VA Disability Rating Calculator
Combined Rating — Whole-Person Method
The VA doesn't add your ratings — it combines them. 70% + 50% is not 120%, it's 90% (then rounded). Enter your ratings below to see the exact math and what it takes to reach the next threshold.
How the VA combines ratings
Under 38 CFR § 4.25, the VA uses the “whole-person” method. You start as 100% efficient (a whole person). Each rating is applied to your remaining efficiency, not added to the previous rating.
Example: with a 50% rating, you are 50% disabled and 50% efficient. A second 30% rating applies to the remaining 50% efficiency — taking 15% of the whole person (30% of 50%), not 30%. Combined: 65%, which rounds to 70%.
Ratings are applied from highest to lowest, and the final result is rounded to the nearest 10%. This is why veterans with many small ratings often feel their combined rating is “stuck” — each new rating applies to a shrinking remainder.
This calculator applies the bilateral factor (38 CFR § 4.26) when you have compensable disabilities of both arms or both legs, so the estimate matches the VA's own math. It does not include special monthly compensation (SMC). Your official combined rating is determined by the VA during adjudication.
Rating lower than it should be?
The gap is usually documentation. VA Claim Commander generates nexus letters, personal statements, and buddy statements — built to the evidentiary standard raters evaluate against. Free.
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