Parking GarageTip Calculator
Attended garages, the big-city kind where someone parks your car and brings it back around — tell us how you park there, and we'll help you land on a fair tip for the person who fetched it
How much should you tip a parking garage attendant?
In the U.S., $2–$5 per pickup is a common tipping range at attended garages, with $2 a useful reference point; monthly parkers usually add a year-end thank-you of $10–$30 or more per attendant.
- Typical U.S. range
- $2–$5 per pickup
- Common reference
- $2 per pickup
What’s common in the U.S.
In attended garages — the New York kind, where staff park every car and bring it back around — a small cash tip at pickup is customary even though you're paying the garage for the parking itself. $2–$5 is the commonly cited range, a couple of dollars is what most regulars hand over, and $10 or $20 remain optional higher choices for a rush retrieval or a stacked garage. Monthly parkers typically keep the everyday tip small and give a year-end thank-you instead: $10–$30 per attendant in Emily Post's holiday guide, and $25–$75 in New York's residential garages according to Brick Underground's annual guide.
What tippos suggests
tippos suggests starting from how you use the garage, factoring in how the pickup went, and choosing the per-pickup amount that feels right for the person who brought your car around.
Tipping is always your decision. These numbers are context, not a requirement, and no amount is ever preselected for you.
Sources & methodology
Sources reviewed: September 3, 2026
tippos compares the references below to provide practical U.S. context. The final amount is always your decision.
- The Emily Post Institute — General Tipping GuidePuts the attendant who returns your car at $2–$5, tipped when the car comes back — the same act in an attended garage.
- Brick Underground — Holiday Tipping Guide: How much to tip your doorman, super, porter, and other staffBrick Underground's annual New York guide puts garage attendants at $25–$75 for the holidays, within a broad $25–$100 range that depends on the building and the service (December 2025).
- The Emily Post Institute — Holiday Tipping GuideLists garage attendants at $10–$30 or a small gift for the holidays, scaled to your budget and how often you use the service.