A 60 percent VA disability rating entitles you to $1,435.02 per month in tax-free compensation for 2026, plus a package of benefits that includes no-cost VA healthcare in the highest priority group, extra pay for dependents, a full waiver of the VA home loan funding fee, education and career rehabilitation, life insurance eligibility, and — if your disability keeps you from working — the ability to be paid at the 100 percent rate through Total Disability Individual Unemployability.
Your Monthly Payment
The base rate for a single veteran at 60 percent is $1,435.02 per month in 2026.1Veterans Affairs. Current Veterans Disability Compensation Rates It’s tax-free at both the federal and state level, so the deposit amount is the amount you keep.2Veterans Affairs. Eligibility for VA Disability Benefits
Because you’re rated at 30 percent or higher, you also get additional monthly compensation for qualifying dependents: a spouse, children under 18, children 18 to 23 in school full-time, and dependent parents.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 38 USC 1115 – Additional Compensation for Dependents The 2026 amounts for a 60 percent veteran:1Veterans Affairs. Current Veterans Disability Compensation Rates
- With spouse, no children: $1,566.02
- With spouse and one child: $1,663.02
- Each additional child under 18: add $65.00
- Each additional child over 18 in school: add $211.00
Tell the VA when your dependents change — marriage, divorce, a new child, a child aging out. If you don’t, the VA will eventually catch up and collect the overpayment back from you.
Healthcare With No Copays
A 60 percent rating puts you in Priority Group 1, the top tier of the VA healthcare system, because you’re above the 50 percent service-connected threshold.4Veterans Affairs. VA Priority Groups The VA is required by statute to provide hospital and medical care to veterans at 50 percent or higher.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 38 USC 1710 – Eligibility for Hospital, Nursing Home, and Domiciliary Care
Priority Group 1 means no copays. Outpatient visits, inpatient stays, and prescriptions are all covered at zero cost, and coverage applies to any condition, not only your service-connected ones.6Veterans Affairs. Current VA Health Care Copay Rates If you break an ankle skiing or develop diabetes years later, the VA still treats it at no charge. Priority Groups 1 through 5 are also eligible for VA-provided hearing aids and eyeglasses, so a 60 percent rating gets you both.7Veterans Affairs. Prescribing Hearing Aids and Eyeglasses
The VA reimburses travel to approved appointments at 41.5 cents per mile, with a small deductible that caps out at $18 per month.8Veterans Affairs. Reimbursed VA Travel Expenses and Mileage Rate
One important limit: comprehensive VA dental care is not included at 60 percent. Full dental is reserved for veterans rated 100 percent, those with a service-connected dental condition, former prisoners of war, and a few other narrow categories.9Veterans Affairs. VA Dental Care You can buy discounted coverage through the VA Dental Insurance Program because you’re enrolled in VA healthcare.
Being Paid at the 100 Percent Rate Through TDIU
This is the biggest financial lever at 60 percent. If your service-connected disability keeps you from holding down substantially gainful employment, you can apply for Total Disability Individual Unemployability. A single disability rated at 60 percent or higher meets the schedular threshold.10eCFR. 38 CFR 4.16 – Total Disability Ratings for Compensation Based on Unemployability
Approval means you’re paid at the 100 percent rate rather than the 60 percent rate. Some income is allowed. Employment is considered “marginal” and doesn’t disqualify you as long as your annual earned income stays below the federal poverty threshold for one person, which is $15,960 for 2026. VA disability, Social Security, and investment income don’t count against that limit.
TDIU also moves you to Priority Group 1 for healthcare if you weren’t already there, and if the VA later designates your unemployability as permanent, it can open the door to a few benefits normally tied to a 100 percent schedular rating.4Veterans Affairs. VA Priority Groups
Home Loan Funding Fee Waiver
Any veteran receiving VA disability compensation is fully exempt from the VA home loan funding fee.11Veterans Affairs. VA Funding Fee and Loan Closing Costs The fee normally runs 1.25 percent to 3.3 percent of the loan amount, depending on down payment and whether it’s a first or subsequent use. On a $350,000 loan, that’s roughly $4,375 to $11,550 saved, and the waiver applies every time you use a VA loan.
