2026 Per Diem Rate
For 2026, the Per Diem Rate is $319 (High-cost locality), $225 (Other locality within CONUS), $5 (Incidental expenses only) and 5 more figures below.
| Item | High-cost locality | Other locality | CONUS | OCONUS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meals portion | $86 | $74 | - | - |
| Transportation industry M&IE | - | - | $80 | $86 |
A dash is a figure this site has not published for that row, not an amount of zero.
Effective 2025-10-01Source: Notice 2025-54 (IRS)Verified 2026-08-31
Compared with 2025
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2025.
| Item | 2025 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| High-cost locality | $319 | $319 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| Other locality within CONUS | $225 | $225 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| Incidental expenses only | $5 | $5 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| High-cost threshold | $272 | $272 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| Meals portion, high-cost locality | $86 | $86 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| Meals portion, other locality | $74 | $74 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| Transportation industry M&IE, CONUS | $80 | $80 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| Transportation industry M&IE, OCONUS | $86 | $86 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Localities the document lists
86 localities in 28 states, each named as the document prints it.
| Locality | State | Portion of the calendar year |
|---|---|---|
| Gulf Shores Baldwin | Alabama | June 1 – July 31 |
| Phoenix/ Scottsdale Maricopa | Arizona | February 1 – March 31 |
| Sedona City limits of Sedona | Arizona | October 1 – December 31 and March 1 – September 30 |
| Los Angeles Los Angeles, Orange, and Ventura, and Edwards AFB, less the city of Santa Monica | California | October 1 – September 30 |
| Mammoth Lakes Mono | California | December 1 – March 31 |
| Monterey Monterey | California | October 1 – September 30 |
| Napa Napa | California | October 1 – November 30 and February 1 – September 30 |
| Palm Springs Riverside | California | October 1 – April 30 |
| San Diego San Diego | California | October 1 – September 30 |
| San Francisco San Francisco | California | October 1 – September 30 |
| San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo | California | June 1 – July 31 |
| Santa Barbara Santa Barbara | California | October 1 – September 30 |
| Santa Monica City limits of Santa Monica | California | October 1 – September 30 |
| South Lake Tahoe El Dorado | California | December 1 – March 31 |
| Sunnyvale/ Palo Alto/San Jose Santa Clara | California | October 1 – September 30 |
| Yosemite National Park Mariposa | California | January 1 – April 30 |
| Aspen Pitkin | Colorado | October 1 – September 30 |
| Denver/Aurora Denver, Adams, Arapahoe, and Jefferson | Colorado | October 1 – October 31 and April 1 – September 30 |
| Silverthorne/ Breckenridge Summit | Colorado | December 1 – March 31 |
| Steamboat Springs Routt | Colorado | December 1 – March 31 |
| Telluride San Miguel | Colorado | October 1 – September 30 |
| Vail Eagle | Colorado | October 1 – September 30 |
| Lewes Sussex | Delaware | June 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 | January 1 – April 30 |
| Bradenton Manatee | Florida | February 1 – March 31 |
| Cocoa Beach Brevard | Florida | February 1 – March 31 |
| Fort Lauderdale Broward | Florida | January 1 – April 30 |
| Fort Myers Lee | Florida | January 1 – March 31 |
| Fort Walton Beach/ DeFuniak Springs Okaloosa and Walton | Florida | June 1 – July 31 |
| Gulf Breeze Santa Rosa | Florida | June 1 – July 31 |
| Key West Monroe | Florida | October 1 – September 30 |
| Miami Miami-Dade | Florida | December 1 – May 31 |
| Naples Collier | Florida | December 1 – April 30 |
| Panama City Bay | Florida | June 1 – July 31 |
| Sarasota Sarasota | Florida | February 1 – April 30 |
| Sebring Highlands | Florida | February 1 – March 31 |
| Stuart Martin | Florida | February 1 – March 31 |
| Tampa/ St. Petersburg Pinellas and Hillsborough | Florida | February 1 – April 30 |
| Vero Beach Indian River | Florida | December 1 – April 30 |
| Boise Ada | Idaho | October 1 – October 31 and June 1 – September 30 |
| Coeur d’Alene Kootenai | Idaho | June 1 – August 31 |
| Sun Valley/ Ketchum Blaine and Elmore | Idaho | December 31 – March 31 and June 1 – September 30 |
| Chicago Cook and Lake | Illinois | October 1 – November 30 and April 1 – September 30 |
| Bar Harbor/ Rockport Hancock and Knox | Maine | October 1 – October 31 and May 1 – September 30 |
| Kennebunk/Kittery/ Sanford York | Maine | July 1 – August 31 |
| Portland Cumberland and Sagadahoc | Maine | October 1 – October 31 and June 1 – September 30 |
| Ocean City Worcester | Maryland | June 1 – August 31 |
| Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area Montgomery and Prince George’s | Maryland | October 1 – September 30 |
| Boston/Cambridge Suffolk and 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 | October 1 – September 30 |
| Nantucket Nantucket | Massachusetts | June 1 – September 30 |
| Mackinac Island Mackinac | Michigan | July 1 – August 31 |
| Petoskey Emmet | Michigan | June 1 – August 31 |
