Combine your VA disability ratings the way the regulation actually does it. Ratings do not add: 38 CFR §4.25 applies each one, largest first, to the efficiency the ones before it left behind, so 50 and 30 combine to 65 — and the raw value then converts to the nearest multiple of 10, with values ending in 5 rounding up, so 65 pays as 70. Paired arms or legs combine first and gain 10% of their combined value under §4.26 before joining the rest. The combined rating is priced against VA's 2026 payment tables, effective 1 December 2025: flat amounts at 10% and 20%, and from 30% up, higher amounts with a spouse, children under 18, schoolchildren 18–23, and dependent parents, plus the SMC-K award where it applies. The result is monthly, tax-free.
Rates last verified August 2026 against the published source tables.
The conversion to the nearest 10 is where the money moves. A raw combined value of 74 pays at the 70% rate while a raw 75 pays at 80%, so a single additional 10% rating can be worth hundreds of dollars a month or nothing at all depending on where your raw value already sits — worth knowing before deciding whether a claim is worth pursuing.
VA compensation interacts with military retired pay through the VA waiver: retired pay is reduced dollar-for-dollar unless CRDP or CRSC restores it, and choosing between those two is a genuine election. The retirement calculator on this site models the waiver, both restorations, and the Chapter 61 cap side by side.
Because 38 CFR §4.25 combines them against your remaining efficiency instead of adding them. A 50% rating leaves you 50% efficient; a further 30% rating takes 30% of that remaining half, which is 15 — so 50 and 30 combine to 65, and 65 converts to 70. Each additional rating works on a smaller remainder, which is why five separate 20% ratings combine to 67 (a 70% payment) and can never reach 100%.
VA pays only on multiples of 10, so the raw combined value converts to the nearest one — and values ending in 5 adjust upward, so a raw 65 pays as 70. The conversion is where single ratings matter most: a raw 74 pays at the 70% rate while a raw 75 pays at 80%, so one more 10% grant can be worth hundreds of dollars a month or nothing at all, depending on where your raw value sits.
When both arms or both legs carry ratings, 38 CFR §4.26 combines the pair first and then adds 10% of that combined value before it joins your other ratings. Two 20% knees combine to 36, gain 3.6, and enter the rest of the combination as a single rating of about 40 — the one place in the system where the arithmetic works in your favor.
Only from a combined rating of 30%. At 10% and 20% VA pays a flat amount whatever your family looks like. From 30% the monthly amount rises with a spouse, children under 18, children 18–23 in a qualifying school program, and dependent parents — and a spouse receiving Aid and Attendance adds a further amount at every rating from 30% up.
That is TDIU — total disability based on individual unemployability — which pays at the 100% rate even when your combined rating is lower, typically from 60% with one qualifying condition or 70% combined. It turns on evidence about your ability to keep substantially gainful employment, which no calculator can weigh, so if that describes your situation, file for it regardless of what the arithmetic here shows.