PCS Per Diem Goes Up October 1: The FY2027 Standard Rate Is $113 Lodging Plus $68 M&IE

The General Services Administration published the fiscal year 2027 per diem rates on August 18, 2026, in GSA Per Diem Bulletin FTR 27-01. The standard CONUS lodging rate rises from $110 to $113 a night, the standard meals and incidental expenses (M&IE) rate stays at $68, and the new rates apply to travel performed on or after October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027. This is settled. It is an administrative rate change, it needed no vote, and it is not waiting on the defense bill. The only thing not yet in effect is the date: through September 30 the FY2026 rates still apply, and the date on each travel day decides which set you are paid.

It matters to military families because the JTR pays PCS driving per diem at the standard CONUS rate, pays dependents a percentage of it, and builds Temporary Lodging Expense (TLE) and TDY per diem on the locality rates in the same GSA tables. Below is the change applied to our own data: a PCS drive before and after October 1, the whole travel package by rank, and the lodging ceiling at ten military localities, read from GSA's FY2026 and FY2027 rate files.

What changed, exactly

The per diem you get for driving your own car on PCS orders is MALT Plus. Under JTR par. 050301 and Table 5-4 it is paid at the standard CONUS rate for every authorized travel day, departure and arrival days included, with no first-or-last-day reduction; the 75% rule belongs to Lodging Plus travel only. Dependents traveling with you draw a percentage of your rate under Table 5-6: 75% at age 12 and older, 50% under 12. The JTR defines the standard CONUS per diem rate as the rate used for all CONUS locations during permanent duty travel (Appendix A), and DTMO states that per diem rates are set jointly by GSA, the State Department and DTMO. GSA owns the CONUS table.

What it is worth on a PCS drive

Travel days come from the JTR formula: one day at 400 miles or less, otherwise divide by 350 and add a day if the remainder is 51 or more (par. 050205). The table applies the $3 change to those days. The family column is a spouse, one child 12 or older and one child under 12, which is 325% of the member's rate.

Nine dollars a day for that family, $3 a day alone: real money, not much of it. Run your own distance and dependents through the MALT and per diem calculator; the day count and the dependent percentages are where vouchers actually go wrong.

The whole travel package, by rank

Per diem does not vary by rank, but the package it sits inside does, because Dislocation Allowance (DLA) is a rank table. The rows below are a 1,200-mile move, four authorized travel days, one POV, the same family of four, with the 2026 primary DLA at the with-dependents rate. MALT is 1,200 miles at $0.235, or $282.00. DLA and MALT are unchanged by this bulletin; only the per diem column moves.

E-1 through E-6 share one with-dependents DLA rate, which is why the first two rows match. Read the table for proportion: the per diem raise is $36 on a package of $5,500 to $8,000. DLA is where rank moves the money, and DLA changes on January 1, not October 1. Price your own row with the DLA calculator.

Where the real money moved: locality rates near installations

The standard rate is the floor. Most large installations sit in a locality with its own lodging ceiling, and those ceilings drive TLE at the new duty station and per diem on every TDY. Comparing GSA's FY2026 and FY2027 rate files, 294 localities appear in both years: the peak-season lodging ceiling rose in 258 of them, fell in 18 and held in 18, and M&IE did not change in a single locality. One locality (Allentown, Pennsylvania) dropped to the standard rate, which is how 296 became 295. Ten localities military families move to:

TLE turns those ceilings into money. Under JTR par. 0506 and Table 5-17, your lodging is reimbursed at actual cost up to the locality lodging rate times a family percentage (65% for a member alone, 100% for member plus one, then 35% per additional dependent 12 or older and 25% per dependent under 12), plus M&IE at the same percentage, with the total capped at $290 a day for up to 21 days in CONUS. The lodging piece is the one that moved.

On TDY the effect is per night. Five nights in Tucson in January move the lodging ceiling from $171 to $208, or up to $185 more reimbursed if the hotel costs that much. Check your own station in the TLE calculator, which accepts a typed-in lodging rate, and in the TLA calculator if you are headed overseas, where DTMO and the State Department set the rates on their own schedule.

What is not changing

• M&IE. $68 standard, $68 to $92 in listed localities, unchanged everywhere in the FY2027 file.
• MALT. Still $0.235 a mile per authorized POV, and the JTR pays the MALT rate in effect on the date PCS travel begins (par. 050203). That rate last moved on July 1, 2026.
• DLA. The 2026 primary DLA table took effect January 1, 2026. DLA is adjusted on January 1, not October 1, and not by this bulletin.
• TLE limits. $290 a day and 21 days in CONUS are JTR rules, not GSA rates.
• OCONUS rates. Alaska, Hawaii and foreign localities are published by DTMO and the State Department and update on their own cycle.

What to do

1. 1If your PCS drive straddles October 1, know both numbers. $178 and $181 a day for you, $133.50 and $135.75 for a spouse or child 12 and older, $89.00 and $90.50 for a child under 12. The voucher should show the split by day.
2. 2Look up your new duty station in the FY2027 table before you book TLE lodging. The GSA lookup already shows the October 2026 rates. Type the lodging figure into the TLE calculator and you have your ceiling.
3. 3Keep the receipts. MALT Plus is flat and needs none, but TLE and TDY lodging are reimbursed at actual cost up to the ceiling. A higher ceiling only pays if the hotel bill is there to claim.
4. 4Run the whole package once. DLA, MALT, per diem and TLE together are the number your move is actually worth; the PCS checklist puts the finance appointment where it belongs on the timeline.

The bottom line

From October 1, 2026 the standard CONUS per diem is $113 lodging plus $68 M&IE, so a PCS drive pays $181 a day instead of $178, dependents step up in proportion, and the total on a typical family move rises by $36. The larger change is in the locality tables behind TLE and TDY, where most military lodging ceilings rose, from $3 a night at Killeen to $37 in Tucson in season, while San Antonio's spring peak fell. Rates shown are FY2026 and FY2027 as published by GSA and applied through the March 2026 JTR; always verify with your finance office before making financial decisions.