80% VA Disability With 1 Dependent: Pay Rates, Add-Ons, and Benefits

A veteran with an 80% VA disability rating and one dependent receives between $2,219.15 and $2,277.15 in tax-free monthly compensation, effective December 1, 2025. The exact amount depends on who the dependent is: $2,277.15 with a spouse, $2,242.15 with a dependent parent, or $2,219.15 with one child and no spouse. These rates reflect the 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment that took effect at the end of 2025.¹²

Monthly Payment at 80% by Type of Dependent

The VA does not pay a single “one dependent” figure. It pays a different amount for each type of dependent, because a spouse, a child, and a parent each carry their own rate. As of December 1, 2025:¹

Veteran with spouse only: $2,277.15
Veteran with one dependent parent only: $2,242.15
Veteran with one child only (no spouse): $2,219.15
Veteran alone, no dependents (for comparison): $2,102.15

Adding a spouse raises the base rate by about $175 a month. A dependent parent adds roughly $140, and a single child about $117. Congress sets these amounts and adjusts them each year to match the Social Security cost-of-living increase.

If a second dependent later enters the picture, the payment climbs again. A veteran at 80% with a spouse and one child, for example, receives $2,406.15 per month.¹

Add-Ons That Can Raise the Payment

Several supplements sit on top of the base rate at 80%:¹

Each additional child under 18: $87.00 per month
Each additional child aged 18–23 in an approved school program: $281.00 per month
Spouse receiving Aid and Attendance: $161.00 per month

The school-age rate is much higher because it reflects the cost of supporting an adult child enrolled full-time. The VA automatically stops child payments when a child turns 18, so a veteran who wants the continued benefit for a college-age child must file VA Form 21-674 (Request for Approval of School Attendance).³

A separate supplement, Special Monthly Compensation category K (SMC-K), adds $139.87 per month at any rating level for veterans who have lost use of a limb or a sensory organ. It stacks on top of the standard 80% rate.⁴

Who the VA Counts as a Dependent

Three categories qualify for dependent compensation:⁵

A spouse, including same-sex and common-law marriages.
An unmarried child under 18, a child aged 18 to 23 enrolled full-time in school, or a child who became permanently disabled before age 18. Adopted children and stepchildren count.
A dependent parent the veteran directly supports, whose income and net worth fall below the VA’s limit.

Dependent pay itself is a feature of the 30%-and-higher rate tables. Veterans rated at 10% or 20% get the same flat payment no matter how large their family is, so 80% recipients are firmly inside the tier where family composition changes the check.⁶

Adding a Dependent and Getting Back Pay

To add a spouse or child, veterans file VA Form 21-686c, online or on paper. A dependent parent takes a separate form, VA Form 21P-509.⁷

A veteran already rated at 30% or higher when a qualifying event happens — marriage, birth, or adoption — can get back pay to the date of the event, provided the claim is filed within one year. File later, and the effective date is usually the date the VA receives the claim, though it can reach back up to a year in some cases. Veterans also have one year to respond to any VA request for extra documents. If a paper claim was submitted first and later re-filed online for speed, the VA uses the original paper date for back-pay purposes.⁸

Other Benefits an 80% Rating Unlocks

Monthly compensation is only part of what an 80% rating carries.

Health Care and Prescriptions

Veterans rated at 80% receive VA health care and prescription medications at no cost and are placed in Priority Group 1, the top tier for scheduling. Travel to scheduled appointments at VA or VA-authorized facilities is reimbursable.⁶

VA Home Loan Funding Fee Waiver

The funding fee on a VA home loan is waived automatically for veterans at 80%, which can mean thousands off a mortgage.⁶

Commissary and Exchange Access

Honorably discharged veterans with any service-connected rating, 80% included, can shop at military commissaries and exchanges and use MWR retail facilities. Access requires a Veteran Health Identification Card showing “SERVICE CONNECTED” on the front.⁹¹⁰

Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay

Military retirees rated at 80% can draw both their full military retired pay and VA disability compensation through Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay. For most retirees this is automatic; the VA shares rating information with the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, and no separate application is needed. Chapter 61 disability retirees with 20 or more years of service are the exception — they still waive a portion of retired pay and can only receive concurrent pay up to what a standard longevity retirement would have paid.¹¹

