VA Disability Ratings: How They Work and What They Mean for Your Benefits
Your VA disability rating is a percentage the VA assigns to reflect how much your service-connected conditions decrease your overall health and ability to function. That number determines your monthly compensation, helps determine your eligibility for VA healthcare, and is used to determine whether you qualify for additional programs like TDIU, SMC, or a Permanent and Total designation.
This page is for veterans who want to understand how ratings are assigned, how the VA evaluates specific condition categories, what your rating percentage actually gets you in benefits, and how to protect your rating from future reduction. It’s also a starting point if you believe your current rating doesn’t reflect the true severity of your conditions and you’re looking to increase your rating.
Use the sections below to understand how the rating system works. Each section links to a deeper guide on that specific topic — where you’ll find the criteria, evidence requirements, and filing strategy.
Summary of Key Points
- The VA rates each service-connected condition between 0% and 100% based on- its severity and resulting impairment in earning capacity — not simply because the condition exists.
- Multiple conditions are combined using the “whole-person” formula — your combined rating is almost always lower than the sum of your individual ratings.
- Your rating percentage directly determines compensation, healthcare access, and eligibility for additional programs — certain thresholds unlock disproportionately more.
- A 100% compensation level can be achieved through: a schedular combined rating of 100% or TDIU (which is compensated at the 100% rate) and either may also be assigned Permanent and Total designation.
- The VA cannot freely reduce a rating that has been in place for 5 or 20+ years without meeting specific legal requirements — knowing your protection status matters.
- If your current rating doesn’t reflect your actual symptoms, there are clear paths to challenge it — including rating increases, new condition claims, and secondary service connection.
Table of Contents
How VA Ratings Are Assigned
The VA rates each service-connected condition using the Schedule for Rating Disabilities (VASRD), a document that lists diagnostic codes for thousands of conditions. Each code describes specific symptom thresholds that correspond to rating levels — typically in 10% increments from 0% to 100%.
Ratings reflect severity of symptoms, not current diagnosis alone. Two veterans with the same condition can receive different ratings depending on how severely it affects their daily life, work, and relationships. For mental health conditions, ratings depend on occupational and social impairment. For musculoskeletal conditions, range of motion and functional loss are the primary drivers.
When the VA assigns a rating, it’s supposed to reflect your condition on a typical day — not your best day or your worst. Understanding the specific criteria for your conditions is the foundation for knowing whether your current rating is accurate — and what evidence would support a higher one.
→ Explore VA Ratings by Condition
How Combined Ratings Work
When a veteran has more than one rated condition, the VA doesn’t add the percentages together. Instead, it applies the combined ratings formula — sometimes called the “whole-person method.” Each rating is applied sequentially to what’s left of your hypothetical 100% able-bodied baseline.
Here’s how the math works: if you have a 50% rating, the VA considers you 50% disabled and 50% remaining. A second rating of 30% is then applied to the remaining 50%, adding 15 points—not 30. Your combined rating becomes 65%, which rounds to 70%. Each additional condition continues the same process.
This formula means that reaching 100% through combined ratings requires significantly higher individual ratings than most veterans expect. It’s also why adding a new condition — even one rated at 10% or 20% — can make a meaningful difference when your current combined rating is in the mid-range. The VA’s official combined ratings table is the clearest way to see exactly where you stand.
→ VA Math Explained: How the VA Combined Rating Chart Works & What it Means
What Your Rating Percentage Gets You
Your VA disability rating percentage is more than a number — it’s a key that unlocks different tiers of compensation, healthcare, and benefits. Not all thresholds are created equal. The jump from 60% to 70% is significant. The jump from 90% to 100% is transformative. And certain benefits — like TDIU eligibility, state property tax exemptions, and CHAMPVA healthcare for dependents — only become available at specific rating thresholds.
Monthly compensation increases at every 10% increment, but the gains at certain thresholds are disproportionately large. A veteran rated at 70% receives meaningfully more than one rated at 60%, and that gap grows further at 90% and 100%. Veterans who are already in the system but unaware of what a higher rating would unlock often have less motivation to pursue the increases they’ve earned.
Compensation amounts, healthcare tiers, state benefits, dependent benefits, and more are tied to your VA rating.
VA Rating Protections: How and When the VA Can Reduce Your Rating
Once the VA assigns a rating, it isn’t automatically permanent — but the VA’s ability to reduce it becomes significantly restricted over time. The longer a rating has been in place, the harder it is for the VA to legally reduce it. Understanding where you stand in this protection framework matters, especially if you receive a notice proposing a reduction.
