Military & Veterans

VA Disability Rating Combined Calculator

Enter each service-connected disability rating to estimate your VA combined disability rating. The calculator combines ratings with the VA's Combined Ratings Table, applies the bilateral factor to arms, legs and paired muscles, checks the 2023 most-favorable rule, and shows every step. It is an estimate, not a VA decision.

Combine your VA ratings

Add each service-connected rating. Mark the arm or leg a condition affects.

Estimated combined rating

Your combined rating will appear here

Choose a rating for at least one condition to see the combined rating and the working.

An estimate using 38 CFR §4.25 and §4.26, based only on the ratings you enter. It is not a VA decision: your official combined rating is the one on your VA rating decision.

How VA combines disability ratings

VA doesn't add disability ratings together. It combines them, one at a time, starting with the most severe, using the Combined Ratings Table in 38 CFR §4.25. Each new rating applies only to the part of you that the earlier ratings haven't already counted as disabled. The result is a combined value, which VA then rounds to the nearest 10% to give your combined disability rating.

That is why two ratings of 50% and 30% don't make 80%. VA combines them to 65, which rounds to 70%.

The whole-person approach

VA describes this as the "whole person" method: no one can be more than 100% disabled, so each rating is applied to the efficiency that remains. §4.25 puts it in terms of efficiency. A person with a 60% disability is 40% efficient. A further 30% disability takes 30% of that remaining 40%, leaving 28% efficiency, so the person is 72% disabled.

The same idea, written as arithmetic, is:

combined value = current + next × (100 − current) ÷ 100

where current is the value combined so far and next is the next rating in order of severity, with the answer rounded to a whole number (halves up). Table I in §4.25 lists these whole numbers for ratings in tens, so VA rarely has to do the multiplication by hand. The calculator uses the same rule, and its results match every value in the published table. A bilateral value such as 21 isn't a column in the table; VA's own examples combine it with the same rule.

Using the calculator

Add a row for each service-connected rating, and choose its percentage: 0% to 100%, in steps of 10. Names are optional and only label the working.
For each condition, choose the body area. This matters only for the bilateral factor: pick the arm or leg it affects, or a paired muscle group, and leave everything else as Other.
Read the estimated combined rating, the combined value before rounding, and the step-by-step working.

Rows left without a rating are ignored, so a spare empty row never changes the result.

The Combined Ratings Table

To use Table I, VA lists the ratings in exact order of severity, highest first. The first two are found where their row and column meet; that value, exactly as found in the table, is then combined with the third rating, and so on. Values are carried forward as whole numbers from the table, not rounded to the nearest 10 along the way.

For three ratings of 60%, 40% and 20%, the working is:

60 combined with 40: 60 + 40 × (100 − 60) ÷ 100 = 76
76 combined with 20: 76 + 20 × (100 − 76) ÷ 100 = 80.8, rounded to 81

The combined value is 81, and the combined rating is 80%. Even the smallest combination isn't a simple sum: two 10% ratings combine to 19, which rounds to 20%.

How rounding works

Rounding happens once, after every rating has been combined. VA converts the final combined value to the nearest number divisible by 10, and values ending in 5 are rounded up. VA.gov puts it simply: values ending in 1 to 4 round down, and values ending in 5 to 9 round up.

40% and 20% combine to 52, which rounds down to 50%.
50% and 30% combine to 65, which rounds up to 70%.

Because only the final value is rounded, a single point can matter: a combined value of 64 becomes 60%, while 65 becomes 70%.

The bilateral factor

The bilateral factor in 38 CFR §4.26 applies when disabilities affect both arms, both legs, or paired skeletal muscles. VA counts an "arm" as the whole upper extremity and a "leg" as the whole lower extremity. A disability of the left knee and one of the right ankle are therefore a bilateral pair, even though they are different joints.

When the factor applies:

The ratings of the paired disabilities are combined with Table I as usual.
10% of that combined value is added, not combined.
The result, as a whole number, counts as one disability: it takes its place in the order of severity and is combined with the remaining ratings.

The factor needs a compensable rating, 10% or more, on each side of the pair. A 0% rating on one side doesn't create a pair. When both arms and both legs are affected, §4.26(b) combines the disabilities of all four extremities together and applies the factor once.

The bilateral factor is about paired extremities and paired skeletal muscles. It doesn't apply to paired organs such as the eyes or ears, which are evaluated under their own rules, so the calculator treats those as Other.

The most favorable bilateral calculation

Since 16 April 2023, §4.26(d) adds an exception. If the combined evaluation would be lower than it could be by leaving one or more bilateral disabilities out of the bilateral factor, VA removes them from the bilateral calculation and combines them separately, "to achieve the combined evaluation most favorable to the veteran."

The bilateral factor almost always raises the combined value, so the exception matters only in uncommon cases where whole-number rounding works against the veteran, such as VA's own example at the boundary between 90% and 100%. VA's own example in the 2023 rule had disabilities combining to 93, plus two bilateral 10% ratings. The calculator tries every way of leaving bilateral ratings out of the factor and uses the most favorable result. When that changes the answer, it says so and shows both calculations.

VA disability rating combined examples

Each example below was calculated with this calculator. Three of them are the published examples from VA.gov and 38 CFR §4.25, 38 CFR §4.26 and the 2023 Federal Register rule.

