The U.S. Department of State’s Office of Allowances determines the foreign per diem rates for government civilians assigned to official business. These amounts are updated monthly, and any given region can have separate rates for different seasons. The rates are reported for two categories: 1) lodging, and 2) meals and incidental expenses.

I’ve plotted the two rate categories against each other for the 1,044 locations in the dataset. Fifty-five locations are plotted twice for the seasonal rate change. In most cases, lodging allowances are significantly higher than meal and incidental amounts. However, for many of the cities in Venezuela, this is not the case. For example, the per diem for Maracaibo, Venezuela, which is the ninth highest overall ($563), is broken down as $276 for lodging and $287 for meals and incidentals. The highest overall per diem is for Cannes, France in the warmer months ($616), followed by Bermuda ($576). The per diem for Antarctica is the lowest, reported at just $1 (only to be used for meals and incidentals). Don’t spend it all in one place!

Data source: https://aoprals.state.gov/content.asp?content_id=233&menu_id=78