VA disability calculator

Combine your VA disability ratings

Enter each of your disability ratings and this calculator combines them the way VA does, under the combined ratings table in 38 CFR §4.25. It shows the step-by-step work, so you can see why several ratings come out to less than their simple sum.

This is an educational tool. It uses the numbers you enter, not your actual decision. For the arithmetic on your real conditions, including the bilateral factor where paired limbs are rated, decode your letter below.

38 CFR §4.25 38 CFR §4.26

Combined rating calculator

Enter each rating. See how VA combines them.

38 CFR §4.25

Your ratings

Combined rating

70%

65% before the final rounding to the nearest 10

The work, shown

Start with your most severe rating: 50%

50% combined with 30% → 65%

Round to the nearest 10 → 70%

VA does not add ratings together. Each rating applies to the efficiency that earlier ratings left, then the final figure is rounded to the nearest 10 once, at the end. That is why these numbers come out lower than a simple sum. See the full method.

See the math on your real letter

This calculator uses the numbers you type. Upload your rating decision and we will reproduce the combined-rating arithmetic on your actual conditions, including the bilateral factor where it applies. The free decode needs no account.

Decode my letter →

How VA combines ratings

VA starts from a whole, healthy person at 100 percent efficiency. Ratings are combined most severe first, and each new rating applies only to the efficiency that earlier ratings left, not to the full 100. After every rating is combined, the single figure is rounded to the nearest 10, once, at the end. That is why 50 percent and 30 percent combine to 70, and why 60, 40, and 20 come to 80 rather than 120.

For a fuller walkthrough, see the VA math. To see which programs a combined rating may open up, see VA disability benefits by rating.