Veterans with more than one service-connected condition are routinely surprised by their combined rating. Two disabilities rated 50% and 30% do not combine to 80%. They combine to 65%, which then rounds to 70%. The arithmetic that produces that answer is published, it is not a secret, and it is not discretionary — it is the combined ratings method set out in 38 CFR § 4.25, and it applies each rating in descending order to whatever efficiency is left.
This page from Arb Digital implements that published method exactly and shows every step, so the result is something you can check line by line rather than a number you have to take on trust. It publishes no payment amounts and it is not connected to the VA in any way. Only the VA determines a rating, and nothing produced here has any standing in a claim.
What This VA Disability Calculator Does
Enter up to eight individual ratings and the tool sorts them from highest to lowest, applies the combined ratings method to each in turn, and shows the running combined value, the efficiency remaining after each step, and the final figure rounded to the nearest ten as the rule requires. The step-by-step working is the point of the page; the single headline number is the least useful part of it.
Optionally, if you have looked up the current monthly compensation rate for your rating and dependant status on the VA's own rates page, you can type it in to see the annual equivalent. The rate is an input and never a stored value, because compensation rates are revised with each annual cost-of-living adjustment and any figure hard-coded into a web page would be wrong within a year.
How to Use It
- Copy the ratings from your decision letter. Use the individual evaluation assigned to each condition, not any combined figure already shown.
- Leave unused fields at zero. A zero rating is excluded from the combination; it is not treated as a 0% step.
- Ignore the order. The method requires descending order and the tool sorts for you, but it is worth noticing in the working that the largest rating always goes first.
- Read the steps, not just the total. The efficiency column is where the logic becomes obvious.
- Look up any rate yourself. If you want an annual figure, take the current monthly rate from the VA and enter it. Nothing on this page publishes one.
How the Combined Ratings Method Works
The method treats a person as 100% efficient and each disability as reducing what remains. Sort the ratings from highest to lowest. Apply the first to 100% efficiency. Whatever efficiency is left, apply the second rating to that, not to the original 100%. Continue down the list. The rule is published in 38 CFR § 4.25, the combined ratings table, and the final value is converted to the nearest degree divisible by ten, with values ending in five moving upward.
Take the default entries of 50%, 30% and 10%. Fifty percent of a whole person leaves 50% efficiency. Thirty percent of that remaining 50 is 15, so the combined value is 65 and efficiency drops to 35. Ten percent of 35 is 3.5, so the combined value becomes 68.5, which the table records as 69, leaving 31% efficiency. Rounded to the nearest ten, the combined rating is 70%.
The intermediate rounding matters and is easy to miss. The published table holds whole numbers, so each combined value is rounded before the next rating is applied. Only after every rating has been combined is the result rounded to a multiple of ten. Rounding to a multiple of ten at each step, which some informal explanations do, produces the wrong answer.
Two Published Examples, Reproduced
The first is the VA's own. On its page explaining disability ratings, the VA states that two disabilities each rated 10% give a combined rating of 19%, not 20%, and describes the underlying idea as the whole person theory — the reasoning being that a person cannot be more than 100% able-bodied. Work it through: the first 10% leaves 90% efficiency, and 10% of 90 is 9, so the combined value is 19. Entering 10 and 10 above reproduces exactly that.
The second comes from the regulation itself. Section 4.25 gives the example of three disabilities rated 60%, 40% and 20%: the combined value of the first two is 76, combining 76 with 20 gives 81, and 81 converts to 80% as the nearest degree divisible by ten. Check it: 60 leaves 40 efficiency; 40% of 40 is 16, giving 76 and leaving 24; 20% of 24 is 4.8, giving 80.8, recorded as 81; rounded, 80%. Entering 60, 40 and 20 above produces the same sequence.
Those two examples are the reason this page shows its working. If the tool reproduces the published examples step for step, you can see that it is following the rule rather than inventing one.
What This Page Does Not Model
The combined ratings method is one part of a much larger scheme, and several things that materially change a real outcome are deliberately absent here.
The bilateral factor applies where disabilities affect both arms, both legs, or paired skeletal muscles. Those ratings are combined first, and an additional percentage of the combined value is added before that result is combined with everything else. It is not modelled on this page, and where it applies the true figure will be higher than what you see here.
