VA Disability Calculator

VA does not add ratings together. Under 38 CFR 4.25 it treats each rating as a share of the efficiency you have left: a person with a 60% disability is 40% efficient, and a further 30% disability takes 30% of that 40%, leaving 28%. The combined value is 72, and the rating is 70%.

The ratings are arranged from the most to the least severe and combined one at a time with Table I. Each combined value is a whole number, with .5 rounded up, and is carried into the next step exactly as found. Only after the last disability is the value converted to the nearest number divisible by 10, with values ending in 5 adjusted upward, so 65 becomes 70 and 52 becomes 50.

When disabilities affect both arms, both legs or paired skeletal muscles, 38 CFR 4.26 has VA combine the ratings for the two sides first, then add (not combine) 10% of that value. The result is treated as one disability when the ratings are put in order and combined. Arms and legs mean the whole upper and lower limbs, so a right thigh and a left foot count, and it applies only when each side has a compensable rating.

In the regulation's example, ratings of 60%, 20% and two bilateral 10% ratings: 10 and 10 combine to 19, and adding 1.9 gives 21 after rounding to the nearest whole number. Then 60 and 21 combine to 68, and 68 and 20 to 74, a 70% rating.

Close to 100%, the factor can lower the result. Since April 16, 2023, 38 CFR 4.26(d) leaves bilateral disabilities out of the factor when that gives a higher combined rating. In VA's example, ratings that combine to 93 plus two bilateral 10% ratings give 90% with the factor but 100% without it. The calculator applies the factor to every disability you mark and leaves it out entirely when that is better; it does not know which side each disability is on, so it does not test leaving out only some of them.

Additional compensation for dependents is paid only with a combined rating of 30% or more (38 U.S.C. 1115). The dependent amounts at 30% to 90% are the 100% amounts scaled to your rating and rounded down to the dollar.

A child must be unmarried and either under 18, permanently unable to support themselves since before 18, or from 18 until their 23rd birthday and pursuing a course of instruction at an approved educational institution (38 U.S.C. 101(4)(A)). Stepchildren in your household and adopted children count.

VA's rate table notes say the rates with 1 child, and the amount for each additional child under 18, are for children under 18 or unable to support themselves, and that the school child amount is shown separately and not included in any other rate. 38 U.S.C. 1115(1)(F) likewise sets the school child amount "notwithstanding" the other dependent amounts. The notes give this example: at 70% with a spouse and four children, one of them over 18 and in school, take the rate with a spouse and 3 children and add one school child amount, $2,472.45 a month at the 2026 rates. VA's current rate page labels the school child row "each additional child" and does not spell out the case of an only child in school. Read with the notes and the statute, that is the rate without children plus the school child amount, which is what the calculator uses.

A spouse who is a patient in a nursing home, or who is blind or so nearly blind or significantly disabled as to need the regular aid and attendance of another person, adds the Aid and Attendance amount (38 U.S.C. 1115(1)(E)). Each dependent parent adds an amount too; VA's tables cover one or two parents.

Special monthly compensation (SMC) pays more for very severe disabilities or the loss of limbs. SMC-K, paid for specific losses such as the loss or loss of use of a hand, a foot or a creative organ, adds $139.87 a month in 2026 on top of any rating from 0% to 100% (38 U.S.C. 1114(k)). Individual Unemployability pays the 100% rate to veterans who cannot keep a steady job because of service-connected disabilities, usually with one rating of 60% or more, or a combined 70% with one rating of at least 40%.

VA disability compensation is tax-free. To see how it fits with the rest of your retirement income, try the TSP calculator, the FERS retirement calculator and the retirement withdrawal calculator.