2022 GSA Per Diem Rate
For 2022, the GSA Per Diem Rate figures are $96 (Standard CONUS lodging rate), $59 (Standard CONUS M&IE rate), $59 (Lowest M&IE rate tier) and $79 (Highest M&IE rate tier).
Effective 2021-10-01 through 2022-09-30Source: Maximum Per Diem Reimbursement Rates for the Continental United States (CONUS), FY 2022 (GSA Per Diem Bulletin FTR 22-01) (GSA)Verified 2026-09-02
Compared with 2021
| Item | 2021 | 2022 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard CONUS lodging rate | $96 | $96 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| Standard CONUS M&IE rate | $55 | $59 | +$4 (+7.3%) |
| Lowest M&IE rate tier | $56 | $59 | +$3 (+5.4%) |
| Highest M&IE rate tier | $76 | $79 | +$3 (+3.9%) |
Who it applies to
Federal employees travelling on official business inside the continental United States, and the agencies that reimburse them. These are maximum reimbursement rates set by GSA under the Federal Travel Regulation: an agency may pay up to the lodging rate for a night's room and up to the M&IE rate for a day's meals and incidental expenses, in any location GSA has not set a non-standard rate for. They are not the IRS high-low per diem rates, which are what a private employer or a self-employed taxpayer uses to substantiate a business travel deduction.
What changed this year, and why
Lodging held and meals moved for fiscal 2022. The standard lodging rate remains $96 a night and every non-standard area lodging rate was held at its prior level, while the M&IE rates were revised for the first time in three years: the standard CONUS M&IE rate goes from $55 to $59 a day, and the non-standard area tiers go from $56 to $76 up to a band of $59 to $79.
Common questions
- What is the standard CONUS lodging rate for fiscal 2022?
- $96 a night, unchanged, for travel performed on or after October 1, 2021, through September 30, 2022.
- What is the standard CONUS M&IE rate for fiscal 2022?
- $59 a day, up from $55.
- What are the M&IE tiers for fiscal 2022?
- $59 at the bottom and $79 at the top. The bottom tier and the standard rate are the same amount this year.
- Why does this page give one standard rate instead of the rate for my city?
- GSA publishes the per-city and per-county lodging and M&IE rates only as a lookup grid at gsa.gov/perdiem, where a location's row crossed with a column holds a bare amount with no sentence around it. This site publishes figures a document states in words, so what it carries is the standard CONUS rate the Federal Register notice states in its own prose. A city GSA has not listed takes that standard rate anyway.
The first and last day of a trip pay three quarters of the M&IE rate
A trip's first and last day are not reimbursed at the full meals and incidental expenses rate. GSA pays three quarters of the M&IE rate for the traveller's temporary duty location on each of those two days, on the reasoning that a departure day and a return day do not each contain a full day of meals away from home. The rate that gets cut is the one for the place being travelled to, not the one for the traveller's own official duty station, which is the part people get wrong when they work a reimbursement out by hand. GSA publishes the already-reduced amount for every location in the meal breakdown table on its own site, under a heading for the first and last day of travel, so the arithmetic does not have to be redone.
On the first and last travel day, Federal employees are only eligible for 75 percent of the total M&IE rate for their temporary duty travel location (not the official duty station location).
Per diem rates frequently asked questions (GSA)
What happens when no room can be had at the maximum rate
The lodging figure on this page is a ceiling on ordinary reimbursement, not a promise that a room exists at that price. Where a federal traveller cannot find one within the established rate, the Federal Travel Regulation lets the employing agency authorise the actual expense allowance instead and reimburse what the room actually cost, up to triple the established per diem rate for that location. It is an authorisation rather than an entitlement: the agency has to approve it, normally before the travel happens, and GSA's own guidance asks the traveller to check FedRooms first to confirm that nothing is available at the per diem rate. The Federal Travel Regulation sets the allowance out in its own actual expense subpart, which is the part of the rules an agency travel manager will point to when approving one.
In addition, if a Federal employee cannot find a room within the established per diem rates, the travel policy allows the agency to reimburse the actual hotel charges up to 300 percent of the established per diem rates.
Per diem rates frequently asked questions (GSA)
Standard locations, non-standard areas, and the city that is on neither list
GSA sets a rate of its own for the non-standard areas, which are the places the federal community travels to often enough for GSA to review them every year. Everywhere else is a standard CONUS location, and standard locations are deliberately not listed one by one on the per diem site. So an address that returns nothing from GSA's lookup has not been left out by mistake. Check the county first: where the city is unlisted but its county is listed, the county's rate governs the whole county, that city included. Where neither the city nor the county appears, the location takes the standard CONUS rate published at the top of this page. That is why the standard rate is what most federal travel is actually reimbursed against, rather than an obscure fallback.
If the city is not listed, but the county is, then the per diem rate is the rate for that entire county. If the city and the county are not listed, then that area receives the standard CONUS location rate.
