On an episode of KQED's Forum earlier this month that focused on the practice of tipping, participants posited that the more affluent a customer is, the more generously he or she will tip. A study of data from San Francisco-based payment processing company Square appears to claim the opposite, however, saying that some of the country's richest states are also home to the nation's stingiest tippers.

So reports Time, looking at millions of credit and debit transactions made through Square "from over 2 million sellers across the country" in July of 2017. Based on that data, the nation's worst tippers can be found in Hawaii, where the average tip percentage is 14.8 percent. the District of Columbia is slightly better, at 14.9 percent, Massachusetts is at 15 percent, and California rounds out the bottom four at 15.2 percent.

The national average is 16.4 percent, Time reports. Idaho tops the tip list, Square says, with an average 17.4 percent gratuity. For the sake of comparison, the San Francisco Chronicle recommends a tip of around 20 percent for most food and beverage services.

Time notes that "Some of the spots with the worst tippers, like Hawaii, the District of Columbia and California, are home to some of the highest earners in the U.S."

"Conversely, Square's ranking shows that residents of some lower-income states, such as West Virginia and Mississippi, handed out some of the most generous tips."

As noted earlier, this information appears contrary to KQED's common assumption that richer people are better tippers — but there might be a good reason for that. According to KQED, that income information comes from a Creditcards.com poll, as opposed to hard data like that from Square.

Via a "scientific telephone poll of 1,002 adults conducted June 22-25, 2017," Creditcards.com says they learned that "Topping the list of best tippers" are men, Republicans, northeasterners, and baby boomers. They also note that "Anyone earning $50,000 or more is likely to leave a bigger tip when getting up from the table. Those at or above that income level have a median restaurant tip of 20 percent. Those making less than that leave a median tip of 15 percent."

But, honestly, who's going to brag about being a crappy tipper to a telephone survey person? I mean, it's hard enough visualizing who even responds to telephone surveys in the first place, so there's that. The proof appears to be in the receipts, and at least at businesses that use Square (those from the July study included Philz, Blue Bottle, Whole Foods, nand many "small businesses," Time reports), those who make more money appear in many cases to be tipping less. Do you agree, my scantily-tipping fellow Californians?

Previously: Ask The Foodinista: Do You Have To Tip For Takeout?