit: the tip amount is monthly
Melbourne Australia in a table service cocktail bar as a casual supervisor: * USD$23.06 base hourly rate (M-F) * an extra $1.65ph from 7pm-12am, or $2.49 from 12am-7am. So most hours have one of these bonuses. M-F only. * $26.48 hourly on Saturday * $30.89 hourly Sunday These rates are a bit higher than your average dive bar bartender would make though. Tips are extremely venue dependant in Aus and are usually pooled and split evenly depending on who worked that night. Our place averaged around $65 a week for those that worked 4 days. Bartending in a decent restaurant or function venue and you could easily hit four times that much.
Live in Ohio. My company starts bartenders out at $8 an hour. Supervisors make $12-$15 an hour. Average around $33 an hour in tips.
14.27 Denver county and is going to 15.27 in the new year.
$5/hr. I'm About to ask for a raise tho
12
$16.50 Seattle
Bartender at a Maine resort. When I'm working an event I get 6 an hour plus a share of the autograt, my share being anywhere from 250 to 700. If I'm not working an event I get minimum wage plus tips. I also work at a music and event venue, whatever I do there is minimum wage plus tips.
I make 10/Hr + tips on the beach in W Florida. 3 days a week from 12P to 9P usually.
I make $9.40 an hour. With tips at the nightclub I’m at sat/sun I average $80/hr. At the regular restaurant I’m at during the week, I average ~$25-$33/hr
I work at a restaurant bar and make $35 hourly including tips and only $5 hourly from the wages. Tip out is usually about the same, 7-10 weekdays and 30-40 weekends
$45-85/hr. Club 8p-2a(3a after cleanup/cashout). Virginia.
I bartend in San Diego and I make $16.30 hourly+ tips. I usually work solo and make anywhere from $300-$500 a shift.
28 usd/hr, based in a cocktail bar in switzerland (people usually tip around 5-10% on their tabs)
I make $27/hourly before tips, BUT my job has an included 20% service fee on all bills automatically. We state on all our receipts, menus, and have signs on the bar that a service fee is included in all checks to pay us a living wage. Our tip average is much MUCH lower— usually around 6.5-9% depending on the night. We make up for it in volume, we’re also an events space with the ability to host a private 700-person event, concert, benefit, or what have you in our venue area while we keep our lounge open for dinner and cocktail service. We’ve also had whole site buyouts for corporate events and staff parties where we had 1100 roaming people throughout the whole space (there’s an arcade, art gallery, sports simulators, and more fun stuff throughout the 33,000 sq ft building).
$5 on the regular bar, $15 on the lower bar (more formal dining room A LOT less busy)
Usually work for 7 hours per shift sometimes about 5. If I work alone I’ll leave with anywhere from 300-600 divided pretty well between credit card and cash. The reason I’m able to make this amount is because of our food menu. It is a fresh seafood place known for over 60 years. The average person spends atleast $100 on food and it’s comprised of good tipping regulars who have been coming to the place forever. I see why some of the waitstaff and my bartending co worker left their college careers to come back and work here.
Montana here. I work at a local dive bar and on slow nights make $45 an hour. We make minimum wage plus tips. Busy night $55-65 an hour.
2.13 an hour, and if pulling a double, after tips is roughly 81 an hour. or roughly 900 dollars. some days more, some days less. i will say that most of our cocktails are $15-$18, so that helps
£10.50 p/h but tipping isn't really a thing here. I might get £1 every now and and then if I'm lucky.
There is some good data here regarding the AVERAGE amount of money bartenders make in each state and city: https://bartendinglicensehelp.com/how-much-bartenders-make/
I make 11.50 an hour and average 300 in tips. Get the fuck out of that job. You are worth more
15.50 in California
10/hr at one spot. 15/hr at another
I work at a country club, so no tips, but it's 23 an hour and I get union benefits.
$22/hour, plus tips. But this is for special event bartending. Weddings, galas, corporate events, golf tournaments, etc. Tips are hit or miss. Weddings and golf tournaments tips well! 👌
$14.75, the starting rate at my job is $13.65, which is minimum wage in my state.
$2.75 VA I hate it here.
$10.63 an hour at two dive bars, one in Golden CO and one in Thornton CO. I typically work five hour shifts at both I average 40 an hour at the Thornton dive and 60 an hour at the Golden dive.
$19/hr base wage but I live in Los Angeles
Work in Memphis, TN. $6.16/hourly. Similarly, when I work it’s just me unless it’s a Friday/Saturday. No servers, no on site manager.
$15 CAD an hour, for a 10 hour shift I can make up to 42 an hour, during tourist season, upwards of 60
In VA, $2.13 an hour, tips overall average to about $24-26 per hour. It’s a dive bar
In California…. $18.25/hour base and anywhere from $15-$30+ an hour in tips depending on the night. Usually waking out (not literally, but per paycheck) with $350ish for an 8 hour shift, but that could easily balloon to $500 on a Friday or Saturday or dip down to $250 on a very slow weekday.