The 5-Year Rule: After five continuous years, a rating is considered stabilized. The VA cannot reduce it based on a single favorable exam — it must demonstrate sustained, lasting improvement that is likely to continue.
The 10-Year Rule: Once a condition has been service-connected for ten years or more, the VA generally cannot sever service connection entirely — only reduce the rating if medical evidence genuinely supports improvement.
The 20-Year Rule: After twenty continuous years at a given rating level, the VA cannot reduce that rating below the lowest level held throughout that period, except in cases of fraud.
Beyond the time-based rules, there are additional protection categories — including static ratings, Permanent and Total designation, and age-based protections for veterans over 55. The VA is also legally required to schedule future re-examinations within a defined timeframe after rating decisions, and specific conditions and circumstances exempt veterans from routine re-evaluation entirely.
→ 7 Types of Protected VA Disability Ratings Explained
Mental Health Conditions
Mental health conditions are among the most common service-connected disabilities. PTSD, depression, anxiety disorders, Military Sexual Trauma (MST), and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) are all ratable conditions with meaningful rating levels depending on the degree of occupational and social impairment. The VA rates most mental health conditions under a single general rating formula.
One of the most common mistakes veterans make with mental health claims is underreporting symptoms — especially at C&P exams and in medical records. Veterans often describe their condition in terms of their best days. But the rating criteria are based on how symptoms affect daily life across the board. That picture needs to be accurately documented for the rating to reflect reality.
The Mental Health VA Ratings guide covers PTSD, depression, anxiety, MST, and TBI in depth — including what the rating criteria actually require, how to document symptoms accurately, and what separates a 50% rating from a 70% or 100%.
→ Mental Health VA Ratings: PTSD, Depression, Anxiety, and More
Sleep Apnea, Tinnitus, and Migraines
Sleep apnea, tinnitus, and migraines are among the most frequently claimed service-connected conditions — and they’re often underrated or overlooked. Many veterans with these conditions are receiving lower ratings than their symptoms actually support, either because the C&P exam didn’t capture the full picture or because they didn’t know what evidence to submit.
Sleep apnea and tinnitus are separate ratable conditions that frequently co-occur with hearing loss — veterans who have both should claim them independently. Migraines are rated based on frequency and whether they cause prostrating attacks, making documentation of episode severity critical.
Note: The VA has proposed regulatory changes to how sleep apnea and tinnitus are rated. These proposed changes are not yet final. The condition-specific guides below are maintained with the most current criteria — check those pages for any updates before filing or appealing.
→ Sleep Apnea VA Ratings Explained
→ Tinnitus VA Rating: What the Flat 10% Means and What Veterans Often Miss
→ Migraines VA Rating: Prostrating Attacks, Frequency, and Evidence
Reaching 100%: The Three Paths
A 100% combined disability rating is the highest standard rating level and comes with substantially higher compensation than lower tiers. It also unlocks additional benefits — including property tax exemptions in most states, expanded healthcare access, and eligibility for Permanent and Total designation. There are three distinct paths to reach it.
Schedular 100%: Your individual conditions, when combined using the VA’s formula, result in a rating that rounds to 100%. This requires either a single condition rated at 100% on its own or a significant combination of individually rated conditions.
TDIU (Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability): For veterans whose service-connected disabilities prevent them from maintaining substantially gainful employment — even if their conditions don’t combine to a schedular 100%. TDIU pays at the 100% rate and has defined eligibility thresholds based on your combined rating.
Permanent and Total (P&T) Designation: Applies to veterans rated at 100% whose disabilities are considered permanent — with no expectation of improvement. P&T removes the threat of future rating reductions and unlocks dependent benefits, including CHAMPVA.
→ 100% VA Disability: The Three Paths, Eligibility Thresholds, and What It Unlocks
Special Monthly Compensation (SMC)
Special Monthly Compensation is a benefit available to veterans with specific severe disabilities — and critically, it is not limited to veterans rated at 100%. SMC can apply at any combined rating level, depending on the specific criteria met. Covered conditions include loss of use of a limb, blindness, deafness, loss of a creative organ, or the need for regular Aid and Attendance due to the nature of the veteran’s disabilities.
SMC is organized into lettered levels — from SMC-K (the lowest tier, covering conditions like erectile dysfunction and loss of use of a creative organ) through higher levels for veterans who need assistance with daily activities. Veterans can receive SMC at multiple levels simultaneously if they qualify under multiple criteria.
Many veterans who qualify for SMC aren’t receiving it because neither they nor their raters identified the applicable criteria. SMC-K in particular — the most common entry-level tier — does not require a 100% rating. If you have any severe physical limitation, sensory loss, or personal care need tied to a service-connected condition, it’s worth a review.
