Meals and incidentals: the five tiers, state by state
Every non-standard area pays meals and incidentals on one of five tiers: $68, $74, $80, $86 or $92 a day. The average across the 295 areas is $80.67. Only 33 areas reach the top tier, and 17 stay at $68, the same as the standard rate.
The tiers across the country
| M&IE a day | Areas | States | Most areas |
|---|---|---|---|
| $68 | 17 | 11 | Mississippi (3), Virginia (3), Michigan (2) |
| $74 | 70 | 29 | Florida (6), North Carolina (6), New Hampshire (6) |
| $80 | 104 | 40 | Florida (10), New York (10), New Jersey (6) |
| $86 | 71 | 24 | California (18), New York (6), Washington (6) |
| $92 | 33 | 16 | California (8), Colorado (6), Massachusetts (4) |
The $80 tier is the most common by far, with 104 areas in 40 states. The top tier is concentrated: California alone holds 8 of the 33 areas at $92, and Colorado 6.
State by state
For the states with five or more non-standard areas, the table below gives the average M&IE and the count at the top tier.
| State | Areas | Average M&IE | Areas at $92 |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 32 | $86 | 8 |
| Florida | 22 | $80 | 1 |
| New York | 19 | $83 | 2 |
| Colorado | 15 | $85 | 6 |
| Massachusetts | 13 | $85 | 4 |
| Pennsylvania | 12 | $78 | 1 |
| Michigan | 11 | $77 | 0 |
| Texas | 11 | $76 | 0 |
| New Jersey | 10 | $81 | 0 |
| North Carolina | 10 | $75 | 0 |
| Virginia | 9 | $75 | 0 |
| Washington | 9 | $87 | 2 |
| Maryland | 7 | $80 | 0 |
| New Hampshire | 7 | $75 | 0 |
| Oregon | 7 | $84 | 1 |
| Georgia | 6 | $79 | 0 |
| Ohio | 6 | $77 | 0 |
| Arizona | 5 | $82 | 1 |
| Tennessee | 5 | $79 | 0 |
| Vermont | 5 | $84 | 0 |
California has the most areas (32), and 18 of them sit on the $86 tier, more than any state has on any single tier. Florida spreads its 22 areas over 4 tiers.
The 33 areas at the top tier
| Area | State | Full-year average lodging | Highest daily total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Park City | UT | $317 | $591 |
| New York City | NY | $292 | $450 |
| Martha’s Vineyard | MA | $291 | $565 |
| Jackson / Pinedale | WY | $291 | $533 |
| Boston / Cambridge | MA | $285 | $457 |
| Santa Monica | CA | $283 | $375 |
| Nantucket | MA | $277 | $579 |
| Aspen | CO | $277 | $511 |
| Vail | CO | $275 | $509 |
| San Francisco | CA | $271 | $417 |
| Charleston | SC | $247 | $380 |
| Telluride | CO | $246 | $459 |
| Washington, DC | DC | $246 | $387 |
| Napa | CA | $242 | $358 |
| Santa Barbara | CA | $225 | $369 |
| Sunnyvale / Palo Alto / San Jose | CA | $218 | $310 |
| Monterey | CA | $218 | $385 |
| Seattle | WA | $216 | $347 |
| Sedona | AZ | $212 | $374 |
| Silverthorne / Breckenridge | CO | $208 | $388 |
| Steamboat Springs | CO | $206 | $391 |
| Bar Harbor / Rockport | ME | $204 | $412 |
| Denver / Aurora | CO | $203 | $319 |
| Chicago | IL | $202 | $330 |
| Philadelphia | PA | $194 | $319 |
| Miami | FL | $185 | $336 |
| Port Angeles / Port Townsend | WA | $171 | $344 |
| Mill Valley / San Rafael / Novato | CA | $169 | $261 |
| Tarrytown / White Plains / New Rochelle | NY | $168 | $260 |
| Minneapolis / St. Paul | MN | $153 | $245 |
| Oakland | CA | $152 | $244 |
| Hyannis | MA | $146 | $312 |
| Lincoln City | OR | $136 | $270 |
The lowest full-year average lodging cap on the top tier is $136; the median among them is $218, against $148 for all 295 areas. So the top meal tier goes mostly with high lodging caps, though not always, as the next section shows.
The largest states
Of the 295 areas, 278 pay more than the standard $68 for meals. In the five states with the most areas, the most common tier is California $86 (18 of 32), Florida $80 (10 of 22), New York $80 (10 of 19), Colorado $92 (6 of 15) and Massachusetts $80 (5 of 13). The spread inside a single state can be wide: Florida uses 4 of the five tiers and California 4, so two California areas can differ by $18 a day in meals alone. Meals are the smaller part of the day in every area: in the median area M&IE makes up 35.1% of a full day at the full-year average lodging cap.
Tier, seasons and lodging
| M&IE | Areas | With seasons | Median full-year lodging |
|---|---|---|---|
| $68 | 17 | 4 | $126 |
| $74 | 70 | 33 | $136 |
| $80 | 104 | 44 | $142 |
| $86 | 71 | 41 | $161 |
| $92 | 33 | 27 | $218 |
The median lodging cap climbs with the tier, from $126 on the $68 tier to $218 on the $92 tier. Seasons occur on all five tiers, in 27 of the 33 top-tier areas against 4 of the 17 areas on the lowest tier. Among states with three or more areas, Mississippi and Wisconsin pay every listed area on one single tier.
Meals and lodging do not move together
A high lodging cap does not guarantee a high meal rate. Wallops Island ($154 average lodging), Oxford ($146 average lodging) and Sandusky ($137 average lodging) have the highest full-year lodging caps among areas paying only $68. In the other direction, Lincoln City ($136), Hyannis ($146) and Oakland ($152) pay the full $92 for meals with some of the lowest lodging averages on that tier.
Meal tier and lodging level
Comparing tiers with lodging bands shows the loose link between the two.
| Full-year average lodging | $68 | $74 | $80 | $86 | $92 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| under $150 | 16 | 51 | 66 | 24 | 2 |
| $150 to $199 | 1 | 18 | 35 | 43 | 7 |
| $200 and up | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 24 |
Among areas averaging under $150 a night, the $80 tier is still common (66 areas), and 2 of them reach the top $92. Above $200, 24 of 32 areas are on the top tier.
Where the tiers came from
The current scale was set for FY 2025. In FY 2024 the tiers in GSA’s file were $59, $64, $69, $74 and $79; from FY 2025 they are $68, $74, $80, $86 and $92. On the current scale every step is $6, and the breakdown table keeps incidentals at $5 on all of them.
A provided meal, worked through
The split matters when meals are provided. Take a full day at the $74 tier: breakfast is $18, lunch $20, dinner $31 and incidentals $5. If a conference fee includes breakfast and lunch, the breakdown table lets an agency remove $38, leaving $36 for dinner and incidentals. At the $92 tier the same two meals are worth $49. How deductions interact with travel days is an agency matter, and the figures here only show the published amounts.
What each tier pays for
The tier fixes the daily total; GSA’s breakdown table then splits it into breakfast, lunch, dinner and $5 of incidentals, and sets the 75% amount used on the first and last day of a trip. The travel-day guide has the full table. The tiers themselves were last revised for FY 2025 and, according to GSA’s FY 2027 highlights, were not changed this year.
Every destination page gives its own tier with the meal-by-meal amounts, and each state page lists the tiers of all its areas.
Sources: U.S. General Services Administration, per diem rate files FY 2021 to FY 2027, and GSA FY 2027 per diem highlights; figures computed by Per Diem Rates. See reading the rates for how each measure is defined.