2022 Per Diem Rate
For 2022, the Per Diem Rate is $296 (High-cost locality), $202 (Other locality within CONUS), $5 (Incidental expenses only) and 5 more figures below.
| Item | High-cost locality | Other locality | CONUS | OCONUS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meals portion | $74 | $64 | - | - |
| Transportation industry M&IE | - | - | $69 | $74 |
A dash is a figure this site has not published for that row, not an amount of zero.
Effective 2021-10-01Source: Notice 2021-52 (IRS)Verified 2026-08-31
Compared with 2021
| Item | 2021 | 2022 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| High-cost locality | $292 | $296 | +$4 (+1.4%) |
| Other locality within CONUS | $198 | $202 | +$4 (+2.0%) |
| Incidental expenses only | $5 | $5 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| High-cost threshold | $245 | $249 | +$4 (+1.6%) |
| Meals portion, high-cost locality | $71 | $74 | +$3 (+4.2%) |
| Meals portion, other locality | $60 | $64 | +$4 (+6.7%) |
| Transportation industry M&IE, CONUS | $66 | $69 | +$3 (+4.5%) |
| Transportation industry M&IE, OCONUS | $71 | $74 | +$3 (+4.2%) |
Localities the document lists
62 localities in 24 states, each named as the document prints it.
| Locality | State | Portion of the calendar year |
|---|---|---|
| Sedona City Limits of Sedona | Arizona | October 1 – December 31, March 1 – April 30, and September 1 – September 30 |
| Los Angeles Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Edwards AFB less the city of Santa Monica | California | October 1 - October 31 and January 1 - September 30 |
| Mill Valley/San Rafael/Novato Marin | California | October 1 – October 31 and June 1 – September 30 |
| Monterey Monterey | California | June 1 – August 31 |
| Napa Napa | California | October 1 – November 30 and April 1 – September 30 |
| Oakland Alameda | California | October 1 – September 30 |
| San Diego San Diego | California | February 1 – July 31 |
| San Francisco San Francisco | California | October 1 – September 30 |
| San Mateo/Foster City/Belmont San Mateo | California | October 1 – September 30 |
| Santa Barbara Santa Barbara | California | October 1 – September 30 |
| Santa Monica City limits of Santa Monica | California | October 1 – September 30 |
| Sunnyvale/Palo Alto/San Jose Santa Clara | California | October 1 – September 30 |
| Aspen Pitkin | Colorado | October 1 – March 31 and June 1 – September 30 |
| Crested Butte/Gunnison Gunnison | Colorado | December 1 – March 31 |
| Denver/Aurora Denver, Adams, Arapahoe, and Jefferson | Colorado | October 1 – October 31 and April 1 – September 30 |
| Grand Lake Grand | Colorado | December 1 – March 31 |
| Silverthorne/Brecken ridge Summit | Colorado | December 1 – March 31 |
| Telluride San Miguel | Colorado | October 1 – September 30 |
| Vail Eagle | Colorado | October 1 – September 30 |
| Lewes Sussex | Delaware | July 1 – August 31 |
| Washington D.C. (also the cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, and Fairfax, and the counties of Arlington and Fairfax, in Virginia; and the counties of Montgomery and Prince George's in Maryland) (See also Maryland and Virginia) | District of Columbia | October 1 – September 30 |
| Boca Raton/Delray Beach/Jupiter Palm Beach and Hendry | Florida | December 1 – April 30 |
| Fort Lauderdale Broward | Florida | January 1 – April 30 |
| Fort Myers Lee | Florida | February 1 – March 31 |
| Fort Walton Beach/De Funiak Springs Okaloosa and Walton | Florida | June 1 – July 31 |
| Key West Monroe | Florida | October 1 – July 31 |
| Miami Miami-Dade | Florida | December 1 – March 31 |
| Naples Collier | Florida | December 1 – April 30 |
| Vero Beach Indian River | Florida | December 1 – April 30 |
| Jekyll Island/Brunswick Glynn | Georgia | March 1 – July 31 |
| Chicago Cook and Lake | Illinois | October 1 – November 30 and April 1 – September 30 |
| Bar Harbor/Rockport Hancock and Knox | Maine | July 1 – August 31 |
| Kennebunk/Kittery/S anford York | Maine | July 1 – August 31 |
| Ocean City Worcester | Maryland | July 1 – August 31 |
| Washington, DC Metro Area Montgomery and Prince George’s | Maryland | October 1 – September 30 |
| Boston/Cambridge Suffolk, city of Cambridge | Massachusetts | October 1 – September 30 |
| Falmouth City limits of Falmouth | Massachusetts | July 1 – August 31 |
| Hyannis Barnstable less the city of Falmouth | Massachusetts | July 1 – August 31 |
| Martha's Vineyard Dukes | Massachusetts | June 1 – September 30 |
| Nantucket Nantucket | Massachusetts | June 1 – September 30 |
| Petoskey Emmet | Michigan | July 1 – August 31 |
| Traverse City Grand Traverse | Michigan | July 1 – August 31 |
| Big Sky/West Yellowstone/Gardiner Gallatin and Park | Montana | June 1 – September 30 |
