Compensation
Benefits by Disability Percentage
What each rating level means, and how combined ratings really work
VA ratings are not additive. Understanding the combined ratings table, and what benefits attach at each level, explains why 50% plus 30% does not equal 80%. The VA combines ratings under 38 CFR 4.25, and the bilateral factor in 4.26 can add a little more. Each level up opens different benefits for you and your family. Your part is to know your exact combined rating and check what attaches at your level so nothing you earned gets left on the table.
VA Math Is Not Regular Math
The VA does not add your ratings together. It uses the combined ratings table in §4.25, which works on the principle of whole-person efficiency: each additional disability is applied only to the portion of you that is still considered non-disabled. That is why 50% and 30% combine to 65, rounded to 70%, not 80.
Walk it through. Start at 100 percent efficient. A 50% disability leaves you 50 percent efficient. The next disability, rated 30%, takes 30 percent of that remaining 50, which is 15. Add the 15 to the 50 and you get 65. Round to the nearest 10 and the combined rating is 70%. Every additional condition is worth less than its face value, which is why order of operations, always highest first, matters.
A Worked Example
PTSD. Start at 100% efficiency; 50% of 100 = 50. Running total: 50. Remaining efficiency: 50.
Lumbar strain. 30% of the remaining 50 = 15. Running total: 65. Remaining efficiency: 35.
Radiculopathy, right lower extremity. 20% of the remaining 35 = 7. Running total: 72. Remaining efficiency: 28.
Tinnitus. 10% of the remaining 28 = 2.8. Running total: 74.8.
Final combined value 74.8 rounds to the nearest 10, a combined rating of 70%. Four disabilities totaling 110 on paper pay at 70.
What Attaches at Each Level
0% (non-compensable)
Service connection is established but no monthly payment. Still valuable, it locks in the connection for future increases, supports secondary claims, and under §3.324 two or more 0% conditions that clearly interfere with employability can support a single 10% rating.
10–20%
Monthly compensation begins. No dependent add-ons at this level. VA health-care priority improves.
30% and above
Additional compensation for dependents, spouse, children, and dependent parents. File VA Form 21-686c; this is routinely forgotten and back pay for it is limited.
50%
Placement in VA health-care Priority Group 1 territory, with copays for service-connected care generally eliminated.
60% / 70%
The §4.16(a) TDIU thresholds, one condition at 60%, or combined 70% with one at 40%. Many state benefits also key on 70%.
100% and P&T
Maximum schedular compensation, plus CHAMPVA, Chapter 35, commissary and exchange access, housing and auto grants, and, in many states, full property-tax exemption.
The Bilateral Factor, the Piece the VA Forgets
When disabilities affect both arms, both legs, or paired skeletal structures, §4.26 requires the VA to combine those bilateral disabilities first, then add 10 percent of that combined value as a bilateral factor, and only then combine the result with everything else. It exists because losing function on both sides is more disabling than the sum of two one-sided losses.
It is easy to overlook and easy for the VA to omit. If you have paired-extremity conditions, both knees, both feet, bilateral radiculopathy, both shoulders, read your code sheet and confirm the bilateral factor was applied. A missing bilateral factor is one of the cleanest, most provable rating errors there is.
Pyramiding and Its Limits
Section 4.14 prohibits pyramiding, rating the same disability manifestation twice under different diagnostic codes. But it does not prohibit separate ratings for distinct manifestations. A service-connected knee can carry separate ratings for limitation of motion and for instability, because those are different symptoms. A spine condition can carry separate ratings for the spine itself and for each radiculopathy in the extremities.
Where veterans lose money is the reverse error: the VA lumping distinct disabilities under one code. Reading your rating decision code sheet for missed separate ratings is often worth more than fighting for a higher percentage on any single one.
The Advocate’s Take
If you have ever added up your ratings and wondered why your number came out lower, now you know. VA math is not addition. It is a whole-person formula, and the VA uses it the same way every time. The money we find is almost never hidden in the formula. It is hidden in what the rater left out.
Here is how the VA looks at it. Under 38 CFR 4.25, each rating takes a slice of what is left of you, starting at 100% healthy. A 50% and a 30% do not make 80%. They make 65%, which rounds to 70%. Then §4.26, the bilateral factor, adds 10% of the combined value when both arms, both legs, or matching paired muscles are rated. Raters skip that step more often than you would believe. Shocking, I know.
