VA Disability Calculator (2026)

How VA Math Works

VA does not add ratings together. A veteran with a 50% rating and a 30% rating is not 80% disabled in VA's system. Instead, VA uses what courts and the regulation call the "whole person" method, set out in 38 CFR 4.25.

The idea: you start as 100% efficient. Your most severe disability reduces that efficiency first. Each additional disability then reduces only the efficiency you have left.

Take 50% and 30%. The 50% rating leaves you 50% efficient. The 30% rating then takes 30% of that remaining 50, which is 15 more points. So the combined value is 50 + 15 = 65%, not 80%. VA then rounds 65 to the nearest 10, and because values ending in 5 round up, the final combined rating is 70%.

With three or more ratings, VA repeats the process in order of severity. The regulation itself works this example: ratings of 60%, 40%, and 20% combine as 60 + 40 = 76, then 76 + 20 = 81, and 81 rounds to a final rating of 80%.

This is why your ratings "don't add up," and why climbing from 80% to 100% is so much harder than climbing from 20% to 40%. Each new rating is worth fewer points than its face value, because it only applies to what is left of the whole person. For a deeper walkthrough with more worked examples, see how VA math works.

The Rounding Rule: 5s Round Up, Once, at the End

Two details of the rounding step decide a lot of ratings, so they are worth stating precisely:

• Rounding happens once. Intermediate combinations use whole percents (76, then 81 in the example above). Only the final combined value is converted to the nearest number divisible by 10, per 38 CFR 4.25(b).
• Values ending in 5 round up. A combined value of 65 becomes 70. A combined value of 84 becomes 80, and 85 becomes 90.

The gap between a raw 84 and a raw 85 is one of the most consequential single points in the whole system: it is the difference between an 80% and a 90% final rating. Use the "show the math" option in the calculator above to see exactly where your raw value lands.

The Bilateral Factor

When you have compensable disabilities in paired extremities, VA adds a bonus before combining them with everything else, under 38 CFR 4.26. The paired ratings are combined as usual, then 10% of that value is added (not combined), and the result is treated as a single disability for the rest of the calculation.

Example from the regulation: 10% in each leg combines to 19. Adding the 10% bilateral factor gives 20.9, which rounds to 21. That 21% value then enters the severity order as one disability.

Three details most calculators get wrong:

• "Arm" and "leg" mean the whole extremity. A right thigh disability paired with a left foot disability still triggers the factor. The regulation says the pairing applies "regardless of location or specified type of impairment" within the paired extremities.
• With all four extremities affected, the factor applies once. The ratings for all four are combined first, and the 10% is added to that single value, per 4.26(b).
• The factor can never hurt you. Since a 2023 amendment, 4.26(d) requires VA to drop a bilateral grouping whenever leaving it out would produce a higher combined rating. Our calculator checks every grouping and uses the most favorable one automatically.

2026 VA Disability Pay Rates

These are the current monthly compensation rates, effective December 1, 2025, after the 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment. VA disability compensation is not taxable. Rates come from VA's official rate tables.

At 10% and 20% the rate is flat: dependents do not change it. From 30% up, VA also pays added amounts on top of the base rate:

The base "with child" rates already include one child; the added amounts apply to each child beyond the first. The calculator above handles all of this for you, including dependent parents, which use their own base-rate columns.

For the full picture of what a specific rating pays and unlocks, see the guides to a 70%, 80%, 90%, or 100% VA disability rating, or start with the full VA disability benefits guide.

TDIU: Getting Paid at 100% Without a 100% Rating

Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU) pays compensation at the 100% rate when service-connected disabilities prevent you from keeping substantially gainful employment, even if your combined rating is below 100%.

Under 38 CFR 4.16(a), the standard percentage thresholds are:

• One disability rated 60% or more, or
• A combined rating of 70% or more with at least one disability rated 40% or more.

Some disabilities count together as "one disability" for these thresholds, including disabilities of paired extremities (with the bilateral factor), disabilities from a single accident or common cause, and multiple injuries from combat. Veterans who fall short of the percentages can still be considered for TDIU on an extra-schedular basis under 4.16(b). The calculator flags you automatically when your entries meet the standard thresholds.

Special Monthly Compensation (SMC)

SMC is additional compensation, beyond the 0% to 100% schedule, for specific severe losses. The most common form, SMC-K, currently pays $139.87 per month on top of regular compensation for each qualifying loss, up to three SMC-K awards, such as loss or loss of use of a hand or a foot, certain vision or hearing losses, or loss of a creative organ. Higher SMC levels replace the basic rate entirely for the most severe combinations. See VA's SMC rate tables for the full schedule.

Filing a Claim, and What to Do About a Bad Decision

You can file a VA disability claim yourself, for free, at va.gov. Free help is also available from accredited Veterans Service Organization (VSO) representatives. Nobody may lawfully charge you a fee to prepare or file your initial claim.

If VA denies your claim or rates you lower than the evidence supports, you have three review options: a supplemental claim, a higher-level review, or an appeal to the Board of Veterans' Appeals. A higher-level review or Board appeal generally must be filed within one year of the decision to be timely. A supplemental claim has no filing deadline, but filing within one year preserves your original effective date; file later and the effective date resets to the date of the new filing.

At the review stage, VA-accredited attorneys and claims agents may charge a fee, typically a percentage of any back pay they win. Federal rules presume a fee of 20% or less of past-due benefits to be reasonable.

Be careful with unaccredited "claims consultants" who charge large fees for help federal law says must be free at the initial stage. Several states have banned the practice, and you can verify whether any attorney, agent, or representative is VA-accredited with the VA Office of General Counsel accreditation search.

This page is general legal information, not legal or benefits advice, and using it does not create any representative relationship. RecordingLaw.com is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Rate data comes from VA's published 2026 compensation tables; the combination rules come from 38 CFR 4.25 and 4.26. For an official determination of your rating or payment, rely on VA's decision documents or va.gov.