| Carlsbad Eddy | New Mexico | October 1 – September 30 |
| Lake Placid Essex | New York | July 1 – August 31 |
| New York City Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens, and Richmond | New York | October 1 – December 31 and March 1 – September 30 |
| Portland Multnomah | Oregon | October 1 – October 31 and June 1 – September 30 |
| Seaside Clatsop | Oregon | July 1 – August 31 |
| Hershey Hershey | Pennsylvania | June 1 – August 31 |
| Philadelphia Philadelphia | Pennsylvania | October 1 – November 30, March 1 – June 30, and September 1 – September 30 |
| Jamestown/ Middletown/Newport Newport | Rhode Island | June 1 – August 31 |
| Charleston Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester | South Carolina | October 1 – November 30 and March 1 – September 30 |
| Hilton Head Beaufort | South Carolina | June 1 – August 31 |
| Nashville Davidson | Tennessee | October 1 – September 30 |
| Park City Summit | Utah | December 1 – March 31 |
| Virginia Beach City of Virginia Beach | Virginia | June 1 – August 31 |
| Wallops Island Accomack | Virginia | July 1 – August 31 |
| Washington, DC Metro Area Cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, and Fairfax; Counties of Arlington and Fairfax | Virginia | October 1 – September 30 |
| Seattle King | Washington | October 1 – September 30 |
| Vancouver Clark, Cowlitz, and Skamania | Washington | October 1 – October 31 and June 1 – September 30 |
| Cody Park | Wyoming | June 1 – September 30 |
| Jackson/Pinedale Teton and Sublette | Wyoming | June 1 – September 30 |
Who it applies to
Taxpayers who use a per diem rate to substantiate business travel expenses away from home within the continental United States (CONUS), including those using the high-low substantiation method or the incidental expenses only deduction.
What changed this year, and why
The IRS per diem rates for 2022 increased for both high-cost localities and other localities within CONUS, while the incidental expenses only rate remained the same as in 2021.
Common questions
- What is the per diem rate for a high-cost locality in 2022?
- Beginning October 1, 2021, the rate for travel to any high-cost locality within CONUS is $296 per day.
- What is the per diem rate for other localities within CONUS in 2022?
- Beginning October 1, 2021, the rate for travel to any other locality within CONUS is $202 per day.
- What is the incidental expenses only rate in 2022?
- The rate for incidental expenses only is $5 per day for any CONUS or OCONUS locality of travel, effective October 1, 2021.
What a per diem rate actually proves
The IRS publishes special per diem rates each year that taxpayers can use to prove how much they spent on ordinary and necessary business expenses while traveling away from home. Instead of keeping receipts for every meal and hotel night, a traveler can use these IRS-approved rates to substantiate their deductions. The rates cover three specific purposes: the special meal and incidental expenses rates for workers in the transportation industry, the rate for deducting only incidental expenses, and the rates used under the high-low substantiation method along with the list of high-cost localities. To use these rates, taxpayers must follow the rules in Revenue Procedure 2019-48 or its successor. The notice is updated annually and may modify the prior year's notice to adjust which locations qualify as high-cost and when.
This annual notice provides the 2021-2022 special per diem rates for taxpayers to use in substantiating the amount of ordinary and necessary business expenses incurred while traveling away from home, specifically (1) the special transportation industry meal and incidental expenses (M&IE) rates, (2) the rate for the incidental expenses only deduction, and (3) the rates and list of high-cost localities for purposes of the high-low substantiation method.
Notice 2021-52 (IRS)
What makes a city a high-cost locality
A locality qualifies as high-cost for purposes of the IRS per diem rates when its federal per diem rate reaches a certain dollar threshold or more. The notice lists every such locality by key city, the county or other defined location, and the portion of the calendar year during which the higher rate applies. A city may be high-cost for only part of the year; for example, some California locations are high-cost only during peak travel seasons, while others qualify for most of the year. When a traveler stays in a listed locality during its specified months, the high-cost per diem rate of $296 applies. For travel to any other locality within CONUS outside those windows, the lower rate of $202 applies. The threshold and the specific localities are published each year, so the list must be checked for the year of travel.