The second place we find money is separate ratings. One injury can carry more than one rating when the symptoms do not overlap. A knee can be rated for limited bending, limited straightening, and instability, each on its own. A back can carry a separate rating for the radiculopathy running down each leg. The only bar is pyramiding under §4.14, rating the same symptom twice. Different symptoms, different ratings. That is the law, not a favor.
What I need from you: your code sheet, the page in your decision that lists every diagnostic code and percentage. Your most recent C&P exam reports. And a plain list of every symptom you live with, side by side, so we can match each one to a code.
Walk through it with me. We line up each rated condition and check the code. We check for both limbs. We check each joint for every motion and for instability. We check every spine rating for nerve involvement. Then we run the formula ourselves and compare. If something was missed, we pick the right lane, a Higher-Level Review for a rater error on the same evidence, or a Supplemental Claim with new evidence.
Your part: pull that code sheet and tell me every symptom, not just the diagnosis. We work WITH you, not FOR you. The numbers are on paper, and paper is where we win.
Every rating level unlocks a different set of benefits, and landing one step below the right threshold can cost you real money for years. That percentage is set at your claim exam. Watch the official VA videos below so you know what the examiner is supposed to measure, then check whether your rating really matches your condition.
Straight From the Source
The rating behind this benefit is set at your claim exam. Watch these official VA walkthroughs to understand what that exam involves and how to prepare.
The official overview of the VA claim exam process, what happens, who conducts it, and why it matters for your rating.
What the VA's own guidance covers, what to bring, how to report your symptoms honestly, and the mistakes that cost veterans rating levels.
Military Retirees: Why 50 Percent Is the Number That Changes Your Retired Pay
If you retired from the military, you have probably seen the line on your statement where retired pay goes down by the same amount the VA pays you. That is the VA waiver offset, and for years it meant a retiree with a service-connected disability was paying for his own compensation out of his own pension. Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay, CRDP, under 10 U.S.C. §1414, ends that offset for retirees who qualify.
Here is how the law draws the line. You need 20 or more years of creditable service and a combined VA rating of 50 percent or higher. Meet both, and the offset goes away, so you receive full retired pay and full VA compensation together. Reserve retirees with 20 qualifying years count once their retired pay starts. There is no application. The VA reports your rating and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service restores the pay.
That is why the jump from 40 to 50 percent matters more to a retiree than to almost anyone else. At 40, the offset still eats your retired pay. At 50, it stops. One rating step can be worth more to you than the VA rate table shows, because it unlocks money the military was already holding back. The same combined-rating math on this page decides which side of that line you land on.
Here is the trap: veterans assume CRDP works like VA compensation. It does not. CRDP is restored retired pay, so it is taxable. VA compensation stays tax-free, but the retired pay that comes back is taxed like any other retired pay. Plan for it before the first deposit, not after the tax bill. And if you sit at 40 percent with a missed bilateral factor or a missed separate rating, the error is costing you twice.
Your part: pull your code sheet and your retiree account statement side by side. If you are at 40 percent, tell me every symptom you live with so we can check whether the rating is really complete. If you are at 50 or higher and still see the offset, we find out why. You can run your own numbers in the concurrent receipt calculator on this site before we talk.
CRDP or CRSC: Two Ways Back to Your Retired Pay, and You Only Get One
CRDP has a cousin: Combat-Related Special Compensation, CRSC, under 10 U.S.C. §1413a. It also gives back retired pay lost to the offset, but it works differently in almost every way. CRSC covers only disabilities that are combat-related, it needs a rating of just 10 percent or higher for those conditions, it is tax-free, and a medical retiree under Chapter 61 can qualify with fewer than 20 years. You do not get it automatically. You apply through your own branch of service on DD Form 2860.
Combat-related has a broader meaning than most retirees think. It covers injuries from armed conflict, hazardous duty such as parachuting, flight, or demolition, training that simulates war, an instrumentality of war such as a military vehicle, weapon, or chemical agent, and anything tied to a Purple Heart. Many presumptive conditions, Agent Orange and Gulf War conditions among them, are generally treated as combat-related once the VA has service-connected them.
