The 2027 DoD Per Diem Rates Have Dropped. Here’s How Your Travel Budget Has Changed

For all the aches and pains, both physical and otherwise, that military personnel and families endure, serving in the US Armed Forces does have its benefits. One of those upsides is the per diem allotted to them while they carry out all manner of mandatory travel in the course of carrying out their duties. That said, military travel comes with plenty of questions about what the government will pay for, particularly when a temporary duty (TDY) assignment or permanent change of station (PCS) relocates them somewhere far from their current home.

One of the most important pieces of that puzzle of potential payments is the per diem, the daily allowance doled out to help cover certain lodging, meals, and other everyday expenses incurred while traveling on official government business. Last week the General Services Administration (GSA) released the federal government’s updated per diem rates for fiscal year 2027. The new rates make a modest change to the standard lodging allowance in the continental United States, while the standard meals and incidental expenses rate remains unchanged. More on that later.

For military personnel, the impact of these changes is a little more complicated than for some other government employees. Service members traveling for TDY or on PCS with eligible family members may be subject to different rules under the latest Joint Travel Regulations (JTR). Here is what military families should know about the FY2027 per diem rates and how they can affect official travel.

What Is Federal Per Diem?

Per diem is, quite simply, a daily allowance designed to reimburse travelers for certain expenses incurred while conducting official government business away from their permanent duty station or on the way to a new one (per diem also exists in the civilian world as a similar allowance for employees engaged in travel on behalf of their employers). For travel within the continental United States (CONUS), the GSA establishes standard baseline rates as well as higher rates for locations where typical travel costs are more expensive.

For FY2027, the standard CONUS lodging rate is $113 per night, an increase from the previous standard rate. The standard meals and incidental expenses (M&IE) rate remains $68 per day.

Those numbers are, of course, the current baseline but do not mean every military traveler automatically receives both those amounts in full for every day spent on the road. Actual reimbursement depends on the traveler's location, the purpose and circumstances of the trip, and the applicable rules of the JTR.

How Per Diem Applies to TDY Travel

For a service member headed out on TDY, per diem is generally pretty straightforward. A TDY assignment takes a service member away from their permanent duty station for official business without permanently changing their duty station. And during that period, eligible travelers almost always receive reimbursement for authorized lodging and an allowance for other expenses such as meals. For example, a service member sent from one installation to another for training, a field exercise, or another official assignment may be authorized per diem for the duration of the trip, subject to the applicable travel orders and JTR provisions.

The amount can vary depending on where the traveler is staying: a TDY to a relatively inexpensive location could set a servicemember’s per diem at the standard rate, while a trip to a more expensive location could merit a substantially higher rate. That distinction matters when planning a TDY. The rate for the destination should be checked before making assumptions about how much of the trip will be reimbursed. The GSA's per diem system is organized around travel locations, and the DoD maintains its own travel-rate resources for military travelers.

What Do the New Per Diem Rates Mean for PCS Moves?

As a PCS is a permanent relocation from one duty station to another, military personnel and families undergoing one receive authorized payments for a wide variety of moving and travel expenses connected to that relocation. That can include extensive transportation and lodging costs for service members and eligible dependents. However, PCS per diem varies in some ways from the per diem allowance offered during a simple TDY.

PCS travel has its own rules under the JTR, including provisions covering travel by the servicemember and authorized family members. In other words, the FY2027 standard CONUS rate is good to be aware of, but a service member preparing for a PCS should rely on their specific travel authorization and applicable JTR provisions to determine exactly what is covered and/or reimbursable.

This is especially important for families because the rules often differ depending on who is traveling, how they are traveling, and which modes of transportation and accommodations the DoD authorizes.

What Do the 2027 Per Diem Rates Mean for Military Families?

PCS travel often involves more than one person. When a service member moves with a spouse and/or children (not to mention pets, which don’t really factor into all this much but my dog, Calypso, is licking my leg as I type this sentence, so let’s give her a shoutout), eligible family members may be authorized to travel at government expense under applicable regulations.

That does not necessarily mean the service member earns a full, extra per diem for every such family member. The JTR contains specific provisions governing dependent travel and allowances, including circumstances in which the amount of reimbursement is based on the number and ages of accompanying dependents.

For families planning a PCS, the most important takeaway is that dependent travel should be included in the official travel authorization and checked against the current JTR rather than estimated using the standard GSA rate alone. That can make a meaningful difference when a family is budgeting for a cross-country move.

Remember: The Amount You Pay Isn’t Always the Same as the Reimbursed Amount

One of the easiest mistakes to make when thinking about per diem is treating the published lodging rate as a guaranteed amount of money for every day spent on the road. It is better understood as an authorized reimbursement ceiling under the applicable travel rules.

If a traveler books a hotel for less than the applicable lodging ceiling, that does not generally mean they pocket the difference. Likewise, travelers should not assume that simply booking a room that costs more than the applicable ceiling means the government will cover the entire bill.

There can be circumstances in which higher than standard costs are authorized, but those situations are governed by the applicable travel regulations and authorization process. Travelers should use the appropriate location-based rate rather than simply choosing the rate for the hotel they found.

How Meals and Incidental Per Diem Expenses Work

As we mentioned, the M&IE portion of per diem, which covers meals and certain incidental expenses, remains $68/day. But military travelers need to remember that the full M&IE amount is not necessarily payable in every situation. For example, when meals are provided by the government or included as part of an official event, the applicable reimbursement can be reduced according to the travel rules.

That’s one reason service members on the road must pay attention to the details of their orders and relevant travel authorization rules instead of simply multiplying the published daily rate by the number of days away from home when calculating the amount of M&IE they can expect to receive. The rules are designed to cover travel expenses, not necessarily to provide travelers with a blanket daily cash benefit.

Why the 2027 Rates Matter for Military Travelers

A change of only a few dollars in a national per diem rate may not seem significant, but travel costs can add up quickly for military personnel who spend substantial time away from their permanent duty stations or days on end traveling to a new one. For someone completing a lengthy TDY or PCS, even a modest adjustment to the applicable lodging ceiling can greatly affect the amount of lodging expense that can be reimbursed.

For military families, meanwhile, PCS travel can involve multiple travelers, multiple nights, and substantial distances. The FY2027 rates therefore provide a useful baseline for planning, but they should not be treated as a one-size-fits-all estimate. The location of the assignment, the type of travel, the length of the trip, the traveler's status, and the terms of the authorization all matter.