VA Disability Benefits
The VA does not add disability percentages together. Instead it applies each condition to the portion of you that is not already considered disabled — a method called the whole-person calculation, defined in 38 C.F.R. section 4.25. Enter your ratings below to see the combined result and your 2026 monthly compensation estimate.
Add up to 8 conditions. Use the Bilateral checkbox for paired limb or organ conditions (both knees, both ears, both shoulders) — the VA adds a 10% bilateral factor for those.
The VA starts with 100 — a whole, unimpaired person. Your most severe disability is applied first, reducing that whole by its percentage. If your highest-rated condition is 70%, the VA now considers you 30% whole. The next condition — say, 50% — is not applied to 100%, but to that remaining 30. Fifty percent of 30 is 15, so your combined value becomes 85%, which rounds up to 90%.
This cascade continues for each condition, always applied to the shrinking remainder. Because each successive rating works on a smaller base, adding a 10% condition when you are already at 80% contributes only 2 percentage points — not 10. The math is deliberate: the VA recognizes that conditions often affect overlapping physical and mental systems, so their combined impact is less than the sum of individual ratings.
Bilateral conditions — injuries to paired structures such as both knees or both ears — are calculated separately first. The VA combines just those ratings using the whole-person method, then adds 10% of that intermediate value as the bilateral factor, and the resulting number enters the main chain. For a 30% left knee and a 20% right knee, the bilateral group combines to roughly 44%, the factor pushes it to about 48%, and 48% is what gets combined with your remaining conditions.
The final pre-rounded value is converted to a VA rating by rounding to the nearest 10%. Under 38 C.F.R. section 4.25, values ending in 5 through 9 are raised to the next higher 10%, and 1 through 4 are reduced to the lower 10%. A combined value of 55% becomes a 60% rating; 54% becomes 50%. This single rounding step can mean several hundred dollars per month in compensation, which is why the exact decimal matters.
Because the VA applies each condition to your remaining healthy percentage, not to 100%. After a 70% rating, you are considered 30% whole. A second 50% rating takes 50% of that remaining 30% — adding 15 points, not 50. The combined value is 85%, which rounds to 90%.
Due to the whole-person method it is mathematically impossible to reach 100% combined through standard ratings alone — the remainders keep shrinking. Most veterans reach a 100% rating only through a condition rated at 100% individually, or by qualifying for Total Disability Individual Unemployability (TDIU), which pays at the 100% rate.
Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay allows military retirees with 20 or more years of service and a combined VA rating of 50% or higher to receive both full military retirement pay and full VA disability compensation simultaneously, with no offset between them.
The bilateral factor applies when you have two or more service-connected disabilities affecting paired limbs or organs — both knees, both shoulders, both ears, and similar paired structures. The VA adds 10% of the combined value of those bilateral conditions before including them in the main whole-person calculation.
No. Zero-percent ratings are service-connected but carry no weight in the combined rating calculation. Exclude them from this calculator. They remain important for future claims and secondary condition development.
If your combined rating reaches 50% or higher, you may qualify for CRDP, which eliminates the dollar-for-dollar offset between retirement pay and VA compensation. This changes the real cost of SBP premiums and the income gap analysis significantly. Use the SBP Decision Tool to model the interaction.
VA combined rating formula: 38 C.F.R. section 4.25 — Combined Ratings Table
Rounding rules: 38 C.F.R. section 4.25(b)
Bilateral factor: 38 C.F.R. section 4.26
2026 compensation rates: 38 U.S.C. section 1114; rates effective December 1, 2025 (2.8% COLA)
CRDP: 10 U.S.C. section 1414 — Concurrent receipt of retired pay and disability compensation
This calculator models the mathematical method only. Final VA ratings are determined by VA examiners based on medical evidence. This is not legal or benefits advice.
Related calculators:
