A VA mental health rating is a percentage from 0% to 100% that determines the monthly tax-free payment a veteran receives for a service-connected psychological condition. In 2026, a 100% rating pays $3,938.58 per month with no dependents, and a 10% rating pays $180.42. The rating does not depend on the name of the diagnosis. Whether the condition is PTSD, depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder, the VA applies the same formula and looks at the same thing: how much the symptoms interfere with the veteran’s ability to work and maintain relationships.
One Formula for Every Mental Health Diagnosis
Every mental health rating comes from the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders under 38 CFR 4.130. A rater evaluating a PTSD claim uses the identical framework as a rater evaluating major depressive disorder. The diagnosis label matters for service connection, but not for the percentage.
When a veteran has more than one mental health diagnosis, the VA assigns a single combined mental health rating rather than stacking separate percentages. This follows the anti-pyramiding rule at 38 CFR 4.14, which prevents the same symptoms from being counted twice under different labels. A veteran with both generalized anxiety and PTSD receives one rating that captures the total psychological impairment.
Rating Levels, Criteria, and 2026 Monthly Pay
Each level corresponds to a defined degree of occupational and social impairment. The amounts below are 2026 rates for a veteran with no dependents. Veterans with a spouse, children, or dependent parents receive higher amounts starting at the 30% level.
- 0% — $0/month. The VA recognizes a diagnosed, service-connected condition, but symptoms are not severe enough to interfere with work or social functioning and do not require ongoing medication. This rating preserves service connection and access to VA healthcare.
- 10% — $180.42/month. Symptoms are mild or intermittent, reducing work efficiency only during periods of significant stress, or symptoms are controlled by continuous medication.
- 30% — $552.47/month. Occasional dips in work efficiency and intermittent difficulty with occupational tasks, though overall functioning remains satisfactory. Typical symptoms include depressed mood, panic attacks weekly or less, chronic sleep problems, and mild memory lapses.
- 50% — $1,132.90/month. Reliability and productivity drop noticeably. Symptoms include panic attacks more than once a week, trouble understanding complex instructions, impaired short- and long-term memory, poor judgment, and difficulty keeping work and social relationships.
- 70% — $1,808.45/month. Deficiencies in most areas of life, including work, family, judgment, thinking, and mood. Symptoms often include suicidal thoughts, obsessive rituals that disrupt routines, near-constant panic or depression, impaired impulse control, neglect of personal hygiene, and an inability to maintain effective relationships.
- 100% — $3,938.58/month. Total occupational and social impairment. Symptoms include gross impairment in thought processes or communication, persistent delusions or hallucinations, being a persistent danger to self or others, inability to perform basic daily activities, disorientation to time or place, and memory loss severe enough to forget close relatives’ names or one’s own occupation.
The symptoms listed at each level are examples, not a checklist. A veteran does not need every symptom listed to qualify. Evaluators look at the overall level of impairment and decide which bracket best captures how the veteran actually functions day to day.
What Drives Your Rating
The rating turns almost entirely on the evidence in the file when a rater makes the decision. Three pieces do most of the work.
The first is a formal diagnosis from a psychiatrist or psychologist, along with treatment records showing how symptoms have played out over time. Under 38 CFR 3.159, the VA has a duty to help obtain relevant records, but submitting your own evidence up front tends to move the claim along faster.
The second is a nexus statement. This is a medical opinion linking the current diagnosis to a specific event, injury, or period during military service. Without a nexus, even severe symptoms will not result in service-connected compensation. The opinion should state that the connection is “at least as likely as not,” the legal standard the VA applies.
The third is a Disability Benefits Questionnaire. When a treating provider completes a DBQ, it gives the rater a structured snapshot of symptoms in a format that maps directly to the rating formula. These forms are publicly available on the VA’s benefits website. Lay statements from a spouse, coworker, or fellow service member also carry real weight because they fill gaps that clinical records cannot, such as how nightmares have worsened over two years or how concentration has deteriorated at work.
The Compensation and Pension Exam
After the initial paperwork is in, the VA schedules a Compensation and Pension exam with a psychiatrist or psychologist, who may be a VA employee or a contractor. The exam is a clinical interview focused on how symptoms affect daily life, work capacity, and relationships. The examiner also reviews the claims file, so inconsistencies between the file and what the veteran reports will show up in the final report. The report then goes to the regional office, where a rating specialist applies the General Rating Formula and issues a decision.