2. High-cost localities. The following localities have a federal per diem rate of $249 or more, and are high-cost localities for the specified portion of the calendar year.
Notice 2021-52 (IRS)
What changed in the high-cost list since last year
This is the smallest change in the series. One locality joined the high-cost list, Hilton Head, South Carolina. One locality changed the part of the year it counts for, Jamestown/Middletown/Newport, Rhode Island. One locality came off, Gulf Breeze, Florida, a year after it was added. Everything else on the list carried over unchanged from the previous notice. A reader comparing this year with the last one should not read a short change list as a mistake: the underlying federal per diem rates simply did not move enough to push cities across the threshold.
a. The following locality has been added to the list of high-cost localities: Hilton Head, South Carolina. b. The following locality has changed the portion of the year in which it is a high- cost locality: Jamestown/Middletown/Newport, Rhode Island. c. The following locality has been removed from the list of high-cost localities: Gulf Breeze, Florida.
Notice 2021-52 (IRS)
How much of the rate counts as meals
A high-low rate is one number covering lodging, meals and incidental expenses, and the two halves are not taxed alike, so the notice states where the line falls. Of the $296 high rate, $74 is treated as paid for meals; of the $202 rate for every other locality within CONUS, $64 is. The rest of each rate is lodging. A payor has to split the allowance this way before it can work out what is deductible, because the meals side runs into a percentage limit that the lodging side does not.
The amount of the $296 high rate and $202 low rate that is treated as paid for meals for purposes of § 274(n) is $74 for travel to any high- cost locality and $64 for travel to any other locality within CONUS.
Notice 2021-52 (IRS)
How much of the meals portion you can actually deduct
A per diem rate is not a deduction. It is the ceiling on what can be treated as substantiated, and the meals part of it is then cut again before it reaches a tax return: whichever method you use, you can generally deduct only 50% of the unreimbursed cost of your meals. On the high-low method the meals part is the figure this page publishes above, $74 a day in a high-cost locality and $64 a day anywhere else in CONUS, so it is half of that amount, not the whole rate, that survives the limit. The lodging part of the rate is not touched by it, and neither is the incidental-expenses-only amount. For this year there is an exception that matters more than the rule: you can deduct 100% of your meal expenses if the meals are food and beverages provided by a restaurant, and paid or incurred after December 31, 2020, and before January 1, 2023. A traveller whose meals in that window came from a restaurant deducts the full cost of those meals rather than half of it.
Both of these methods are explained below. But, regardless of the method you use, you can generally deduct only 50% of the unreimbursed cost of your meals. However, you can deduct 100% of your meal expenses if the meals are food and beverages provided by a restaurant, and paid or incurred after December 31, 2020, and before January 1, 2023.
Publication 463 (2022), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
Drivers and crews get their own M&IE rate
Workers in the transportation industry get their own special meal and incidental expenses rates that differ from the standard per diem rates used under the high-low method. The IRS sets these rates at $69 per day for any locality of travel within the continental United States and $74 per day for any locality of travel outside the continental United States. These rates apply regardless of whether the location is classified as high-cost or other locality. The transportation industry rates simplify substantiation for drivers, pilots, flight attendants, and other transportation workers who travel frequently and cannot practically track individual meal expenses at each location. To use these rates, the taxpayer must follow the rules in the governing revenue procedure. These amounts are published in the annual notice and apply for the full year.
The special M&IE rates for taxpayers in the transportation industry are $69 for any locality of travel in the continental United States (CONUS) and $74 for any locality of travel outside the continental United States (OCONUS).
Notice 2021-52 (IRS)
The rates change on October 1, not January 1
These rates do not start on January 1. They run on the federal government's fiscal year, so they take effect on October 1 and hold until the following September 30, when the next notice replaces them. This notice applies to allowances paid to an employee on or after October 1, 2021, for travel away from home on or after that same day. A trip in the autumn and a trip in the spring of the same tax year can therefore fall under two different sets of rates, and the notice that governs a trip is the one in force on the day of travel, not the one in force when the return is filed.
this notice is effective for per diem allowances for lodging, meal and incidental expenses, or for meal and incidental expenses only, that are paid to any employee on or after October 1, 2021, for travel away from home on or after October 1, 2021.
Notice 2021-52 (IRS)
The first and last day of a trip are not full days
A trip that starts at lunchtime and ends at breakfast does not buy two full days of meals. For the day you leave and the day you come back, the M&IE rate has to be prorated, and Publication 463 gives two ways to do it: claim 3/4 of the standard meal allowance for each of those days, or prorate by any method you apply consistently and that is in accordance with reasonable business practice. Only the meals and incidental side is prorated. Lodging is not, because a night away from home is either bought or it is not. An employer reimbursing under the high-low method prorates the meals part the same way, which is why the per diem paid for a departure day is smaller than the daily rate printed above.
