Ratings & Compensation
How VA Combined Ratings Are Calculated (and Why 50% + 30% = 70%)
Almost every veteran with more than one service-connected condition does the same math the first time: add the percentages together. A 50% rating and a 30% rating should make 80%. Then the decision letter arrives and says 70%.
Nothing went wrong. VA does not add ratings. It combines them using a specific table in the regulations, and once you see how that table works, your combined rating stops being a mystery.
The idea behind it: the "whole person"
VA starts from the assumption that you are a whole person, 100% efficient. Your first rating takes away a share of that. Every rating after it applies only to what is left, not to the original 100%.
That is why the numbers shrink as you go. A 30% rating on top of a 50% rating isn't 30% of you. It's 30% of the 50% that remains.
Source: 38 C.F.R. § 4.25, Table I (Combined Ratings Table).
The method, step by step
- List your ratings from highest to lowest. Order matters for using the table.
- Start with the highest rating. That is your starting disability. Whatever is left is your remaining "efficiency."
- Apply the next rating to what remains. Add the result to the running total. The table does this arithmetic for you and gives a whole number.
- Repeat for each rating. Keep carrying the unrounded combined value forward.
- Round only at the very end, to the nearest 10. A combined value ending in 5 or higher rounds up; 4 or lower rounds down.
Example 1: 50% and 30%
| Step | What happens | Combined value |
|---|---|---|
| Start with 50% | 50% disabled, 50% efficiency remains | 50 |
| Apply 30% | 30% of the remaining 50 is 15 | 65 |
| Round | 65 rounds up to the nearest 10 | 70% |
So 50 and 30 combine to 70. The rounding happened to help here. It doesn't always.
Example 2: 50%, 30%, 20%, and 10%
Added together, these come to 110. Combined, they come out quite differently.
| Step | What happens | Combined value |
|---|---|---|
| Start with 50% | 50 remaining | 50 |
| Apply 30% | 30% of 50 = 15 | 65 |
| Apply 20% | 20% of 35 = 7 | 72 |
| Apply 10% | 10% of 28 = 2.8 (table gives 75) | 75 |
| Round | 75 rounds up | 80% |
Why it is so hard to reach 100%
Because each rating only applies to what remains, every new rating has less room to work with. Four separate 50% ratings sound like 200%. Here's what actually happens:
| Rating applied | Combined value |
|---|---|
| First 50% | 50 |
| Second 50% | 75 |
| Third 50% | 88 |
| Fourth 50% | 94 |
| Final, rounded | 90% |
A combined value has to reach 95 before it rounds to 100. That's why many veterans with long lists of conditions sit at 90%, and why a single high rating often moves the total more than several small ones.
The bilateral factor: the one exception that works in your favor
When you have ratings on both arms, both legs, or paired skeletal muscles, VA applies an extra step called the bilateral factor.
- Combine the left and right ratings using the normal table.
- Take 10% of that combined value and add it (not combine it).
- Treat the result as a single rating, put it in order with your other ratings, and continue combining.
Source: 38 C.F.R. § 4.26.
Example 3: 60% plus 20% on each knee
| Without bilateral factor | With bilateral factor | |
|---|---|---|
| Knees | Two separate 20% ratings | 20 and 20 combine to 36, plus 3.6 = 39.6 (about 40) |
| Combine with 60% | 60, then 68, then 74 | 60 and 40 combine to 76 |
| Final rating | 70% | 80% |
Same conditions, a full 10 points higher, and a meaningful difference in monthly pay. VA is supposed to apply the bilateral factor automatically, but it's worth checking your rating code sheet to make sure it did. If it was left out, that's an error on the existing record, which is the kind of thing a Higher-Level Review exists to fix.
What your combined rating means for pay
VA pays compensation in 10-point steps from 10% to 100%, so the rounded combined rating is the number that sets your monthly amount. At 30% and above, the rate also increases if you have a spouse, children, or dependent parents on file.
That's why a single change, like the bilateral factor above, or an increase on your highest-rated condition, can move you into a different pay bracket even when the change looks small on paper.
Our free Combined Rating Calculator does the table math for you, including the bilateral factor, and shows the 2026 monthly compensation amount for your result.
What a calculator can't tell you
The combined ratings table is mechanical. A few things that affect what you're paid are not:
- 0% ratings. They establish service connection but add nothing in the table. Under 38 C.F.R. § 3.324, a veteran whose service-connected conditions are all rated 0% can receive a single 10% rating if two or more of them clearly interfere with normal employability. It cannot be combined with any other rating, and it is a judgment call, not math.
- Total disability based on individual unemployability (TDIU) can pay at the 100% rate even when your combined rating is lower.
- Special monthly compensation (SMC) is paid on top of, or in place of, the schedular rate for specific losses and needs.
- Mental health conditions get one rating no matter how many diagnoses you have, which matters before you file for a new one. We cover that in Things Veterans Should Know Before Filing Their Claim.
Understand the rules before VA applies them
Mastering VA Disability Claims, 2026 Edition is a sourced reference to the claims process, from evidence and exams to ratings and review options, written to the regulations in effect now.
Read Chapter 2 free Learn more about the full guideThis article is general educational information about VA regulations, not legal advice. VA decides every claim on its own facts. For help with your specific claim, contact a VA-accredited representative; accredited Veterans Service Organizations help at no cost.