Here is the trap: you cannot draw both at once. If you qualify for both, you get the one that pays more, and the larger gross figure is not always the larger check. CRDP is taxed and CRSC is not, so a smaller CRSC payment can put more money in your hand. There is an annual open season, usually in January, when you can switch. Retirees who never compare simply stay where they were placed.
Your part: if any of your rated conditions came from combat, hazardous duty, training, or military equipment, gather the service records that show how it happened and file the DD Form 2860 with your branch. Then compare the net amount of each program after taxes, every year, during open season. I handle the VA rating side. The retired pay election is yours to make with the numbers in front of you.
Who CRDP Reaches
20 or more creditable years and a combined rating of 50 percent or higher, under 10 U.S.C. §1414. Reserve retirees count once retired pay begins. Automatic, with no application, but taxable, because it is your own retired pay coming back. A Chapter 61 medical retiree with fewer than 20 years generally does not qualify for CRDP, which is where CRSC comes in.
Who CRSC Reaches
Retirees with a combat-related condition rated 10 percent or higher, under 10 U.S.C. §1413a, including Chapter 61 retirees with fewer than 20 years. Tax-free. You must apply through your branch on DD Form 2860 with your DD-214, your VA decision, and records showing how the injury happened. Nobody files it for you.
Choosing Between Them
You can be eligible for both and paid under only one. Compare the after-tax amount, not the gross. An annual open season, usually in January, lets you switch. A retiree whose combat-related conditions are a small part of his overall rating may do better under CRDP. One whose rating is mostly combat-related may do better under CRSC.
When a Rating Change Moves the Money
A move from 40 to 50 percent can trigger CRDP for a 20-year retiree. A new combat-related service connection can open or enlarge CRSC. That is why every rating decision a retiree gets deserves a second read: a missed bilateral factor, a missed separate rating, or a condition never claimed can be holding back retired pay as well as compensation.
Your Rating Follows You to the Federal Job Application: How Veterans Preference Really Works
Most veterans think of their rating as a monthly payment. It is also a hiring tool. Federal law gives eligible veterans preference when they apply for federal jobs, and the size of that preference depends on your rating. The rules live in 5 U.S.C. §2108, which defines who is a preference eligible, and in the hiring sections of title 5 that tell agencies how to apply it.
There are two basic levels. 5-point preference goes to veterans who served on active duty during a war, in a campaign or expedition with a badge, or during certain set date ranges. 10-point preference goes to veterans with a service-connected disability or a Purple Heart. Within the 10-point group, the categories track your rating: a rating below 10 percent or a Purple Heart, a compensable rating of 10 percent up to 30 percent, and a rating of 30 percent or more, which is the strongest preference in federal hiring. You need an honorable or general discharge.
Most agencies now use category rating, where applicants are sorted into groups like best qualified instead of ranked by score. Preference eligibles are listed ahead of non-veterans in the same group. And under 5 U.S.C. §3319, a veteran with a compensable service-connected rating of 10 percent or more generally floats to the top of the highest group, as long as he meets the minimum qualifications. Certain scientific and professional jobs at GS-9 and above are the exception.
Here is the trap: preference is not automatic. Nobody pulls your VA file. If you do not claim it on the application and attach the proof, the hiring office treats you like any other applicant. A veteran can carry a high rating for years and never get the benefit of it because the box was not checked and the letter was not attached.
Your part: before your next federal application, know your category. If a pending claim could move you from 20 to 30 percent, that increase is worth more than the monthly check alone.
Thirty Percent Changes the Rules: Pass-Over Protection, Proof, and the Doors Most Veterans Never Use
The preference points get the attention, but the real power is in the protections behind them and the special hiring paths that skip the line entirely. These four cards are what I walk every working-age veteran through.
Here is the trap: veterans assume preference helps them get promoted once they are inside. It does not. Preference applies to new appointments, not to internal promotions, transfers or reassignments. Use it on the way in, and use every bit of it.
Your part: keep a ready folder with your DD-214, your current VA rating letter and a completed SF-15, so every application goes out complete.
Pass-Over Protection at 30 Percent
If a hiring official wants to pick a non-veteran over a preference eligible listed ahead of him, the agency must give a written reason. Under 5 U.S.C. §3318, when the veteran is rated 30 percent or more, the agency must also notify the veteran with its reasons, give him 15 days to respond, and get approval from the Office of Personnel Management or the agency authority. That is a real deterrent. Your part: if you learn you were passed over, ask in writing whether the pass-over procedure was followed.
