Per Diem Rates San Diego
The GSA per diem rate for San Diego is $208 to $249 a night for lodging and $86 a day for meals. Enter your dates to price the trip as an employee or as self-employed.
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Per diem rates San Diego come from the GSA entry “San Diego”, which covers San Diego. The file lists 3 lodging rates for it across the fiscal year, from $208 to $249 a night, and an M&IE rate of $86 a day. That is $136 above the standard lodging rate of $113 at its highest.
Enter your dates in the calculator. It prices each night with the rate of its date and shows the first and last day at 75% of $86, which is $64.5.
Not tax advice. DiemWise applies published rates and rules; check your own case with a tax professional.
Data used: GSA per diem rates FY2027 (continental U.S.) (effective 2026-10-01, expires 2027-09-30, last checked 2026-10-24); GSA M&IE breakdowns (CONUS) (effective 2026-10-01, expires 2027-09-30, last checked 2026-10-24). All sources and dates.
How to find the San Diego per diem
- Enter the first and last day of travel. San Diego is already selected, and you can change the destination if your hotel is elsewhere.
- Choose An employee or Self-employed. The employee total adds lodging and M&IE; the self-employed total counts meals only, at 50%.
- Read the total and the day table. A star marks the first and last day, where M&IE is $64.50 instead of $86.
- Staying outside the San Diego entry? Type the other city: Antioch / Brentwood / Concord, Bakersfield / Ridgecrest, Barstow / Ontario / Victorville and others have their own California entries in the file.
- Read the yellow notes above the table, if there are any. They appear when the rates have expired or when a date is outside the loaded files.
- For a single night, set the last day one day after the first. A one-night trip has two travel days and one night.
- Copy the link in the address bar to send the same trip to a colleague.
The result is a ceiling for lodging and a fixed amount for meals. If your employer pays a per diem at the GSA rate, the total is what the policy allows for these dates. If you are self-employed, treat the meals figure as your deductible meals and add your actual hotel receipts separately. Changing the dates updates every number at once, so you can compare a stay starting in June with one starting in October and see the rate move from $249 to $208.
| Dates | Lodging per night | M&IE per day | Lodging + M&IE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 to May 31, 2027 | $208 | $86 | $294 |
| Jun 1, 2027 to Jul 31, 2027 | $249 | $86 | $335 |
| Aug 1, 2027 to Sep 30, 2027 | $208 | $86 | $294 |
The file lists 3 lodging rates for San Diego. The highest is $249 a night (Jun 1, 2027 to Jul 31, 2027) and the lowest is $208 (Oct 1, 2026 to May 31, 2027), a gap of $41 a night. The standard rate in the same file is $113 for lodging and $68 for M&IE, so the highest San Diego rate is $136 above it.
M&IE is $86 a day: $22 breakfast, $23 lunch, $36 dinner and $5 incidentals. On the first and last day of travel you get 75%, which is $64.5. The rate covers San Diego.
Compared with the FY2026 file, the highest lodging rate for San Diego rose by $12 (from $237 to $249).
What does a San Diego trip cost at the per diem rate?
Four days from 10 June 2027 to 13 June 2027, an employee: three nights at $249 is $747, and M&IE is $64.50 + $86 + $86 + $64.50 = $301, for $1,048. The same length of stay from 10 October 2026 to 13 October 2026 uses the lower rate of $208: lodging $624, M&IE $301, total $925. The difference between the two trips, $123, is all lodging. At the standard rate the first trip would be $577.
How much is a one-night trip to San Diego?
Two travel days at $64.50 and one night. In the high season (1 June 2027 to 31 July 2027) that is $249 + $129 = $378. In the low season (1 October 2026 to 31 May 2027) it is $208 + $129 = $337.
When is the San Diego per diem highest and lowest?
The file gives: $208 a night from 1 October 2026 to 31 May 2027, $249 a night from 1 June 2027 to 31 July 2027 and $208 from 1 August 2027 to 30 September 2027. The highest rate is $249 and the lowest $208, a gap of $41 a night, so a four-night stay has a lodging ceiling $164 higher in the peak than in the low season.
How does San Diego compare with other destinations?
34 of the 295 destinations have a higher peak lodging rate than San Diego’s $249. The peak lodging rate rose by $12 from FY2026, when it was $237. The M&IE of $86 is shared by 71 destinations in the FY2027 file.
What does the San Diego rate cover?
The county field of the GSA entry reads: San Diego. Other California entries in the file include Antioch / Brentwood / Concord, Bakersfield / Ridgecrest, Barstow / Ontario / Victorville and Death Valley; search for them in GSA per diem rates. Anywhere in California that is not listed uses the standard rate of $113 and $68.
What if I am self-employed in San Diego?
Only meals count, at half. A four-day San Diego trip has M&IE of $301 and a deductible amount of $150.50. For the hotel you deduct what you paid, with receipts.
How this tool works and where the numbers come from
The rates are the GSA FY2027 lodging and M&IE rates for San Diego, California taken without change from the flat file; the table in the guide is generated from the same data the calculator reads. A trip is priced night by night, so a trip that crosses a change of season gets both lodging rates. The first and last day of travel count 75 percent of the M&IE rate, and the self-employed view follows IRS Publication 463 (meals only, 50 percent deductible).
Sources
- GSA, Per diem files (FY2027 and FY2026 rates) (FY 2027 rates published 2026-09-03) · checked
- GSA, M&IE breakdowns (page last updated 2026-10-27) · checked
Frequently asked questions
What is the per diem for San Diego in 2027?
$208 to $249 a night for lodging, and $86 a day for M&IE, for 1 October 2026 to 30 September 2027.
When is the San Diego per diem highest?
From 1 June 2027 to 31 July 2027, at $249 a night.
Is the San Diego M&IE the same all year?
Yes. M&IE is $86 a day all year at every destination in the file; only lodging has seasons.
Does the San Diego rate include hotel taxes?
No. The lodging rate excludes taxes.
What if my hotel in San Diego costs more than the rate?
The lodging rate is a ceiling for the standard reimbursement, not a price. Federal agencies can authorize actual expenses above it in some cases, and private employers set their own rules, so ask your travel office or employer. For the self-employed there is no lodging ceiling at all: you deduct what you paid.
Can I use these rates for a trip after 30 September 2027?
No. They are the FY2027 rates and expire on that date. GSA publishes the San Diego rate again for each new fiscal year, and this page then shows the new file. If you open the page after the expiry date, it shows a warning.
Where do the San Diego numbers come from?
From the GSA FY2027 flat file for the continental United States; the page reads it directly. The Sources and dates page gives the effective date, the expiry and the day the file was last checked.
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