Per Diem
How travel days are calculated and what each family member receives, with a worked example.
Per Diem is a flat rate amount that covers your lodging and meals during your authorized travel days between your losing location and your gaining location.
The current standard CONUS rate is $181. Rates are updated every year, so check the current rate before your PCS using the link at the bottom of this page.
- Service Member receives 100% per authorized travel day used.
- Dependents 12 and older receive 75% per authorized travel day used.
- Under 12 receives 50% per authorized travel day used.
Travel days are calculated as Day 1 being 400 miles, each additional day is 350 miles, and if the remainder is 51+ miles then you get an extra travel day.
Example- a trip of 1,751 miles would receive 5 travel days. A trip of 1,132 would receive 3 travel days.
Let’s do an example. A family of 5 that is the service member, 3 dependents over 12 and 1 dependent under 12. They are authorized 9 travel days.
- Service member - $181
- 3 x dependents over 12- $135.75 x 3 = $407.25
- 1 x dependent under 12 - $90.50
Total for 1 travel day is- $678.75 per day for meals and lodging.
The family is only using 7 of the 9 authorized travel days. So they will only receive per diem for 7 days which would be $4,751.25
If they decided to take all 9 travel days authorized they would receive $6,108.75
If they decided to take 12 days to visit other locations, they would only be paid for the 9 authorized travel days. The other 3 days would be out of pocket.
When you submit your travel voucher (either paper copy or smart voucher depending on your service)- you fill out DD Form 1351-2, you list each travel day where you started and stopped. Many transportation offices will ask for hotel receipts as a way to verify that what you listed on the travel voucher is accurate and you are not claiming travel days that you did not use.
Before your PCS, check the current per diem rate for any updates: Per Diem Rate Lookup | Defense Travel Management Office