The exemption is verified through your Certificate of Eligibility. If your COE hasn’t caught up with your disability status, give your lender a copy of your VA award letter before closing so it can be corrected in time.
Note the boundary: the underlying VA Home Loan Guaranty eligibility is based on your service history, not your rating. And the VA’s Specially Adapted Housing and Special Housing Adaptation grants require specific severe conditions such as loss of limbs or blindness, so most veterans at 60 percent don’t qualify unless their particular disability matches one of those categories.12Veterans Affairs. Disability Housing Grants for Veterans
Full Military Retirement Plus VA Disability
If you’re a 20-year military retiree, the old dollar-for-dollar offset between retirement pay and VA disability doesn’t apply to you at this rating level. Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay gives retirees rated 50 percent or higher both checks in full.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1414 – Members Eligible for Retired Pay Who Are Also Eligible for Veterans Disability Compensation
Veterans who medically retired with fewer than 20 years of service don’t qualify for CRDP but may be eligible for Combat-Related Special Compensation if the disabilities came from combat or combat-related activities. You can take CRDP or CRSC, not both, so pick whichever pays more.
Education and Career Rehabilitation
Veteran Readiness and Employment, under Chapter 31 of Title 38, is built for veterans whose service-connected disabilities interfere with work.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 38 USC Chapter 31 – Training and Rehabilitation for Veterans With Service-Connected Disabilities Your 60 percent rating is well past the 10 percent minimum for eligibility and the 20 percent floor for establishing an employment handicap. VR&E can pay for career counseling, retraining, college tuition, certifications, resume help, and job placement. For veterans who can’t return to their old line of work, it’s often more useful than the GI Bill because it’s shaped around your specific limitations.
The Post-9/11 GI Bill runs on service time, not disability rating, so your 60 percent doesn’t change your GI Bill entitlement one way or the other. That said, veterans discharged for a service-connected disability qualify for full benefits with just 30 continuous days of active duty after September 10, 2001.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 38 USC 3311 – Educational Assistance for Service in the Armed Forces Commencing on or After September 11, 2001
Life Insurance Through VALife
Any service-connected rating, including 60 percent, makes you eligible for Veterans Affairs Life Insurance. VALife is whole life coverage up to $40,000 in $10,000 increments, with no medical exam and no health questions, for veterans age 80 or younger.16Veterans Affairs. Veterans Affairs Life Insurance (VALife) The full death benefit takes two years to vest. If the veteran dies inside that window, beneficiaries get premiums back with interest rather than the face value.
Smaller Entitlements Worth Claiming
If a prosthetic, orthopedic brace, or skin medication tied to a service-connected condition damages your clothing, the VA pays an annual clothing allowance of $1,053.19 for 2026.17Veterans Affairs. Special Benefit Allowance Rates Applications are due by August 1 each year.
Because you’re at 30 percent or higher, you qualify for the 10-point veterans’ preference on federal job applications, the strongest preference category. It doesn’t guarantee a job, but it moves you ahead of non-veterans and lower-preference veterans in competitive hiring.
Every state offers some form of property tax exemption for disabled veterans. At 60 percent, the value ranges from a few thousand dollars off assessed value in some states to over $17,000 in others, and many states also discount vehicle registration or license plates. Your county tax assessor and state veterans affairs office can tell you what applies where you live.
What 60 Percent Does Not Get You
A few benefits people assume travel with any high rating are actually reserved for 100 percent or permanent-and-total status. CHAMPVA, which covers dependents’ and survivors’ healthcare, requires the veteran to be permanently and totally disabled — a 60 percent rating alone will not enroll your spouse or children.18Veterans Affairs. CHAMPVA Guidebook That can change if you’re granted TDIU and the VA later finds your unemployability permanent, or if your combined rating eventually reaches 100 percent P&T. Comprehensive VA dental and most Specially Adapted Housing grants sit on the other side of that same line.