A private DBQ from the veteran’s own provider sometimes replaces the C&P exam entirely, though the VA can still order one if it finds the private evidence incomplete. A private opinion carries the most weight when the provider demonstrates familiarity with the veteran’s full medical history and clearly explains the reasoning. Credentials matter; an opinion from a board-certified psychiatrist generally outweighs one from a physician assistant.
When 70% Pays Like 100%
Most mental health claims that reach the top of the schedule stop at 70%, because the 100% criteria describe extreme impairment that few veterans meet. A veteran rated at 70% who cannot hold a steady job because of the condition is not stuck at $1,808.45 per month. Under 38 CFR 4.16, Total Disability Individual Unemployability pays at the 100% rate of $3,938.58 per month in 2026 when service-connected disabilities prevent substantially gainful employment, even though the schedular rating is below 100%.
The schedular requirements for TDIU are a single service-connected disability rated at 60% or higher, or a combined rating of 70% or higher with at least one condition rated at 40% or more. Veterans who fall below these thresholds can still be referred for extraschedular TDIU consideration, though that path is slower and less predictable.
The VA defines substantially gainful employment as work paying above the federal poverty level, which is $15,960 per year for a single individual in 2026. Veterans on TDIU can still do marginal work, including part-time jobs or positions in a protected work environment, as long as annual income stays below that threshold. TDIU generally will not be terminated unless the veteran maintains gainful employment above the poverty line for 12 consecutive months.
Mental Health Conditions Caused by Another Service-Connected Injury
A mental health condition does not have to originate directly from military service to qualify for compensation. Under 38 CFR 3.310, a psychological disorder caused or worsened by an already service-connected physical disability qualifies as a secondary condition. Depression that develops from chronic pain tied to a service-connected back injury is one of the most common examples. The veteran needs a current diagnosis, a medical opinion linking the mental health condition to the primary disability, and a claim that identifies the relationship between the two.
The reverse works too. A veteran already rated for PTSD who develops sleep apnea, cardiovascular problems, or chronic headaches aggravated by the mental health condition can file secondary claims for those physical conditions. Secondary claims are frequently overlooked.
Can the VA Lower My Rating Later?
Mental health ratings are not automatically permanent, but they become harder to reduce as time passes.
- Five years. Once a rating has been in effect for five years, 38 CFR 3.344 requires a higher standard before reduction. The VA cannot reduce a stabilized rating based on a single exam less thorough than the one used to establish it. For conditions that fluctuate, and mental health conditions typically do, the regulation specifically says one improved exam is not enough. The VA must show sustained improvement under ordinary life conditions.
- Ten years. After a disability has been service-connected for ten continuous years, the VA cannot sever service connection entirely absent fraud. The percentage can still change, but some level of compensation is locked in.
- Twenty years. Under 38 CFR 3.951, a rating continuously in effect for twenty or more years cannot be reduced below the lowest level it held during that period, absent fraud.
Veterans aged 55 and older generally stop receiving routine re-examinations. Veterans whose conditions are designated Permanent and Total are exempt from re-examinations entirely. For mental health, permanent status usually requires the condition to have been stable at the same severity for five or more years with no expectation of improvement. That designation also unlocks additional benefits, including Chapter 35 Dependents’ Educational Assistance for family members.
If the Rating Is Too Low
Veterans who receive a lower rating than expected, or an outright denial, have three options under the current decision review system.
- Supplemental Claim. The right choice when there is new and relevant evidence that was not part of the original decision. No hard deadline, but filing within one year of the decision preserves the original effective date and protects back pay. The VA’s processing goal is 125 days.
- Higher-Level Review. A senior adjudicator takes a fresh look at the same evidence and checks for errors. No new evidence is allowed. The veteran can request an informal phone conference to point out where the original decision went wrong. Deadline: one year from the decision letter. Processing goal: 125 days.
- Board Appeal. A Veterans Law Judge reviews the case. The veteran chooses among three dockets: direct review, evidence submission, or hearing. Deadline: one year from the decision letter. Wait times run from roughly one year for direct review to two or three years or more for the hearing docket.
The one-year deadline for Higher-Level Reviews and Board Appeals is not a permanent bar if missed, but blowing it means losing the ability to preserve the original effective date. For most disappointing rating decisions, the strongest first move is gathering better medical evidence and filing a Supplemental Claim, because that path lets new documentation address whatever the original decision got wrong.