VA Disability Rate Increase: Rates, COLA, and Legislation

The 2026 VA disability rate increase is 2.8%, effective December 1, 2025, with the first adjusted payment landing December 31, 2025. A single veteran with no dependents now receives $180.42 per month at a 10% rating and $3,938.58 per month at a 100% rating.¹ The payments are tax-free.² In dollar terms, the 2.8% adjustment adds $4.91 per month at the 10% level and $107.28 per month at the 100% level compared with 2025.

2026 Monthly Rates for a Single Veteran

Veterans rated at 10% or 20% receive a flat monthly amount regardless of family status. At 30% and above, dependents change the payment.³ The base rates with no dependents for 2026 are:

10% — $180.42
20% — $356.66
30% — $552.47
40% — $795.84
50% — $1,132.90
60% — $1,435.02
70% — $1,808.45
80% — $2,102.15
90% — $2,362.30
100% — $3,938.58

These rates apply to payments issued on or after December 1, 2025.¹

Added Amounts for Dependents at 30% and Above

A spouse, children, and dependent parents all increase monthly compensation once a rating hits 30%. As examples at the 100% level, a veteran with a spouse receives $4,158.17; with a spouse and one child, $4,318.99; and with a spouse, one child, and two dependent parents, $4,671.47.¹

Additional per-child amounts scale with the rating. Each child under 18 beyond the first adds between $32 per month at 30% and $109.11 at 100%. A child over 18 enrolled in a qualifying school program adds between $105 and $352.45. If a spouse requires Aid and Attendance, the veteran receives an added $61 (at 30%) to $201.41 (at 100%) per month.¹

Why the Increase Is 2.8%

Federal law ties the VA’s annual cost-of-living adjustment to the Social Security Administration’s COLA, which uses the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). The SSA compares the third-quarter (July–September) CPI-W average against the same period the prior year, and the resulting percentage becomes the increase for both Social Security benefits and VA disability compensation.⁴

For 2026, the third-quarter 2025 CPI-W average was 317.265 against 308.729 for the same period in 2024, producing the 2.8% figure.¹ Social Security’s identical percentage took effect in January 2026, a slight timing offset from the VA’s December 1 effective date.

Recent history shows how variable the number can be. The COLA hit 8.7% in 2023 after the post-pandemic inflation spike, then eased to 3.2% in 2024 and 2.5% in 2025. In 2017 the adjustment was 0.3%, and in 2016 there was no increase at all.⁵ The ten-year average sits near 2.6%.

How Multiple Ratings Combine

The VA does not simply add ratings together. A 50% and a 30% rating do not produce 80%. Instead, the VA uses a “whole person” approach: ratings are ranked highest to lowest and each successive disability is treated as affecting only the remaining non-disabled portion of the veteran. The combined value is then rounded to the nearest 10%. In the 50%-plus-30% example, the combined value is 65, which rounds to 70%.⁶

Veterans with disabilities affecting both arms, both legs, or paired skeletal muscles receive a small addition through the bilateral factor. The left and right side ratings are combined, then 10% of that combined value is added before further combinations. As of April 2023, if applying the bilateral factor would produce a lower combined rating than not applying it, the VA’s system excludes the bilateral disabilities from the factor and combines them separately to reach the more favorable result.⁷

Special Monthly Compensation and TDIU

Some veterans receive more than the rating table shows. Special Monthly Compensation applies to severe disabilities beyond the standard schedule, including loss of limbs, blindness, or the need for daily assistance from another person. SMC rates receive the same 2.8% COLA. For 2026, SMC rates range from $4,408.53 per month at SMC-S (housebound) to $11,271.67 at SMC-R.2/T (the highest level of aid and attendance). The frequently applied SMC-K rate for anatomical loss or loss of use of a creative organ or one extremity is $139.87, added on top of basic compensation.⁸

Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU) pays at the 100% rate to veterans who cannot hold substantially gainful employment because of service-connected disabilities, even when their combined rating is below 100%. Eligibility generally requires one service-connected disability rated 60% or higher, or a combined rating of 70% or higher with at least one condition at 40% or more. Approved veterans receive $3,938.58 per month for 2026 plus any dependent additions, without the rating percentage itself changing.⁹¹⁰

Legislation That Could Change 2026 Benefits

Three bills in Congress in 2026 matter directly to the rate picture.

The Annual COLA Bill

Congress passes a COLA authorization each year. The Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2026 (S. 4487), introduced in May 2026 by Senators Jerry Moran and Richard Blumenthal with 15 cosponsors, would authorize the December 2026 adjustment matching whatever COLA the SSA calculates for that year.¹¹ The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and passage of this type of measure is typically routine.¹²

The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act

The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act (H.R. 9237 / S. 4744) includes increases to Special Monthly Compensation for catastrophically disabled veterans and to Dependency and Indemnity Compensation for survivors.¹³ The same package also contains provisions the Disabled American Veterans has called a “poison pill”: it would eliminate standalone disability compensation for tinnitus and sharply reduce compensation for sleep apnea in veterans who use a CPAP device. The changes would apply to new claims and to reevaluations of existing claims, and a VA analysis cited by DAV estimates the cuts could reduce future compensation payments by as much as $57 billion over ten years.¹⁴ The provisions are intended to satisfy Pay-As-You-Go budgetary rules and offset the cost of other benefits in the package. A coalition of senators led by Angus King, joined by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, has formally opposed the cuts.¹⁵

The Major Richard Star Act

Combat-injured retirees medically retired with fewer than 20 years of service are generally ineligible for Concurrent Retirement and Disability Payments and face caps on Combat-Related Special Compensation, meaning their military retired pay is still offset by their VA disability compensation. The Major Richard Star Act (H.R. 2102), introduced in March 2025 with 330 cosponsors, would eliminate that offset. As of May 2026, the bill had not received a floor vote, and a bipartisan discharge petition had been filed to force one.¹⁶

Early Look at the 2027 COLA

Because the VA COLA mirrors Social Security’s, mid-2026 inflation data offers a preview. The Senior Citizens League has estimated the 2027 COLA at 3.3% to 3.8%, and some analysts project it could reach 4.7% or higher depending on inflation through the summer.¹⁷ The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the CPI-W rose 4.4% over the 12 months ending in May 2026, driven by energy costs and rising transportation expenses.¹⁸ The final figure depends on CPI-W data from July, August, and September 2026, with an official announcement expected in October.

1
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans Disability Compensation Rates
2
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Compensation
3
Military.com. VA Disability Pay Rates
4
Social Security Administration. Latest Cost-of-Living Adjustment
5
Veteran.com. Historical VA Disability Rates
6
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. About VA Disability Ratings
7
Federal Register. Exceptions to Applying the Bilateral Factor in VA Disability Calculations
8
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Special Monthly Compensation Rates
9
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Individual Unemployability
10
VA News. Individual Unemployability – Understanding the Basics
11
Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Sens. Moran, Blumenthal Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Deliver Annual Cost-of-Living Increase for Veterans
12
U.S. Congress. S. 4487 – Veterans Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2026
13
House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. H.R. 6047 – Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act
14
Disabled American Veterans. DAV Condemns Congressional Proposal to Cut Disability Benefits for 1.5 Million Veterans
15
Office of Senator Angus King. King, Colleagues Reject Proposed Cuts to Veterans Disability Benefits
16
U.S. Congress. H.R. 2102 – Major Richard Star Act
17
NAPA Net. Latest Inflation Data Points to Higher 2027 Social Security COLA
18
U.S. News & World Report. Social Security COLA Raise