GSA Per Diem Rate Changes: FY2025 → FY2026
Every CONUS area, diffed from official GSA data · Updated July 2026
Nothing changed. GSA froze fiscal-year 2026 per diem rates at FY2025 levels: all 298 non-standard areas kept the exact same lodging caps and M&IE rates, the standard rate stays $110 + $68 = $178/day, and no areas were added or removed (GSA announcement, Aug 15, 2025) — the first year-over-year freeze in five years, per Federal News Network.
What a rate freeze means for your travel budget
A freeze means FY2025 budgets carry into FY2026 unchanged: if your trip reimbursed at $178/day last year, it still does. But the caps are frozen while hotel prices are not — in cities where market rates rose through 2025–2026, the same cap now clears fewer hotels, so staying within per diem takes more searching, not less.
Seasonality still moves inside the year even when year-over-year rates don't: GSA's monthly lodging caps in seasonal areas swing between their low and peak months exactly as they did in FY2025. Check your destination's month-by-month table before assuming the annual number, and see the standard-rate page for everywhere without a listed rate.
Frozen cap, rising prices? Book under it anyway.
Otto is an AI travel agent that finds hotels at or under your destination's GSA lodging cap — current (frozen) FY2026 rates included — and books them for you.
How this diff is computed
We pull GSA's published rate tables for FY2025 and FY2026 from the official GSA Per Diem API and compare every CONUS non-standard area on all 12 monthly lodging caps and the M&IE rate. An area counts as changed if any month's lodging cap or its M&IE moved; areas are matched across years by state and GSA area name, so a renamed area reads as removed + added, mirroring GSA's own tables.
“Peak daily total” is the highest-month lodging cap plus M&IE — the most a full reimbursed day can reach in that area. This page re-runs the same diff each year when GSA publishes new rates (typically mid-August, effective October 1). Citing these numbers? Link this section: tools.ottotheagent.com/per-diem/changes#methodology.
FY2026 rate changes FAQ
- Did GSA per diem rates change for FY2026?
- No. GSA held all FY2026 CONUS per diem rates at FY2025 levels: the standard rate stays $110/night lodging + $68/day M&IE ($178/day), and all 298 non-standard areas kept identical lodging caps and meal rates. FY2026 rates run October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026.
- Which cities got per diem increases for FY2026?
- None. No area's lodging cap or M&IE rate moved for FY2026, and no non-standard areas were added or removed. If hotel prices in your city rose, the cap did not follow — caps only reset at the fiscal-year boundary each October 1.
- What is the FY2026 standard per diem rate?
- $178 per day: $110/night lodging plus $68/day meals & incidental expenses. It covers every CONUS location without its own listed non-standard rate.
- When will FY2027 per diem rates be announced?
- GSA typically publishes the next fiscal year's CONUS rates in mid-August — FY2026 rates were announced August 15, 2025 — effective October 1. This page re-runs the same diff the week new rates land.