VA disability calculator

The single biggest surprise in VA disability is that ratings don’t add up. The VA treats you as 100% able and each disability as taking a bite out of that remaining ability (38 CFR 4.25). Start with your highest rating, subtract it, then apply the next rating to whatever ability is left — and so on down the list.

Say you have a 50% and a 30%. The 50% leaves 50% ability; the 30% takes 30% of that remaining 50% — 15% — for a combined 65%. The VA then rounds to the nearest 10%, so 65% becomes 70%. That rounding is why two 50% ratings (75%) round to 80%, not 100%, and why piling on small ratings has diminishing returns.

Once your combined rating is set, the monthly payment comes from the VA’s 2026 rate tables, effective December 1, 2025. A single Veteran with no dependents receives $180.42 at 10%, $552.47 at 30%, $1,808.45 at 70%, and $3,938.58 at 100%. This calculator uses the exact published figures, so the result matches the VA tables to the cent.

Ratings of 10% and 20% pay a flat amount — dependents don’t change them. From 30% and up, a spouse, children, or dependent parents raise the payment, and there are separate “added amounts” for extra children and for a spouse who needs Aid & Attendance. The next section covers those.

At 30% and above, the base rate already includes your first dependent tier — a spouse, one child, and/or your parents. On top of the base, the VA adds fixed monthly amounts for each additional child under 18, each child 18 or older in a qualifying school program, and for a spouse receiving Aid & Attendance. Every one of these added amounts grows with your rating. This tool starts from the correct base row for your spouse-and-parent situation, then layers the added amounts on for the extra children and Aid & Attendance you enter.

If disabilities affect both arms, both legs, or paired skeletal muscles, the VA gives you a break called the bilateral factor (38 CFR 4.26). You combine the paired ratings first, add 10% of that combined value, and only then combine the result with your other ratings. It’s small, but at the rounding boundary it can push you up a whole 10% step. Enter those paired ratings in the “bilateral” field and the calculator applies the factor for you.

It gives the basic monthly rate for your combined rating and dependents. It does not add Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) — extra pay for things like loss of use of a limb, being housebound, or needing daily aid — which can raise the amount well above the base. It also doesn’t decide TDIU (being paid at the 100% rate for unemployability), or handle a child’s own Aid & Attendance. Those are set by the VA on your specific claim.