Travel money
Travel money in United States: cash or card?
The advertised price is never the final price. Sales tax is added at the register and a tip on top of that, so budget roughly a quarter more than the menu says — and expect a screen to ask you for the tip before you have been served.
US dollar (USD, $) · figures checked against the sources at the foot of this page
Tips where a card cannot carry them, a few food trucks and dive bars, and nothing else most days.
Everything, contactless included. A growing number of places take nothing but cards.
$40–60 in small notes for tipping. Ones and fives are the useful denominations.
The arithmetic: tax at the register plus 18–20% tip means the menu price is roughly a fifth to a quarter short.
The money itself
- $1Green
- $5Green with purple
- $10Green with orange
- $20Green with peach
- $50Green with pink
- $100Green with blue
Penny, nickel, dime, quarter — 1, 5, 10 and 25 cents. The quarter is the one that matters, for parking meters, laundry and vending machines, and the dime being smaller than the nickel confuses everyone at first.
Every note is the same size and very nearly the same colour, which is a genuine problem when you are handing over cash in a dim bar: a one and a twenty feel identical. Keep small notes for tips separate from the rest, and check the numeral rather than the feel.
Every way to pay, and whether it works for a visitor
Whether a payment method exists in United States and whether you can use it are different questions. This table answers the second one: no local bank account, no local SIM, no residency.
Visa / Mastercard
WorksAccepted everywhere, contactless included, for any amount. Plenty of businesses have gone card-only, and a card is the assumed way to pay in most of the country.
Apple Pay / Google Pay
WorksWidely accepted and unusually useful here: it is the clean way around the ZIP-code problem at petrol pumps, and it works on transit gates in the cities that have them.
American Express
WorksIts home market — accepted far more broadly than anywhere else in this set, though the occasional small independent still refuses it.
Cash (dollars)
WorksAlways accepted in law, but increasingly awkward in practice: card-only cafés, stadiums and venues are common, and some will point you at a machine that converts cash to a prepaid card. Its real job here is tipping.
Venmo, Zelle and Cash App
Residents onlyHow Americans pay each other and some small vendors, all requiring a US bank account and phone number. Nothing a visitor needs runs on them.
Cash
You can spend weeks in the United States without paying for anything in cash. Cards work everywhere, contactless is standard, and a growing number of businesses refuse notes outright — a policy you will meet at stadiums, some cafés and many newer venues.
What cash is still for is tipping, and specifically the tips a card cannot carry: housekeeping left in a room, a valet, a bellhop, a bartender in a busy room, a tour guide at the end of a day. Forty to sixty dollars in ones and fives covers a week of that.
Withdraw from a bank's own machine rather than the standalone one in a bar or a convenience store. Bank machines charge around $3, the standalone ones $6 or more, and both are on top of whatever your own bank adds.
Cards
Card acceptance is total and the terminals are quick, but two habits differ from Europe. The card often leaves your sight in a sit-down restaurant, where the bill comes on a tray and returns for a signature. And the tip is added after the card has been authorised, written onto the slip or chosen on a screen, which is why the final amount on your statement is higher than the one you approved.
The other thing that catches visitors is the petrol pump. Pay-at-the-pump asks for a five-digit ZIP code that a foreign card does not have, and the transaction is declined. Pay inside at the counter, or use Apple Pay or Google Pay at the pump, which skips the prompt entirely.
Decline dynamic currency conversion where it is offered — mostly at tourist-area terminals and machines — and pay in dollars.
ATMs
Two fees stack on every withdrawal: the machine's surcharge, disclosed on screen before you confirm, and whatever your own bank charges for a foreign withdrawal. The machine's share averages a little over three dollars at a bank and considerably more at the standalone machines in bars, hotels and convenience stores.
Use machines attached to real banks — Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and the rest — inside branches or in their lobbies. They are cheaper, better maintained and less likely to have been tampered with.
Because the fee is flat, take a sensible amount at once. Given cash is mostly for tips, one withdrawal often covers a whole trip.
Changing money
There is no reason to change money before travelling. Cards work everywhere, machines are on every high street, and airport exchange counters are among the worst value anywhere.
If you arrive with another currency in hand, a bank branch will change it, though many require you to be a customer. A machine withdrawal is simpler and cheaper.
Dollars left over keep their value and are useful across a great deal of the world, so there is no need to spend down to zero.