Travel for days you depart and return. For both the day you depart for and the day you re- turn from a business trip, you must prorate the standard meal allowance (figure a reduced amount for each day). You can do so by one of two methods. • Method 1: You can claim 3/4 of the stand- ard meal allowance.
Publication 463 (2022), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
An allowance paid above the federal rate is wages
Nothing stops an employer paying more than the federal rate. What it cannot do is call the extra a reimbursement. Where an accountable plan pays an allowance higher than the federal rate, the traveller does not have to return the difference, but the difference is reported as wages on the Form W-2 and is taxed and withheld on like any other pay. Only the part up to the federal rate stays out of income. That is what the rates on this page are for a reader who deducts nothing at all: the line above which an allowance stops being an expense reimbursement and becomes salary.
Per diem allowance more than federal rate. If your employer's accountable plan pays you an allowance that is higher than the federal rate, you don’t have to return the difference be- tween the two rates for the period you can prove business-related travel expenses. How- ever, the difference will be reported as wages on your Form W-2. This excess amount is con- sidered paid under a nonaccountable plan (dis- cussed later).
Publication 463 (2022), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
There is no per diem for lodging, only for meals
The standard meal allowance is open to anyone travelling on business, employee or self-employed, reimbursed or not. Lodging is not. There is no optional standard lodging amount, so the lodging deduction is the actual cost and nothing else, proved by the actual bill. That is the practical split for a self-employed traveller reading this page: the M&IE side of the notice can be used instead of meal receipts, and the full lodging-plus-meals rates above cannot, because they are written for a payor reimbursing an employee rather than for someone deducting their own hotel.
There is no optional standard lodging amount similar to the standard meal al- lowance. Your allowable lodging ex- pense deduction is your actual cost. Who can use the standard meal allowance. You can use the standard meal allowance whether you are an employee or self-employed, and whether or not you are reimbursed for your traveling expenses.
Publication 463 (2022), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
Who can deduct travel an employer did not reimburse
For most employees the honest answer is that they cannot. Unreimbursed employee travel is claimed on Form 2106, and Form 2106 is only used by Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists, fee-basis state or local government officials, and employees with impairment-related work expenses. An employee outside those categories who is paid nothing, or paid less than the federal rate, deducts nothing for the shortfall. The rates on this page still matter to that employee, but as the measure of what an employer can reimburse tax free rather than as a deduction. A self-employed traveller is unaffected by any of this and deducts on a business schedule.
You must complete Form 2106 and itemize your deductions to deduct your expenses for travel, transportation, or non-entertainment-re- lated meals. Your meal and entertainment ex- penses will be subject to the 50% Limit dis- cussed in chapter 2. However, you can deduct 100% of business meals if the meals are food and beverages provided by a restaurant, and paid or incurred after 2020 and before 2023. Form 2106 is only used by Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists, fee-basis state or local govern- ment officials, and employees with impair- ment-related work expenses.
Publication 463 (2022), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
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.
Notice 2021-52 (IRS)
- High-cost locality
are $296 for travel to any high-cost locality and $202 for travel to any other locality within CONUS.
- Other locality within CONUS
are $296 for travel to any high-cost locality and $202 for travel to any other locality within CONUS.
- Incidental expenses only
The rate for any CONUS or OCONUS locality of travel for the incidental expenses only deduction is $5 per day.
- High-cost threshold
The following localities have a federal per diem rate of $249 or more, and are high-cost localities for the specified portion of the calendar year.
- Meals portion, high-cost locality
The amount of the $296 high rate and $202 low rate that is treated as paid for meals for purposes of § 274(n) is $74 for travel to any high- cost locality and $64 for travel to any other locality within CONUS.
- Meals portion, other locality
The amount of the $296 high rate and $202 low rate that is treated as paid for meals for purposes of § 274(n) is $74 for travel to any high- cost locality and $64 for travel to any other locality within CONUS.
- Transportation industry M&IE, CONUS
The special M&IE rates for taxpayers in the transportation industry are $69 for any locality of travel in the continental United States (CONUS) and $74 for any locality of travel outside the continental United States (OCONUS).
- Transportation industry M&IE, OCONUS
The special M&IE rates for taxpayers in the transportation industry are $69 for any locality of travel in the continental United States (CONUS) and $74 for any locality of travel outside the continental United States (OCONUS).