The Paperwork That Makes It Count
Attach your DD-214 member 4 copy showing character of discharge. For 10-point preference, add the SF-15 application and your VA rating letter, or your Purple Heart documentation. The SF-15 is an Office of Personnel Management form, not a VA form. A missing letter can get a 10-point claim dropped to 5 points or none. Your part: download a fresh rating letter from your VA account before each application.
Derived Preference for Spouses, Widows and Mothers
Under 5 U.S.C. §2108(3), a spouse can claim 10-point preference when the veteran cannot work in his usual occupation because of a service-connected disability, which is presumed when he is rated 100 percent or unemployable and not working. An unmarried widow or widower of a qualifying veteran, and in some cases a mother, can also qualify. This one surprises families. Your part: if your spouse is rated TDIU or 100 percent, look at this before you apply.
VRA, VEOA and the 30 Percent Appointment
The Veterans Recruitment Appointment lets an agency hire an eligible veteran without competition for jobs up to GS-11, with conversion to a career appointment after two years. The Veterans Employment Opportunities Act lets preference eligibles, and veterans with three or more years of continuous active service, compete for jobs normally open only to current federal employees. Veterans rated 30 percent or more also have a separate noncompetitive appointment authority. Your part: ask the hiring office about each of these by name.
Where the VA Gets This Wrong
Omitting the §4.26 bilateral factor; combining in the wrong order; and refusing separate ratings for genuinely distinct manifestations by mislabeling them as pyramiding under §4.14.
Every Level the VA Can Assign You
These percentages come straight out of the rating schedule that governs benefits by disability percentage, the governing diagnostic code. Read them slowly. If your current rating does not match what your records actually show, that gap is exactly what an appeal exists to correct.
50%
PTSD.
30%
Lumbar strain.
20%
Radiculopathy, right lower extremity.
10%
Tinnitus.
70%
Final combined value 74.8 rounds to the nearest 10, a combined rating of **70%**.
Building a Benefits by Disability Percentage Claim That Wins
Every claim stands on three legs. Knock one out and the claim falls over, no matter how bad your symptoms are. Before you file, look at your file and find all three. If one is missing, that is the piece to build first. The VA will not build it for you, and filing without it usually just buys you a denial letter and lost time.
01A current diagnosis
A doctor has to say you have it, now, in writing. Not "reports symptoms of", a diagnosis. Without this leg, nothing else in the file matters.
02A link to your service
An event, an injury, an exposure, or an already service-connected condition. Service records, unit records, buddy statements, and your own account all count as evidence.
03A nexus that ties the two together
A medical opinion stating it is at least as likely as not that your service caused or aggravated the condition. That phrase is a legal standard: 50 percent or better. It is the leg most denials break.
Document the problem before you file
• Keep a dated symptom log for at least 30 days. Frequency, severity, and what it stopped you from doing.
• Get statements from people who see it, a spouse, a coworker, a battle buddy. Lay evidence is legal evidence.
• Pull your private treatment records. The VA only has to help; it does not have to go find everything.
• Write down what you have stopped doing. Lost work, lost sleep, lost activities. That is what impairment looks like on paper.
Your Rights in This Process
Most veterans walk into this system without knowing the rules the VA itself has to follow. That is how claims get denied for missing evidence the VA was supposed to help you find, and how exams get done by the wrong clinician. These six rights are written into federal regulation. Know them before you file, and make the VA honor every one of them when it decides your claim.
It costs nothing to file
Filing a VA claim is free. Accredited representatives may only charge for work on an appeal after an initial decision, and those fees are capped by 38 CFR §14.636.
The VA has a Duty to Assist you
Under 38 CFR §3.159 the VA must help you get the evidence it needs, and it must tell you what is missing before it denies you for missing it.
You can ask for a different examiner
You may request a trauma-informed clinician, or a clinician of a specific gender, for a C&P examination. Ask before the exam is scheduled.
You can claim every condition you have
There is no limit and no penalty. Primary conditions, secondary conditions, and conditions made worse by service all get filed.