Veteran Readiness and Employment

An 80% rating is well past the 10% minimum for the VR&E program (Chapter 31), which pays for job training, education, apprenticeships, and independent living services. Participants also get a subsistence allowance; for a veteran with one dependent in a full-time institutional program, that allowance is $1,008.24 per month as of October 2025.¹²¹³

Federal Hiring Preference

An 80% rating qualifies a veteran for 10-point federal hiring preference and direct hire authority.⁶

When 80% Can Pay Like 100%: TDIU

A veteran rated at 80% who cannot hold steady employment because of service-connected conditions may qualify for Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability. If granted, monthly compensation moves up to the 100% rate even though the combined rating stays at 80%.¹⁴

Standard eligibility requires either one condition rated at 60% or higher, or two or more conditions with at least one at 40% and a combined rating of 70% or more. A veteran at 80% combined meets the combined threshold if at least one condition is rated 40%. Exceptions apply for veterans with frequent hospitalizations. The application uses VA Form 21-8940. The VA cannot factor in age, and drawing Social Security retirement does not disqualify a claimant.¹⁵

What 80% Does Not Get You

Two benefits that dependents often ask about require more than an 80% rating. Both need a permanent and total disability determination, which generally means 100% with no expected improvement.

CHAMPVA health coverage for dependents and survivors requires the veteran to be permanently and totally disabled. An 80% rating alone does not qualify family members.¹⁶
Dependents Educational Assistance (Chapter 35) for spouses and children carries the same permanent-and-total requirement.¹⁷

A veteran at 80% who receives TDIU and is later rated permanent and total can then become eligible for both.

State Property Tax Relief at the 80% Level

Many states offer property tax breaks for disabled veterans, and several have thresholds that catch the 80% rating:

Texas: veterans rated 70% to 99% get a $12,000 exemption on the residence.¹⁸
Washington: veterans at 80% or higher may qualify for income-based exemptions or deferrals, with VA disability compensation excluded from the income calculation.¹⁹
Nevada: veterans at 80% to 99% receive a $15,000 exemption on assessed value, adjusted annually.²⁰
Illinois: veterans rated 70% or higher are exempt on the first $250,000 of taxable assessed value.²¹
Louisiana: veterans rated 70% to 99% receive an additional $4,500 exemption.²¹
Minnesota: veterans rated 70% or higher can exclude up to $150,000 in market value.²¹

Florida, New York, Oregon, and Utah offer sliding-scale exemptions that benefit veterans at 80% to varying degrees. Because these programs change and often involve income or residency conditions, confirm current figures with the county assessor or the state veterans affairs office.

Keeping Dependent Status Current

The dependent portion of the payment depends on the family looking the way the VA thinks it does. Divorce, a child turning 18 and leaving school, or a dependent parent’s income rising above the limit all change the amount owed. Failing to report those changes can lead to overpayments the VA later recovers from future checks.³

One useful wrinkle for two-veteran couples: when both spouses are rated at 30% or higher, each can claim the other as a dependent, and both can claim additional compensation for their shared children.⁵

1
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans Disability Compensation Rates
2
Disabled American Veterans. Veterans Benefits Increase 2.8% To Keep Pace With Inflation
3
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Manage Your Dependents
4
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Special Monthly Compensation Rates
5
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Add or Remove a Dependent
6
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Service Connected Disability Benefits Matrix
7
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Form 21-686c
8
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Dependency Issues FAQs
9
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Commissary and Exchange Privileges for Veterans
10
Military OneSource. Expanding Access Fact Sheet
11
Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay
12
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Veteran Readiness and Employment Eligibility
13
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VR&E Subsistence Allowance Rates
14
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Individual Unemployability
15
Disabled American Veterans. Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability
16
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. CHAMPVA Benefits
17
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance
18
Texas Veterans Commission. Property Tax Exemptions Available to Veterans Per Disability Rating
19
Washington Department of Veterans Affairs. Property Tax Relief
20
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Unlocking Veteran Tax Exemptions Across States and U.S. Territories
21
AARP. Veterans With Disabilities State Property Tax Breaks