A VA disability rating is a percentage the Department of Veterans Affairs assigns to a service-connected injury or illness to reflect how much that condition reduces your ability to earn a living. Ratings run from 0% to 100% in 10-point steps, and every level above 0% carries a monthly tax-free payment, from $180.42 at 10% to $3,938.58 at 100% for a single veteran in 2026.1Veterans Affairs. Current Veterans Disability Compensation Rates The same rating also decides your place in line for VA healthcare, whether your family qualifies for certain education and health programs, and how much protection your rating has against future reductions.
What the Percentage Actually Measures
Federal law entitles veterans to compensation for any disability caused by an injury or disease that occurred during active service, provided the discharge was under conditions other than dishonorable.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 38 USC 1110 – Basic Entitlement The percentage the VA assigns is meant to represent the average loss of earning capacity your condition causes in civilian work.3eCFR. 38 CFR Part 4 – Schedule for Rating Disabilities A 40% rating means the VA considers your condition to reduce your average earning ability by roughly 40% compared with someone who does not have it.
Ratings only move in tens. You will get 30% or 70%, never 35% or 72%. Even a 0% rating is worth having: it officially recognizes the condition as service-connected, which opens the door to VA healthcare, dental and vision care, travel pay reimbursement, and low-cost life insurance through the VALife program.4Veterans Affairs. Non-Compensable Disability It also gives you a starting point to file for an increase if the condition later worsens.
2026 Monthly Compensation Amounts
Every rating at 10% or above triggers a monthly tax-free payment. The rates below apply to a single veteran with no dependents and took effect December 1, 2025:1Veterans Affairs. Current Veterans Disability Compensation Rates
- 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
If your combined rating is 30% or higher, you get additional monthly compensation for a spouse, children, or dependent parents. At 10% and 20%, the flat amount is the same whether you have dependents or not.1Veterans Affairs. Current Veterans Disability Compensation Rates
How the VA Decides the Number
Ratings are not handed out by feel. Each one is tied to the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities (VASRD), codified in 38 C.F.R. Part 4.3eCFR. 38 CFR Part 4 – Schedule for Rating Disabilities The schedule is organized by body system: musculoskeletal, respiratory, digestive, mental health, and so on. Within each system, individual conditions carry a four-digit diagnostic code that spells out what symptoms or test results correspond to each percentage.
Post-traumatic stress disorder, for example, has written criteria describing what occupational and social impairment looks like at 0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, and 100%. A rating specialist compares your documented symptoms to those criteria and picks the level that fits. Because every claim is measured against the same standards, two veterans with similar limitations should land in the same place regardless of which regional office handles the file.
How Multiple Ratings Combine
If you have more than one service-connected condition, the VA does not add the percentages. It uses the Combined Ratings Table in 38 C.F.R. § 4.25, a method veterans often call “VA math.”5eCFR. 38 CFR 4.25 – Combined Ratings Table Your first rating reduces your overall efficiency, and each additional rating is applied only to whatever efficiency remains. Nobody can exceed 100%.
Suppose you have a 50% rating and a 30% rating. After the 50%, you are treated as 50% efficient. The 30% applies to that remaining half, which adds 15 percentage points. Your combined value is 65%. The VA rounds to the nearest 10, and values ending in 5 round up, so 65% becomes 70%.5eCFR. 38 CFR 4.25 – Combined Ratings Table Add a third condition rated at 20%, and that 20% is applied to the remaining 35% efficiency before rounding. Rounding happens only once, after every disability has been combined.
The Bilateral Factor
When you have compensable disabilities on both sides of your body, such as both knees or both shoulders, the VA applies a bilateral factor before combining those ratings with anything else. It combines the paired disabilities using the standard table, then adds 10% of that combined value as a straight addition before moving on to the other conditions.6eCFR. 38 CFR 4.26 – Bilateral Factor The extra 10% recognizes that matching disabilities on both sides cause more functional impairment than two unrelated conditions at the same percentages.
Getting Paid at 100% Without a 100% Rating
Some veterans cannot hold steady work because of their service-connected conditions but end up with a combined rating below 100%. Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU) pays at the 100% rate in that situation. To qualify under the standard threshold, you need either one disability rated at 60% or more, or a combined rating of 70% or more with at least one condition rated at 40%.7eCFR. 38 CFR 4.16 – Total Disability Ratings Based on Unemployability
The question is whether your service-connected disabilities prevent you from keeping substantially gainful employment. Marginal employment, generally defined as earning below the federal poverty threshold for one person, does not count as gainful. Working in a protected setting like a family business or sheltered workshop can also be treated as marginal even if earnings top the poverty line.7eCFR. 38 CFR 4.16 – Total Disability Ratings Based on Unemployability If you fall short of the percentage thresholds but are still unemployable because of service-connected conditions, the VA can refer your case for extra-schedular consideration. You apply using VA Form 21-8940, which asks for detailed employment history covering the last five years you worked.
Payments Above 100%
Veterans with especially severe disabilities, such as loss of a limb, blindness, or the need for daily personal help, may qualify for Special Monthly Compensation (SMC), which pays above the standard 100% rate. SMC is organized into letter-designated levels, each tied to specific combinations of loss or need for assistance.8Veterans Affairs. Current Special Monthly Compensation Rates SMC-K is a flat additional payment for anatomical loss such as a creative organ or one eye. SMC-L applies to loss of use of both feet, one hand and one foot, or both eyes, or when you need daily help with eating, dressing, and bathing. SMC-R covers the need for daily personal-care assistance, and SMC-S applies when service-connected disabilities keep you housebound. Higher levels (M through O) cover progressively more severe combinations at progressively higher monthly amounts.