Costs that are not the price
Sales tax is added at the register
Prices are displayed before tax, and the rate is set by state, county and city together — from nothing at all in Oregon, Delaware, Montana and New Hampshire to around 10% in parts of California, Illinois and Louisiana. The same shirt costs different amounts on either side of a city line, and nothing on the shelf tells you which.
Tipping, in the amounts actually expected
Sit-down restaurants and bars: 18–20%, with 20% now the default for ordinary service. Bartenders: $1–2 a drink if you are not running a tab. Taxis and rideshare: 15–20%. Hotel housekeeping: $3–5 a night, left in the room. Bellhops and valets: $2–5. Tour guides: 15–20% or a set amount per day. This is not a bonus — tipped staff are paid a lower base wage on the expectation of it.
The tip screen asks earlier than it used to
Counters that never took tips now present a screen suggesting 18%, 20% or 25% before you have received anything — a coffee, a pastry, a bottle of water. There is a no-tip option and using it at a counter is entirely normal. The obligation is real for table service, not for handing you a cup.
Resort and destination fees
Hotels, particularly in Las Vegas, Florida and city centres, add a mandatory nightly fee on top of the room rate for amenities you may not use. It is charged at checkout and can be $30 or more a night. New rules have forced clearer up-front display, but it is still money the headline rate did not include.
There is no tourist tax refund
Sales tax is not refundable to visitors nationally — unlike VAT in Europe, there is nothing to claim at the airport. A couple of states run narrow schemes of their own, and they are the exception rather than something to plan around.
Paying for transport
Some cities take your card at the gate
New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington and a growing list accept contactless bank cards and phones straight at the turnstile, with fare capping in some. Others still want their own card bought at a machine — check the city rather than assuming, because the country has no single system.
Rideshare over taxis, mostly
Uber and Lyft cover almost everywhere and settle in the app, with the tip added afterwards on a screen. Yellow taxis in New York and a few other cities take cards in the back, where the tip prompts start at 20%.
Driving means tolls and pumps
Toll roads increasingly bill by plate to a rental company, which adds an administration fee per day of use. At the pump, use Apple Pay or pay inside to avoid the ZIP-code refusal.
What you may carry in and out
Declaring cash
More than $10,000 in cash or monetary instruments must be declared to customs on entry and exit. It is not a limit on carrying it, only on failing to declare it — and the penalty for that is seizure.
No cash payment cap
There is no ceiling on paying in cash, though businesses report large cash transactions and many simply will not accept notes at all.
Common questions about money in United States
Why is the price at the register higher than the price on the label?
Because sales tax is added at the till rather than included in the displayed price, and the rate depends on the state, county and city you are standing in — from zero in Oregon, Delaware, Montana and New Hampshire to around 10% in parts of California, Illinois and Louisiana. Add a tip where one applies and the gap between the menu and the card charge is roughly a fifth to a quarter.
How much should I tip in the United States?
18–20% at sit-down restaurants and bars, $1–2 a drink at a bar, 15–20% for taxis and rideshare, $3–5 a night for hotel housekeeping, $2–5 for bellhops and valets. Tipped staff are paid a lower base wage on the expectation of it, so it functions as part of the price rather than as a reward.
Do I have to tip on the screen at a coffee counter?
No. Screens suggesting 18–25% now appear at counters where tipping was never customary, before you have received anything. There is a no-tip option and choosing it is unremarkable. The genuine obligation applies to table service, bars and personal services.
Why was my card declined at the petrol pump?
Because pay-at-the-pump asks for a five-digit ZIP code to verify the card, and a foreign card has no ZIP to give. Pay inside at the counter instead, or use Apple Pay or Google Pay at the pump, which skips the prompt.
Do I need cash in the US?
Only for tips. Cards work everywhere and many businesses are card-only, but housekeeping, valets, bellhops, bartenders and guides are tipped in cash. Forty to sixty dollars in ones and fives covers a week.
Can tourists claim a sales tax refund in the US?
No, not nationally. Unlike VAT in Europe, US sales tax is not refundable to visitors and there is nothing to claim at the airport. A couple of states run limited schemes, which are the exception rather than something to plan around.
What is a resort fee?
A mandatory nightly charge some hotels add on top of the room rate for amenities, common in Las Vegas, Florida and city centres and sometimes $30 a night or more. It is collected at checkout, so the rate you booked is not the total you pay.
Where these figures come from
Checked against the following on . Fees and thresholds move; where a figure varies by bank or by machine, this page gives the range rather than inventing a single number.