→ Special Monthly Compensation (SMC): How It Works and Who Qualifies
Increasing Your VA Rating
If your condition has worsened since your last rating decision, or if you’ve identified new conditions connected to your service, you have the right to pursue a higher rating. This includes filing for a formal rating increase, adding new primary conditions, and claiming secondary conditions — disabilities that were caused or worsened by an already service-connected disability.
Secondary service connection is one of the most underused strategies for improving a combined rating. If you have a service-connected knee condition that led to hip problems, or a service-connected medication that caused gastrointestinal issues, those secondary conditions may be ratable on their own — and each adds to your combined total.
Veterans who believe their current rating doesn’t match their actual symptoms should review the VA’s diagnostic codes for their conditions and compare them honestly to what they’re experiencing. If your symptoms clearly meet a higher rating tier, the path forward is building and submitting the evidence that supports it.
→ Increase Your VA Rating: How to File, What to Prove, and Where Veterans Go Wrong
VA Disability Rating Resources & Guides
The Bottom Line
Your VA disability rating is not just a number — it determines your compensation, your healthcare access, and your eligibility for programs that can significantly improve your financial situation. Getting it right matters. And keeping it protected, once you’ve earned it, matters just as much.
If your rating doesn’t reflect the actual severity of your conditions, the tools to challenge it exist. The system is complex, but it’s navigable — and understanding how it works is the first step toward making sure you’re getting what your service earned you.
Use the resources linked throughout this page to go deeper on whichever part of the VA rating system is most relevant to where you are right now.
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FAQs | Frequently Asked Questions
Can my VA disability rating go down?
Yes, but the VA must follow a specific legal process — and that process becomes harder for the VA the longer your rating has been in place. After five years, the VA must demonstrate sustained improvement before reducing a rating. After twenty years, it generally cannot reduce the rating below its lowest continuous level at all. Understanding the 5-, 10-, and 20-year rules is essential if you ever receive a notice proposing a reduction.
What’s the difference between a combined rating and an individual rating?
An individual rating is the percentage assigned to a single service-connected condition. A combined rating is the overall percentage that results from applying the VA’s combined ratings formula across all your individual conditions. The combined rating is what determines your monthly compensation — and it’s almost always lower than the sum of individual ratings because of how the formula works.
Does a higher rating automatically mean more benefits?
Generally yes, but not in a straight line. Compensation increases at each 10% tier, but certain thresholds unlock disproportionately larger benefits. Veterans rated at 70% or higher with a 30%+ individual condition qualify for TDIU. Veterans at 100% access the highest compensation tier and qualify for additional benefits like state property tax exemptions and CHAMPVA for dependents. The full breakdown of what each percentage level unlocks is in the benefits-by-rating guides.
Can I receive VA disability compensation and Social Security disability at the same time?
Yes. VA disability compensation and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) are separate programs with separate eligibility rules. Receiving one does not automatically qualify or disqualify you for the other, and there is no offset — you receive the full amount of each if you qualify for both. However, applying for TDIU may affect how the SSA evaluates your work capacity.
Is VA disability compensation taxable?
No. VA disability compensation — including payments at the 100% rate and TDIU — is not taxable income at the federal level and is not reported on your tax return. Some state tax rules vary, but federal VA disability payments are tax-free.
What is a “protected” VA rating?
A rating held continuously for 20 years or more is considered protected — the VA cannot reduce it below the level it was held at for that entire period, except in cases of fraud. Ratings held for five or more years require the VA to show sustained improvement before they can be reduced. Beyond time-based protections, there are also permanent and static rating designations, and protections tied to age (veterans over 55). The full framework is covered in the 7 Types of Protected VA Ratings guide.
How do I know if my rating is accurate?
You can review the VA’s diagnostic codes (VASRD) for each of your rated conditions. The codes specify the symptom thresholds for each rating level. If your symptoms match a higher tier than your current rating, that’s the starting point for gathering evidence. You can also pull your VA rating code sheet — the document in your C-File that lists all rated conditions, diagnostic codes, and your current percentages — to see exactly what the VA has on record.
What is the Combined Ratings Table and where do I find it?
The Combined Ratings Table is the VA’s official tool for calculating how multiple individual ratings combine under the whole-person formula. You can find it on VA.gov, or use our FREE VA Rating Calculator, which uses the same formula. The table lets you input your individual ratings and see what combined percentage results — and what additional conditions would need to be rated to reach the next compensation tier.
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