Per diem rates frequently asked questions (GSA)
Who this rate is actually for
The per diem rates published by GSA set the maximum reimbursement that federal agencies may pay to their own employees for lodging, meals, and incidental expenses while those employees are on official travel within the continental United States. GSA does not set the rates for travel outside the continental U.S.: the Department of Defense covers Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories and possessions, and the Department of State covers foreign areas. For 2022, the standard CONUS lodging rate is $96 and the standard CONUS M&IE rate is $59, though individual localities have their own higher or lower rates. The rates apply only to federal civilian employees traveling on official business; they do not automatically apply to state employees, private-sector workers, contractors, or self-employed taxpayers. Those groups may use the CONUS rates as a reference, but the rules governing their reimbursements or deductions come from their own employers or from the IRS.
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) establishes the per diem reimbursement rates that federal agencies use to reimburse their employees for subsistence expenses incurred while on official travel within the continental U.S. (CONUS), which includes the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia.
Per diem rates frequently asked questions (GSA)
What you have to keep and hand over to get reimbursed
For any official temporary travel destination, a federal traveler must keep receipts for all lodging costs and for any other authorized expense that costs over $75. If a receipt is missing, the traveler must supply a reason acceptable to the agency explaining why the receipt could not be provided. The agency, not GSA, decides whether the explanation is sufficient. Travelers should retain itemized receipts rather than credit-card slips, because the itemized receipt shows the actual lodging charge that the agency compares against the locality's per diem rate. These receipt rules are set by the Federal Travel Regulation at 301-11.25; they apply to federal employees on official travel and not automatically to contractors, state employees, or self-employed taxpayers claiming deductions.
For any official temporary travel destination, you must provide a receipt to substantiate your claimed travel expenses for lodging and receipts for any authorized expenses incurred costing over $75, or a reason acceptable to your agency explaining why you are unable to provide the necessary receipt (see Federal Travel Regulation 301-11.25).
Per diem rates frequently asked questions (GSA)
Money you do not spend on the room cannot be shifted to meals, or the other way around
The federal per diem system treats lodging and meals as two separate allowances, and federal employees cannot shift money between them. If a traveler finds a hotel room that costs less than the locality lodging rate, the difference does not get added to the meals and incidental expenses allowance. The lodging per diem is a cap: the traveler receives only the actual lodging cost up to that maximum. Likewise, a traveler cannot give up part of the meals and incidental expenses allowance to pay for a more expensive hotel room. The lowest M&IE rate tier is $59 and the highest M&IE rate tier is $79, but those amounts stay with meals regardless of what the traveler spends on the room. This separation applies to federal employees on official travel; other travelers follow different rules set by their employers or the IRS.
The lodging per diem rates are a maximum amount; the traveler only receives actual lodging costs up to that maximum rate. Therefore, there is no “extra” lodging per diem to add to the M&IE rate. Likewise, the M&IE per diem cannot be given up or transferred to lodging costs.
Per diem rates frequently asked questions (GSA)
GSA's rate does not automatically govern a contractor's pay or a trucker's tax deduction
GSA sets per diem rates and related policies for federal civilian employees on official travel within CONUS only. It does not establish rules for how much government contractors may be paid for travel expenses, nor does it determine how much a self-employed trucker or other independent contractor may deduct for meals on their tax return. Contractors working on federal contracts should check with their contracting officer to see what their specific contract states about travel reimbursement. They should also review their own company's travel regulations. Self-employed individuals, including truck drivers, should direct questions about meal deductions to the IRS, not GSA. The IRS publishes its own rates and rules for business meal deductions, which may reference GSA's per diem rates but are administered separately.
GSA establishes per diem rates and related policies for federal travelers on official travel only, and cannot address specific inquiries concerning the payment of contractors.
Per diem rates frequently asked questions (GSA)
A hotel's advertised GOV rate is not the same thing as the federal per diem rate
Hotels sometimes advertise a "GOV" rate for government travelers, but this rate is not automatically the same as the federal per diem rate established by GSA. The GOV rate is the price a hotel offers to government employees, while the per diem rate is the maximum amount the government will reimburse for lodging. If a hotel's GOV rate is higher than the locality's per diem rate, the traveler must receive approval for actual expense reimbursement before travel in order to receive full payment. It is the traveler's responsibility to know the current federal per diem rate for their destination and not assume the GOV rate matches it. Travelers should check GSA's published rates and follow their agency's guidelines, as outlined in FTR Chapter 301, Subpart D-Actual Expense.
It is the traveler’s responsibility to know the federal per diem reimbursement rates, and should not assume a GOV rate is the same as the federal per diem rate.
Per diem rates frequently asked questions (GSA)
How each figure was verified
Each number below was read from a stored copy of the document named beside it, and checked to occur word for word in the quoted sentence. The digest is of that stored text.
- Standard CONUS lodging rate
The standard lodging rate will also remain unchanged at $96.
- Standard CONUS M&IE rate
the standard M&IE rate is revised from $55 to $59.
- Lowest M&IE rate tier
The M&IE NSA tiers are revised from $56-$76 to $59-$79
- Highest M&IE rate tier
The M&IE NSA tiers are revised from $56-$76 to $59-$79