When the VA Presumes the Connection
Normally you have to prove a direct link between your current condition and something specific that happened in service. For certain exposures, the VA presumes the link, so you only need to show you served in the right place at the right time and have a qualifying diagnosis. The PACT Act, signed in 2022, expanded the list of presumptive conditions significantly, particularly for burn pit and other toxic exposures.9Veterans Affairs. The PACT Act and Your VA Benefits
More than 20 conditions were added under the toxic exposure presumption, including cancers of the brain, kidneys, pancreas, gastrointestinal tract, and reproductive system, along with lymphoma, melanoma, glioblastoma, and respiratory cancers. Presumed respiratory illnesses now include asthma diagnosed after service, COPD, chronic bronchitis, chronic sinusitis, emphysema, pulmonary fibrosis, and sarcoidosis, among others.9Veterans Affairs. The PACT Act and Your VA Benefits
If you served on or after September 11, 2001 in Afghanistan, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Uzbekistan, or Yemen, the VA presumes toxic exposure. The same presumption applies to service on or after August 2, 1990 in Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, or the United Arab Emirates. Agent Orange presumption now reaches U.S. or Royal Thai military bases in Thailand (January 1962 through June 1976), Guam and American Samoa (January 1962 through July 1980), and certain sites in Laos and Cambodia in the late 1960s. Radiation-related presumption locations were extended to include the cleanup of Enewetak Atoll (1977–1980) and nuclear-incident responses near Palomares, Spain and Thule Air Force Base, Greenland.9Veterans Affairs. The PACT Act and Your VA Benefits
How to File and Protect Your Effective Date
A successful claim rests on three things: a current diagnosed condition, an event or injury during active service, and a medical link (called a “nexus”) between the two. The VA usually needs medical records or a professional opinion for the nexus, and it also accepts lay evidence such as a buddy statement from someone who served with you.10Veterans Affairs. Evidence Needed for Your Disability Claim You file with VA Form 21-526EZ, either through the VA’s online portal or by mail to a regional processing center.
The effective date decides when your money starts. It usually matches the date you filed or the date the condition became disabling, whichever is later. If you file within one year of separation, the effective date can go back to the day after discharge. If you are not ready to file the full claim, submit an Intent to File (VA Form 21-0966). That locks in a potential effective date and gives you a full year to complete the actual application.11Veterans Affairs. Your Intent to File a VA Claim If the claim is approved, the VA may owe retroactive payments for the time between the intent-to-file date and the decision.
If you see a private provider, ask them to fill out the Disability Benefits Questionnaire (DBQ) for your condition. DBQs are standardized forms designed to capture exactly the clinical findings, test results, and functional limitations the VASRD criteria call for, in the format the rating specialist is looking for.12Department of Veterans Affairs. Disability Benefits Questionnaires (DBQs) Fraud Prevention
The C&P Exam and Decision
After you file, the VA may schedule a Compensation and Pension (C&P) exam with a VA or VA-contracted physician. The examiner reviews your records, performs a physical or psychological evaluation, and documents how the condition affects your daily life and ability to work.13Veterans Affairs. VA Claim Exam (C&P Exam) That report goes to a rating specialist, who applies the VASRD criteria and assigns your percentage. You receive a decision letter by mail listing the rating for each condition, the effective date, and the reason for any denial. As of mid-2025, the VA reported an average processing time of about 132 days from filing to decision, with more complex multi-condition claims taking longer.14VA News. VA Processes More Than 2M Disability Claims in Record Time
If You Disagree With the Rating
You have three ways to challenge a decision.15Veterans Affairs. VA Decision Reviews and Appeals A Supplemental Claim (VA Form 20-0995) asks the VA to reconsider based on new and relevant evidence it did not previously see.16Veterans Affairs. Choosing a Decision Review Option A Higher-Level Review sends the existing record to a more senior adjudicator who looks for errors in how the law or facts were applied; no new evidence is allowed.17eCFR. 38 CFR 3.2601 – Higher-Level Review A Board Appeal puts your case in front of a Veterans Law Judge at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, with options for direct review, added evidence, or a hearing. If you miss the deadline for a Higher-Level Review or Board Appeal, you can still file a Supplemental Claim as long as you bring new and relevant evidence.
Can the VA Lower Your Rating Later?
Yes, but with limits. The VA can schedule a re-examination when it needs to verify whether a disability still exists at the rated severity or has improved. Re-exams are most common in the first few years after an initial rating, particularly for conditions expected to change. VA policy directs that re-examinations be requested only when genuinely necessary, not as a routine step for every claim. If a re-exam shows improvement, the VA must send you notice and an opportunity to respond before any reduction takes effect.
Ratings that have stayed at the same level for five years or more receive additional procedural protection before they can be lowered. Ratings in place for 20 years or longer generally cannot be reduced at all, except in cases of fraud. Time on the rolls buys you certainty.
What Else the Rating Unlocks
Your rating shapes more than the monthly deposit. It sets your priority for VA healthcare enrollment: 50% or higher lands in the highest-priority group, 30% to 40% in the second, and 10% to 20% in the third.18Veterans Affairs. VA Priority Groups A 0% service-connected rating still qualifies you to enroll, just at a lower priority.
At the 100% permanent and total level, benefits reach your family. Your spouse and dependent children may qualify for CHAMPVA, a VA healthcare program for family members who are not eligible for TRICARE.19Veterans Affairs. CHAMPVA Benefits Dependents may also qualify for the Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance (DEA) program, which helps with tuition and training costs.20Veterans Affairs. Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance Many states offer property tax exemptions or reductions for veterans with high disability ratings, though thresholds and amounts vary by state.