How VA combines disability ratings
VA doesn't add your ratings together. Ratings of 50% and 30% don't make 80%. VA uses its combined ratings table (38 CFR 4.25), which starts from the idea that you are 100% “whole” and applies each rating only to the part that is left.
Step by step
- Put your ratings in order, highest first.
- Apply the first rating. A 50% rating leaves you 50% “whole”.
- Apply the next rating to what is left. 30% of the remaining 50 is 15, so 50 and 30 combine to 65.
- Keep going with each rating. VA uses a whole number at every step.
- Round the final number to the nearest 10. A number ending in 5 rounds up.
Example: 50% and 30% combine to 65, which VA rounds to 70%. With more ratings, each one adds a little less: 50, 30, 10, 10 and 10 go 50 → 65 → 69 → 72 → 75, which VA rounds to 80%.
The bilateral factor: both arms or both legs
When conditions affect both arms, or both legs, VA combines those ratings first and then adds 10% of that value before combining it with your other ratings (38 CFR 4.26).
Example: 10% for each knee combine to 19. Ten percent of 19 is 1.9, so the knees count as 21. With a 50% rating for another condition, 50 and 21 combine to 61, which VA rounds to 60%.
Since 2023, VA must leave a limb rating out of the bilateral factor when that gives a higher combined rating (38 CFR 4.26(d)). The calculator tries every way of doing this, keeps the best result, and tells you when it has.
What this calculator doesn't do
- It doesn't decide what rating a condition should get. VA does that, using its rating schedule.
- It doesn't cover individual unemployability (TDIU) or special monthly compensation (SMC). To estimate what a rating pays over a stretch of months, including SMC, use the VA back pay calculator.