Special monthly compensation is a separate entitlement for specific circumstances, such as loss of use of an organ or extremity or the need for regular aid and attendance, and it sits outside the percentage system entirely. Dependants — a spouse, children, or a dependent parent — change the amount paid at ratings of 30% and above without changing the rating itself. Effective dates determine from when any change is paid and are frequently the largest single issue in a claim. There are also routes to a 100% payment level that are not arithmetic at all, such as a total disability rating based on individual unemployability. None of that is calculated here.
Why the Method Produces the Result It Does
The frequent objection to the combined ratings method is that it feels like the system is shortchanging people, because each successive rating counts for less than its face value. The rule's own logic is different: the percentages describe reduction in earning capacity, and each disability can only reduce whatever capacity the previous ones left. A second condition cannot take away capacity that a first condition has already taken.
Whether that is the right model is a policy question, and it is not one a calculator can settle. What the calculator can do is make the mechanism visible, because a veteran who understands why the number came out at 70% is in a far better position when reviewing a decision than one who only knows it was not the 90% they expected. The place to raise a disagreement is the VA's own review and appeal process, with help from someone accredited to give it.
Where to Get Real Help With a Claim
Nothing on this page is a substitute for representation. Accredited veterans service organisation representatives, accredited claims agents and accredited attorneys are formally recognised to assist with VA claims, and VSO representatives are generally free. They can read the evidence, identify conditions that have been under-rated or missed, and handle a review or appeal properly. If your combined rating is not what you expected, that conversation is the useful next step — not a recalculation on a website.
Be careful with anyone charging a large fee to "increase your rating", particularly before a claim has been decided. Accreditation is a documented status, and it is reasonable to ask to see it. The VA publishes how to find an accredited representative, and going through that route costs nothing to check.
Arb Digital publishes an open library of free calculators. Every one states its formula on the page, takes its inputs from you, and stores nothing.
Browse All Free Tools Contact Arb DigitalCommon Mistakes to Avoid
- Adding the ratings together — 50 and 30 combine to 65, not 80, because the second applies only to the efficiency the first left.
- Rounding to a multiple of ten at every step instead of only at the end, which changes the final answer.
- Combining bilateral disabilities in the ordinary order — paired-limb ratings are combined first and carry an additional factor that this page does not model.
- Assuming a rating change means a payment change of the same shape — amounts depend on dependants and on effective dates, neither of which is a percentage.
- Treating any online estimate as a decision — only the VA determines a rating, and only its decision letter states what yours is.
Related Free Tools From Arb Digital
For private income protection, which is a completely separate product bought from an insurer rather than a federal entitlement, see the disability insurance calculator and the long-term care insurance calculator. For household budgeting around a fixed monthly figure, the percentage calculator and the mortgage debt-to-income calculator are useful. On the insurer side of the industry, the loss ratio calculator and combined ratio calculator handle company reporting. Everything else is in the free online tools hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Because the second rating applies to the efficiency the first one left, not to the whole person. A 50% rating leaves 50% efficiency, and 30% of that remaining 50 is 15, giving a combined value of 65, which then rounds to 70%.
It is 38 CFR § 4.25, the combined ratings table. It requires ratings to be arranged in descending order, combined against the remaining efficiency at each step, and then converted to the nearest degree divisible by ten, with values ending in five moving upward.
No. The VA's own explanation gives this example: two disabilities each rated 10% produce a combined rating of 19%. The first leaves 90% efficiency and 10% of 90 is 9, so the combined value is 19 before any rounding.
No. It publishes no payment amounts at all, because rates are set by the VA and revised with each annual cost-of-living adjustment. You can enter a monthly rate you have looked up yourself and the tool will show the annual equivalent.
It applies where disabilities affect both arms, both legs or paired skeletal muscles: those ratings are combined first and an extra percentage is added before combining with the rest. It is not modelled on this page, so a real bilateral case will differ.
No. It is an independent illustration of a published rule and has no connection to the VA and no standing in any decision. Only the VA determines a disability rating, and only its decision letter states what yours is.
An accredited veterans service organisation representative, an accredited claims agent or an accredited attorney. VSO representatives are generally free, and accreditation is a documented status you can ask to see.
This page performs the published arithmetic of 38 CFR § 4.25 on ratings you enter. It is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, it publishes no compensation rates, and it is not legal advice. Only the VA determines a disability rating, and any estimate produced here has no standing in a claim, a review or an appeal. Bilateral factors, special monthly compensation, dependants, effective dates and individual unemployability are not modelled. For help with a claim, speak to an accredited veterans service organisation representative, an accredited claims agent or an accredited attorney, and confirm any figure with the VA directly.