Two ratings: 50% and 30%

50 combined with 30: 50 + 30 × (100 − 50) ÷ 100 = 65

The combined value 65 rounds up to a combined rating of 70%.

Bilateral factor with other ratings

Ratings of 60% and 20%, plus 10% for the left knee and 10% for the right ankle. The knee and ankle are on opposite legs, so they form a bilateral pair.

The pair combines to 19. Adding 10% of 19 gives 20.9, which counts as 21.
The order of severity becomes 60, bilateral group 21, 20.
60 combined with 21: 60 + 21 × (100 − 60) ÷ 100 = 68.4, rounded to 68
68 combined with 20: 68 + 20 × (100 − 68) ÷ 100 = 74.4, rounded to 74

The combined value 74 rounds to 70%. This is the example given in §4.26 itself.

Bilateral factor on both legs

Radiculopathy rated 20% in each leg: 20 and 20 combine to 36, and adding 10% of 36 gives 39.6, which rounds to 40. With no other ratings, the combined rating is 40%.

When leaving out the bilateral factor is more favorable

Ratings of 90% and 30%, which combine to 93, plus 10% for each knee. With the bilateral factor, the knees count as 21:

90 combined with 30: 90 + 30 × (100 − 90) ÷ 100 = 93
93 combined with 21: 93 + 21 × (100 − 93) ÷ 100 = 94.47, rounded to 94

That combined value rounds down to 90%. Combining the two knee ratings separately instead:

90 combined with 30: 90 + 30 × (100 − 90) ÷ 100 = 93
93 combined with 10: 93 + 10 × (100 − 93) ÷ 100 = 93.7, rounded to 94
94 combined with 10: 94 + 10 × (100 − 94) ÷ 100 = 94.6, rounded to 95

The combined value 95 rounds up to 100%, so under §4.26(d) the more favorable 100% applies. This is the example VA used in the 2023 rule.

What the calculator doesn't cover

The calculator combines ratings you already have. It doesn't decide whether a condition is service connected, what it should be rated, or the effective date of a rating. It also doesn't apply other rules that can affect a rating decision, such as the limit on the combined rating for a single extremity (the amputation rule), special monthly compensation, total disability based on individual unemployability, temporary total ratings, or rules for paired organs.

It doesn't estimate payments. VA compensation depends on your combined rating and other factors, such as dependents, and VA publishes its own rate tables.

An estimate is not a VA decision

Only VA decides your combined disability rating, and the rating on your VA rating decision is the one that counts. You can view your VA disability rating on VA.gov. If your own calculation differs from your decision, the difference may come from ratings, body areas or rules not entered here. An accredited representative, such as one from a Veterans Service Organization, can review a decision with you.

Sources and methodology

The calculator uses whole-number arithmetic for every Table I step, so it reproduces the table exactly, and rounds only at the end. Our methodology explains how calculators are built and tested, and the calculator disclaimer explains their limits.

Combined ratings, the whole-person method and rounding: VA.gov, "About VA disability ratings"
Combined Ratings Table and rounding rules: 38 CFR §4.25, Combined ratings table (eCFR)
Bilateral factor, including the §4.26(d) exception: 38 CFR §4.26, Bilateral factor (eCFR)
The 2023 exception and VA's 93% example: Federal Register, "Exceptions to Applying the Bilateral Factor in VA Disability Calculations," 88 FR 22917 (14 April 2023)

Frequently asked questions

How do I calculate my combined VA disability rating?

List your ratings from highest to lowest and combine them one at a time with the Combined Ratings Table in 38 CFR §4.25, applying any bilateral factor first. Then round the final combined value to the nearest 10%. The calculator does each step and shows the working.

Why isn't my combined rating the total of my ratings?

VA uses the whole-person method: each rating applies only to the efficiency left after the higher ratings, so the total can never pass 100%. That is why 50% and 30% combine to 65 and round to 70%, not 80%.

What do two 10% VA ratings combine to?

19, which rounds to a combined rating of 20%. If the two ratings are for opposite arms or opposite legs, the bilateral factor also applies: 19 plus 1.9 is 20.9, counted as 21, which still rounds to 20%.

Does VA round combined ratings up?

VA rounds to the nearest 10%, once, after combining every rating. Values ending in 5 to 9 round up and values ending in 1 to 4 round down, so 65 becomes 70% and 64 becomes 60%.

What counts as bilateral for the VA bilateral factor?

Disabilities of both arms, both legs, or paired skeletal muscles, with a compensable rating of at least 10% on each side. The whole arm or leg counts, so a left knee and a right ankle are a pair. Eyes, ears and other paired organs are rated under their own rules.

What changed about the bilateral factor in 2023?

Since 16 April 2023, 38 CFR §4.26(d) says that if leaving one or more bilateral disabilities out of the bilateral factor would give a higher combined evaluation, VA combines them separately instead, to reach the result most favorable to the veteran.

Do 0% ratings count in the combined rating?

A 0% rating means the condition is service connected but not compensable. It doesn't change the combined rating and doesn't count toward a bilateral pair, but the condition remains service connected.

Is the result my official VA rating?

No. It is an estimate from the ratings you enter. Your official combined rating is the one in your VA rating decision, which you can view on VA.gov. Differences can come from ratings, body areas or rules not entered here.

Does the calculator estimate my monthly VA payment?

No. It calculates the combined rating only. VA compensation depends on the combined rating and other factors, such as dependents, and VA publishes the current rates on VA.gov.