Federal Per Diem Rates

Federal per diem rates are the daily amounts the U.S. government allows its employees for lodging and for meals and incidental expenses when they travel on duty. For the continental United States (CONUS) they are published by the General Services Administration (GSA). Here are all of them in one table for the fiscal year that began on 1 October 2026.

Click a column heading to sort. Type in the filter to narrow the list to a city, a county or a state. The standard rate, which applies everywhere that is not in the table, is shown above it. Each row gives the lowest and the highest lodging rate of the destination over the fiscal year, because most destinations have seasons.

How to use the federal per diem rates table

1. Look at the three figures at the top. They are the standard CONUS rates: $113 lodging, $68 M&IE and $181 together for a destination that is not listed.
2. Filter by typing a place, county or state, or choose a state in the second box.
3. Click “Lodging, highest season” twice to put the most expensive destinations first. Click “Peak lodging vs last year” to see where the rate moved most.
4. Compare two cities by filtering for one, reading its row and then the other. Both rows show the lowest and the highest lodging rate, since most destinations change with the season.
5. Press Download as CSV to save the rows on screen for a spreadsheet.
6. Look at the sort arrow in the heading. It shows which column is sorted and in which direction; click again to reverse it.
7. To find the cheapest destinations, sort “Lodging, lowest season” in ascending order. Every listed destination is above the standard rate, so the table never goes below $113 at its lowest.

Who sets the federal per diem rates?

For the continental United States, GSA. Rates for Alaska, Hawaii and the territories are set by the Department of Defense, and rates for foreign countries by the State Department. This page covers the GSA file only. The 295 destinations in it are the places whose rates differ from the standard; everywhere else gets the standard rate.

What is in a federal per diem rate?

Lodging, up to a nightly maximum, and M&IE, a fixed amount for the day split into breakfast, lunch, dinner and incidentals. For FY2027 the M&IE has five levels: $68, $74, $80, $86 and $92. 33 destinations have the top level of $92, among them New York City, Washington DC, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston and Aspen.

How different are the destinations?

Very. The lowest peak lodging rate of a listed destination is still above the standard $113, but the highest is Park City, UT at $499 a night, then Nantucket, MA at $487 and Martha’s Vineyard, MA at $473. 16 destinations have a peak lodging rate of $300 or more. Of the 295, 146 have the same lodging rate all year and 149 have two to five seasons.

How do I turn a rate into a trip cost?

Multiply the lodging rate by the number of nights and add the M&IE for each day, with 75% for the first and last day. A four-day trip to a $232 destination with $92 M&IE is 3 nights × $232 + (69 + 92 + 92 + 69) = $696 + $322 = $1,018. The per diem calculator does it for any dates and handles season changes.

Do private employers and the self-employed use federal rates?

Many use them as a published reference. They do not have to, and the IRS has its own rules for the self-employed: only meals, with a 50% limit and no standard lodging amount. The calculator on the home page has a switch for that.

Why does the table show a lowest and a highest lodging rate?

Because 149 of the 295 destinations change with the season. A resort town may charge several times as much in its peak weeks as in its quiet weeks, and the GSA file lists each period as its own row with start and end dates. The table compresses the rows into the two figures that matter for planning. The single-destination page, GSA per diem rates, shows every row with its dates.

Can I see which rates went up the most?

Yes. Sort the last column. The biggest rises in peak lodging between the FY2026 and FY2027 files were Albuquerque (+$64), San Francisco (+$53), Tucson (+$37), San Mateo / Foster City / Belmont (+$34) and Bakersfield / Ridgecrest (+$32). The biggest falls were Nashville (-$18), Lake Placid (-$13) and San Antonio (-$12).

Frequently asked questions

What is the federal per diem rate for 2027?

The standard CONUS rate for FY2027 is $113 for lodging and $68 for M&IE. Listed destinations have higher rates.

What is the difference between GSA and federal per diem?

For the continental U.S. they are the same thing: GSA publishes the federal per diem rates. For other areas other agencies publish them.

How often are federal per diem rates updated?

Every 1 October, the start of the federal fiscal year.

What does the change column show?

The difference in the destination’s highest lodging rate between the FY2027 and FY2026 files. 258 of the 294 destinations in both files went up.

Can I use the downloaded CSV?

Yes. It contains the rows you see, in the order you sorted them, with the data of the GSA flat file.

Why are some destinations written with a slash?

GSA groups nearby cities that share a rate, for example Denver / Aurora or Jackson / Pinedale. The county column of the GSA file lists the counties each entry covers.

Does the table include Alaska and Hawaii?

No. Those states are not in the GSA continental U.S. file. Their rates are set by the Department of Defense and are not part of this table.

• GSA per diem rates: search one destination and see all its seasons.
• Per diem calculator: price a trip with these rates.
• Per diem rates 2026: the previous fiscal year.
• M&IE rates: what the five M&IE levels are made of.
• Per diem rates New York: the 10th highest peak lodging rate in the file.
• Per diem rates Atlanta: an $86 M&IE destination with three seasons.