About disability ratings

We assign you a disability rating based on the severity of your service-connected condition. We use your disability rating to determine how much disability compensation you’ll receive each month, as well as your eligibility for other VA benefits.

If you have multiple disability ratings, we use them to calculate your combined VA disability rating. Calculating your combined disability rating involves more than adding up your individual ratings. That’s why your combined rating may be different from the sum of your individual ratings.

View your VA disability ratings

If you’ve already filed a disability claim and have an assigned rating, you can sign in to view your individual ratings and your VA combined disability rating.

Loading the disability rating calculator

How we assign VA disability ratings

What’s a disability rating?

We assign you a disability rating based on the severity of your disability. We express this rating as a percentage, representing how much your disability decreases your overall health and ability to function.

We then use your disability rating to determine your disability compensation rate, so we can calculate how much money you’ll receive from us each month. We also use your disability rating to help determine your eligibility for other benefits, like VA health care.

What does VA use to decide my disability rating?

We base your rating on:

The evidence you give us (like a doctor’s report or medical test results), and
The results of your VA claim exam (also called a compensation and pension, or C&P, exam), if we determine you need this exam, and
Other information we may get from other sources (like federal agencies)

What if I have more than one disability?

We use a method called the “whole person theory” to determine what we call your combined disability rating. We do this to make sure that your total VA disability rating doesn’t add up to more than 100%. That’s because a person can’t be more than 100% able-bodied.

Read below to find out more about how we calculate your combined disability rating.

How do ratings work for a disability I had before entering the service that got worse because of my service?

If you get disability benefits for a preservice disability, we base your monthly compensation amount on the level of aggravation. Level of aggravation means how much worse your preservice disability got because of your military service.

For example: If you had an illness or injury (also known as a condition) that was rated as 10% disabling when you entered the military, and it became 20% disabling due to the effects of your service, then the level of aggravation would be 10%.

Is there anything else, other than my disability rating, that may affect the amount of compensation I receive?

Yes. We may increase or decrease your compensation amount in certain situations.

Learn more about compensation rates

What happens after I get my disability rating?

Find out what to expect after you get your rating

How we determine combined VA disability ratings

If you have multiple disability ratings, we use the table below to calculate your combined VA disability rating. Calculating your combined disability rating involves more than adding up your individual ratings. That’s why your combined rating may be different from the sum of your individual ratings.

To make this table easier to use online, we’ve separated it into smaller tables, based on the percentage of the most severe, or highest rated, disability.

Note: If you have 2 disabilities, each rated at 10% disabling, your combined disability rating is 19%.

Combined ratings table (not rounded)

19% to 29% disabling

Tip: Look for your highest disability rating (or highest combined rating) in the left column, and your next lowest disability rating in the top row. Your combined rating is the number where the 2 intersect on the chart, rounded to the nearest 10%.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