You can appeal and be re-evaluated
A denial is not the end. You may submit new evidence, request a higher-level review, appeal to the Board, and ask for re-evaluation when your condition worsens.
You must be considered for TDIU
If your service-connected conditions keep you from holding substantially gainful employment, you may be paid at the 100 percent rate without a 100 percent rating.
When You Are Ready to File
Talk to an accredited representative before you file. It costs nothing to ask, and the order you file in changes what the VA is allowed to award you. Albert L. Thombs Jr. is VA-Accredited Claims Agent #45147. A short conversation now can save you a year spent waiting in the wrong review lane.
Your part starts at the kitchen table. Pull your DD-214, your rating decision if you have one, and the names of every doctor who treats you today. Under 38 CFR 3.159 the VA has to help you gather records, but it can only chase the records you tell it about. Leave a doctor off the 21-4142 and that treatment may never reach your file.
The application itself
This is the form that opens a disability compensation claim. List every condition you are claiming, and name the secondary conditions explicitly.
Release for private records
Authorises the VA to request records from your private doctors. Without it, treatment outside the VA may never reach your file.
Lay or buddy statement
The official form for your own statement and for statements from people who witnessed the event or the change in you.
What It Takes to Claim This Benefit
Confirm you meet the eligibility rules for this specific benefit, the criteria below and in the governing regulations tell you exactly what the VA is looking for.
Gather the proof that matches those rules, service records, medical evidence, income or dependency documents, and the physician statements the VA weighs.
File the right form the right way, the correct application, fully supported, so the VA cannot deny it on a technicality or delay it for missing evidence.
Veteran Representation
Veteran RepresentationThe Forms & Applications We File For You
These are the applications that drive this benefit. Start any of them on our site and an accredited agent prepares and files it for you, correctly, the first time.
Application for Disability Compensation
The core application that opens or reopens a service-connected compensation claim.
Start this with usUnemployability (TDIU) Application
Claims pay at the 100% rate when your conditions keep you from working.
Start this with usAid & Attendance / Housebound Exam
A physician documents the daily-help or housebound needs that raise your benefit.
Start this with usAppoint Us as Your Representative
Authorizes our accredited agent to act on your behalf with the VA on this benefit.
Start this with usSee How Ratings Drive This Benefit
Most benefits scale with your combined disability rating, and the VA does not add your ratings the way you would expect. Work the real math below. The VA uses the combined ratings table in 38 CFR 4.25, which applies each rating to whatever is left of your remaining efficiency, then rounds to the nearest 10. That is why a 50% and a 30% come out to 70%, not 80%. Before you assume you are short of a threshold for this benefit, run your own numbers here and compare them to your rating decision letter.
Why 50% + 30% Does NOT Equal 80%
The VA uses “whole-person” math, not simple addition. This is how ratings really stack.
The VA always begins from a whole, healthy person (100%).
50% of 100 is subtracted. You have 50% “efficiency” left.
30% is taken from the REMAINING 50 (0.30 × 50 = 15). 50 − 15 = 35 left.
100 − 35 = 65, then rounded to the nearest 10 → 70%.
Bottom line: 50% and 30% combine to 65% → rounded to 70%, not 80%. The same math turns two 50% ratings into 75% → rounded to 80%, not 100%. Every rating you add is worth less than the last. That is why which conditions you claim, and in what order, matters as much as how many.
Veteran RepresentationNot sure if you qualify?
An accredited agent reviews your eligibility for this benefit at no cost and tells you straight whether it is worth pursuing. If it is, we prepare and file every form for you.
Keep Reading
One page never tells the whole story of a claim. The VA rates every condition on its own evidence, its own exam and its own diagnostic code, and the pieces connect in ways most veterans never see until a decision letter lands. These are the pages that pick up where this one stops. Read them before you file, not after a denial, because the cheapest fix in this process is the mistake you never make.
TDIU, Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability
Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU) pays at the 100% rate when service-connected conditions prevent you from holding substantially gainful employment, even if your combined rating is lower.
Read more
100% Disabled Veteran Benefits
A 100% rating, schedular or TDIU, opens a wide range of ancillary benefits for you and your family that many veterans never fully claim.
Read more
Aid & Attendance and Housebound
Aid and Attendance and Housebound are enhanced benefit levels for veterans who need the regular help of another person or are substantially confined to their home.
Read more