| Traverse City Grand Traverse | Michigan | July 1 – August 31 |
| Duluth St. Louis | Minnesota | October 1 – October 31 and June 1 – September 30 |
| Big Sky/ West Yellowstone/ Gardiner Gallatin and Park | Montana | June 1 – September 30 |
| Kalispell/Whitefish Flathead | Montana | July 1 – September 30 |
| Toms River Ocean | New Jersey | July 1 – August 31 |
| Glens Falls Warren | New York | July 1 – August 31 |
| 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 |
| Saratoga Springs/ Schenectady Saratoga and Schenectady | New York | July 1 – August 31 |
| Kill Devil Hills Dare | North Carolina | June 1 – August 31 |
| Bend Deschutes | Oregon | June 1 – August 31 |
| Eugene/Florence Lane | Oregon | June 1 – July 31 |
| Seaside Clatsop | Oregon | July 1 – August 31 |
| Hershey Hershey | Pennsylvania | June 1 – August 31 |
| Philadelphia Philadelphia | Pennsylvania | October 1 – November 30 and April 1 – September 30 |
| Jamestown/ Middletown/ Newport Newport | Rhode Island | October 1 – October 31 and June 1 – September 30 |
| Charleston Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester | South Carolina | October 1 – September 30 |
| Hilton Head Beaufort | South Carolina | March 1 – August 31 |
| Nashville Davidson | Tennessee | October 1 – September 30 |
| Moab Grand | Utah | October 1 – October 31, March 1 – June 30, and September 1 – September 30 |
| Park City Summit | Utah | October 1 – September 30 |
| Burlington Chittenden | Vermont | October 1 – October 31 and May 1 – September 30 |
| Manchester Bennington | Vermont | October 1 – October 31 and August 1 – September 30 |
| Montpelier Washington | Vermont | October 1 – October 31 and August 1 – September 30 |
| Virginia Beach City of Virginia Beach | Virginia | June 1 – August 31 |
| Wallops Island Accomack | Virginia | July 1 – August 31 |
| Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area Cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, and Fairfax; counties of Arlington and Fairfax | Virginia | October 1 – September 30 |
| Port Angeles/ Port Townsend Clallam and Jefferson | Washington | July 1 – August 31 |
| Seattle King | Washington | October 1 – September 30 |
| Jackson/Pinedale Teton and Sublette | Wyoming | October 1 – September 30 |
Who it applies to
Taxpayers who use the high-low substantiation method to substantiate business travel expenses while traveling away from home within the continental United States.
What changed this year, and why
The IRS updated the special per diem rates under the high-low substantiation method for the federal fiscal year beginning October 1, 2025, through Notice 2025-54. The high-cost locality rate is $319 per day and the all other localities within CONUS rate is $225 per day, both effective October 1, 2025. These amounts are unchanged from the prior year. The incidental expenses only rate remains $5 per day.
Common questions
- What is the high-low per diem rate for a high-cost locality in 2026?
- Beginning October 1, 2025, the rate for travel to any high-cost locality within CONUS is $319 per day.
- What is the per diem rate for other localities within CONUS?
- Beginning October 1, 2025, the rate for travel to any other locality within CONUS is $225 per day.
- What is the incidental expenses only rate?
- The rate for incidental expenses only is $5 per day for any CONUS or OCONUS locality.
Every amount on this page is a published figure rather than yours. The How much of a day's per diem your spending leaves takes the number you enter and works it out against them, showing which published figure it used.
What a per diem rate actually proves
The IRS publishes these special per diem rates so taxpayers have a documented way to prove how much they spent on ordinary and necessary business travel while away from home. Instead of keeping receipts for every hotel night and restaurant meal, a taxpayer can rely on the rates in this notice to substantiate their deduction. The rates cover three specific situations: the special meal and incidental expenses rates that apply to workers in the transportation industry, the flat daily rate for taxpayers who claim only incidental expenses, and the high-cost-locality and other-locality rates used under the high-low substantiation method. By using these IRS-approved figures, a traveler meets the substantiation requirements of the Internal Revenue Code without having to account for the exact amount of every individual expense.
This annual notice provides the 2025-2026 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 2025-54 (IRS)
What makes a city a high-cost locality
A locality qualifies as high-cost if its federal per diem rate reaches $272 or more. The IRS reviews rates across the continental United States and identifies those locations that meet this threshold. Each qualifying locality is then listed with the specific months of the year when it is considered high-cost, because travel demand and lodging prices fluctuate seasonally. For example, a beach destination may be high-cost only during summer months, while a city may be high-cost year-round. The list is important for the high-low substantiation method, which allows taxpayers to use a simplified approach: they apply one rate when traveling to any listed high-cost locality during its designated period and a lower rate for all other areas.
2. High-cost localities. The following localities have a federal per diem rate of $272 or more, and are high-cost localities for the specified portion of the calendar year:
Notice 2025-54 (IRS)
What changed in the high-cost list since last year
Nothing changed. The list of high-cost localities in this notice is identical to the one in the previous notice, which is unusual: every other notice in this series names places that joined, places that changed the months they count for, and places that came off. The rates did not move either, which is why the comparison with last year on this page shows no change at all. A reader checking whether a city is still high-cost, and for which months, can rely on the answer they got last year.
3. Changes in high-cost localities. There are no changes in the list of high-cost localities in this notice
Notice 2025-54 (IRS)
How much of the rate counts as meals
When a taxpayer uses the high-low method, the per diem rate covers both lodging and meals, but the IRS needs to know how much of that rate counts as meals because only the meals portion is subject to the deduction limitation. For the high-cost locality rate of $319, the amount treated as paid for meals is $86. For the other-locality rate of $225, the meals portion is $74. The remainder of each rate represents lodging. Taxpayers and employers must separate these amounts when computing the deductible portion of the per diem, because the meals and incidental expenses are subject to a percentage limitation under the tax code, while the lodging portion is not.
The amount of the $319 high rate and $225 low rate that is treated as paid for meals for purposes of § 274(n) is $86 for travel to any high- cost locality and $74 for travel to any other locality within CONUS.
Notice 2025-54 (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, $86 a day in a high-cost locality and $74 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.
Both of these methods are explained below. But, regard- less of the method you use, you can generally deduct only 50% of the unreimbursed cost of your meals.
Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
Drivers and crews get their own M&IE rate
Taxpayers who work in the transportation industry do not use the regular high-low rates for their meals and incidental expenses. Instead, they have their own flat daily rates that apply regardless of which city they are in. Within the continental United States, the rate is $80 per day. Outside the continental United States, the rate is $86 per day. This simplification recognizes that transportation workers, such as truck drivers and flight crews, move through many locations and would face a disproportionate burden if they had to track which high-cost or other locality applied each day.
The special M&IE rates for taxpayers in the transportation industry are $80 for any locality of travel in the continental United States (CONUS) and $86 for any locality of travel outside the continental United States (OCONUS).
Notice 2025-54 (IRS)
The rates change on October 1, not January 1
The new per diem rates do not begin on January 1. They take effect on October 1 and remain in force through the following September 30. This October-to-September cycle matches the federal government's fiscal year, which is the same period used to set the underlying federal travel rates that the IRS relies on. For the 2025-2026 notice, the rates apply to allowances paid to employees on or after October 1, 2025, for travel away from home on or after that same date. Taxpayers need to be aware that mid-year travel may fall under different rates if it occurs before or after the October changeover.
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, 2025, for travel away from home on or after October 1, 2025.
Notice 2025-54 (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 return 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 standard meal al- lowance.
Publication 463 (2025), 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 between the two rates for the period you can prove business-related travel expenses. However, the dif- ference will be reported as wages on your Form W-2. This excess amount is considered paid under a nonaccounta- ble plan (discussed later).
Publication 463 (2025), 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 allowance. Your al- lowable lodging expense deduction is your actual cost. Who can use the standard meal allowance. You can use the standard meal allowance whether you are an em- ployee or self-employed, and whether or not you are reim- bursed for your traveling expenses.
Publication 463 (2025), 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 deduc- tions to deduct your expenses for travel, transportation, or non-entertainment-related meals. Your meal and enter- tainment expenses will be subject to the 50% Limit dis- cussed in chapter 2. Caution: Form 2106 is only used by Armed Forces re- servists, qualified performing artists, fee-basis state or lo- cal government officials, and employees with impair- ment-related work expenses.
Publication 463 (2025), 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 2025-54 (IRS)
- High-cost locality
are $319 for travel to any high-cost locality and $225 for travel to any other locality within CONUS.
- Other locality within CONUS
are $319 for travel to any high-cost locality and $225 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 $272 or more, and are high-cost localities for the specified portion of the calendar year:
- Meals portion, high-cost locality
The amount of the $319 high rate and $225 low rate that is treated as paid for meals for purposes of § 274(n) is $86 for travel to any high- cost locality and $74 for travel to any other locality within CONUS.
- Meals portion, other locality
The amount of the $319 high rate and $225 low rate that is treated as paid for meals for purposes of § 274(n) is $86 for travel to any high- cost locality and $74 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 $80 for any locality of travel in the continental United States (CONUS) and $86 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 $80 for any locality of travel in the continental United States (CONUS) and $86 for any locality of travel outside the continental United States (OCONUS).