19 27 35 43 51 60 68 76 84 92

20 28 36 44 52 60 68 76 84 92

21 29 37 45 53 61 68 76 84 92

22 30 38 45 53 61 69 77 84 92

23 31 38 46 54 62 69 77 85 92

24 32 39 47 54 62 70 77 85 92

25 33 40 48 55 63 70 78 85 93

26 33 41 48 56 63 70 78 85 93

27 34 42 49 56 64 71 78 85 93

28 35 42 50 57 64 71 78 86 93

29 36 43 50 57 65 72 79 86 93

30% to 39% disabling

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

30 37 44 51 58 65 72 79 86 93

31 38 45 52 59 66 72 79 86 93

32 39 46 52 59 66 73 80 86 93

33 40 46 53 60 67 73 80 87 93

34 41 47 54 60 67 74 80 87 93

35 42 48 55 61 68 74 81 87 94

36 42 49 55 62 68 74 81 87 94

37 43 50 56 62 69 75 81 87 94

38 44 50 57 63 69 75 81 88 94

39 45 51 57 63 70 76 82 88 94

40% to 49% disabling

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

40 46 52 58 64 70 76 82 88 94

41 47 53 59 65 71 76 82 88 94

42 48 54 59 65 71 77 83 88 94

43 49 54 60 66 72 77 83 89 94

44 50 55 61 66 72 78 83 89 94

45 51 56 62 67 73 78 84 89 95

46 51 57 62 68 73 78 84 89 95

47 52 58 63 68 74 79 84 89 95

48 53 58 64 69 74 79 84 90 95

49 54 59 64 69 75 80 85 90 95

50% to 59% disabling

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95

51 56 61 66 71 76 80 85 90 95

52 57 62 66 71 76 81 86 90 95

53 58 62 67 72 77 81 86 91 95

54 59 63 68 72 77 82 86 91 95

55 60 64 69 73 78 82 87 91 96

56 60 65 69 74 78 82 87 91 96

57 61 66 70 74 79 83 87 91 96

58 62 66 71 75 79 83 87 92 96

59 63 67 71 75 80 84 88 92 96

60% to 69% disabling

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96

61 65 69 73 77 81 84 88 92 96

62 66 70 73 77 81 85 89 92 96

63 67 70 74 78 82 85 89 93 96

64 68 71 75 78 82 86 89 93 96

65 69 72 76 79 83 86 90 93 97

66 69 73 76 80 83 86 90 93 97

67 70 74 77 80 84 87 90 93 97

68 71 74 78 81 84 87 90 94 97

69 72 75 78 81 85 88 91 94 97

70% to 79% disabling

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

70 73 76 79 82 85 88 91 94 97

71 74 77 80 83 86 88 91 94 97

72 75 78 80 83 86 89 92 94 97

73 76 78 81 84 87 89 92 95 97

74 77 79 82 84 87 90 92 95 97

75 78 80 83 85 88 90 93 95 98

76 78 81 83 86 88 90 93 95 98

77 79 82 84 86 89 91 93 95 98

78 80 82 85 87 89 91 93 96 98

79 81 83 85 87 90 92 94 96 98

80% to 89% disabling

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98

81 83 85 87 89 91 92 94 96 98

82 84 86 87 89 91 93 95 96 98

83 85 86 88 90 92 93 95 97 98

84 86 87 89 90 92 94 95 97 98

85 87 88 90 91 93 94 96 97 99

86 87 89 90 92 93 94 96 91 99

87 88 90 91 92 94 95 96 97 99

88 89 90 92 93 94 95 96 98 99

89 90 91 92 93 95 96 97 98 99

90% to 94% disabling

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99

91 92 93 94 95 96 96 97 98 99

92 93 94 94 95 96 97 98 98 99

93 94 94 95 96 97 97 98 99 99

94 95 95 96 96 97 98 98 99 99

How we use the combined ratings table

We follow these steps to calculate your combined rating.

Step 1

We start by putting your disability ratings in order, from highest to lowest percentage.

For example: If you had 2 disabilities rated as 50% disabling and 30% disabling, we’d rank them in this order: 50%, then 30%.

Step 2

Next, we look for your highest rating in the left column of the combined ratings table, and the next highest rating in the top row of the combined ratings table.

In our example: We’d look for 50 in the left column and 30 in the top row.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95

Step 3

Then, we look across from the 50 in the left column and down from the 30 in the top row to find the number that appears where the left column and top row meet. This is the combined value of the 2 ratings.

In our example: This would be 65.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95

Step 4

If you have 2 disabilities
We round that combined value to the nearest 10% to find your combined disability rating. We round combined values ending in 1 to 4 down, and those ending in 5 to 9 up.

In our example: Your combined disability rating would be 70%.

Step 5

If you have more than 2 disabilities

We repeat the process for each additional disability. This means we take the combined value (before rounding) of the first 2 disability ratings and then combine that with the third highest rating, and so on until we’ve added all disability ratings. We then round the final value to the nearest 10% to get your combined disability rating.

For example: If we added a third disability rated at 10% disabling to our original example, we would take your combined value of 65 and look for that number in the left column of the combined ratings table. We would then look for 10 in the top row—and find the number where the left column and top row meet. In this example, that number would be 69.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96

61 65 69 73 77 81 84 88 92 96

62 66 70 73 77 81 85 89 92 96

63 67 70 74 78 82 85 89 93 96

64 68 71 75 78 82 86 89 93 96

65 69 72 76 79 83 86 90 93 97

We would then round this number up to 70%, and this would be your combined disability rating.

Get more information

Play our videos to learn more about how VA disability ratings and compensation work:
Compensation 101: How did I get this rating? (YouTube)
Compensation 101: What is disability compensation? (YouTube)
Compensation 101: What is service connection? (YouTube)

If you need help understanding your benefits or accessing services, please call us at 800-827-1000. We’re here Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET.