TDIU Pay Calculator
If service-connected conditions keep you from working, TDIU pays you at the 100% rate, even when your combined rating is lower. Estimate that monthly amount with your dependents.
2026 rates, effective December 1, 2025. TDIU is paid at the 100% compensation rate.
Understand unemployability before you estimate
TDIU is one of the most valuable, and most misunderstood, benefits the VA offers. Here is what it pays and the two ways veterans qualify. Read these cards before you touch the numbers. A calculator only multiplies what you feed it, and the VA only pays what your file proves. If a card describes your situation, write down where the proof lives: a DD-214, a rating decision, a marriage or death certificate, a medical record. If you cannot point to the paper, treat that line of your estimate as a question, not a promise.
What TDIU actually pays
TDIU (also called “IU”) pays you at the 100% compensation rate even when your combined schedular rating is less than 100%, because service-connected conditions keep you from holding steady, gainful work. The dollar amount is the same as a 100% award.
The schedular path (§4.16a)
You generally qualify on the numbers with one condition rated 60% or higher, OR a combined rating of 70% or more with at least one condition at 40%. Then you must show those conditions prevent substantially gainful employment.
The extraschedular path (§4.16b)
Do not meet the percentages? You can still win TDIU on an extraschedular basis if your service-connected conditions uniquely prevent you from working. These claims are won with evidence, employment history, vocational opinions, and medical support.
Your ratings
Enter your highest single condition rating and your current combined rating. We use these only to check the schedular eligibility rule, TDIU always pays at the 100% rate.
Your dependents
Dependents increase the 100% payment. Add everyone who qualifies.
Estimated monthly TDIU payment
Select your highest single and combined ratings to see your estimated TDIU payment.
TDIU is paid at the 100% rate; the amount above uses the 2026 tables for your dependents. Eligibility depends on evidence that your conditions prevent gainful work. An accredited agent (Accreditation #45147) should review your specific situation.
Don't leave money on the table
This calculator gives you an estimate, an accredited claims agent turns it into a strategy. We find the ratings, secondary conditions, and evidence the VA missed. No fees on representation unless you win. Here is your part before you pick up the phone: pull your most recent rating decision, your DD-214, and a list of every condition you are treated for today, service connected or not. Bring the estimate you just ran. If the number on your screen is higher than the number on your award letter, that gap is the conversation. The VA will not call you to point it out. Under 38 CFR 3.103 you have the right to see the evidence and to be heard, but only you can use it.
Explore every VA benefit calculator
Free, no sign-up. Each estimate is a starting point, an accredited agent turns it into a strategy that finds the ratings and benefits the VA missed. Every calculator below runs the same rules the VA uses, from the combined ratings table in 38 CFR 4.25 to the current compensation rates. Your part is simple: enter what is actually on your rating decision, not what you hope it says. If the number you get does not match what the VA pays you, that gap is worth a second look.
Real Veterans. Real Claims. Real Outcomes.
Every case on this desk belongs to someone who served. These are the veterans this practice represents, across every era, branch, and condition: the Vietnam vet who was told it was too late, the Gulf War vet the system called a mystery, the young veteran who walked out of a five minute exam with a zero. Different stories, same fight. The record decides the claim, so we build the record.
Veteran Representation
Veteran Representation
Veteran RepresentationWatch: how the VA evaluates your claim
TDIU decisions lean heavily on your C&P exam and the record of how your conditions affect work. Know what the examiner is looking for. Watch it once before you file and again before any exam. The VA has a duty under 38 CFR 3.159 to help you gather records, but it has no duty to argue your case for you. Take notes on what the examiner is expected to ask, then make sure your own records already answer it.
Your VA Claim Exam: What to Expect
