A veteran opens a decision letter at the kitchen table. Knee: 50 percent. Back: 40 percent. Tinnitus: 10 percent. A spouse adds the numbers on a napkin and gets 100. The letter says the combined rating is 70.
It looks like an error. It almost never is.
The Department of Veterans Affairs uses a method it calls the "whole person" approach, and once the logic clicks, the decision letter starts to make sense. For families budgeting around a monthly benefit, that understanding is worth an evening's effort.
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The Core Rule: Each Rating Shrinks What Remains
The VA starts from the idea that nobody can be more than 100 percent disabled. Instead of stacking ratings, it applies each one to the portion of the person that is still considered "able."
Ratings are arranged from highest to lowest and applied one after another. Here is the napkin example, done the VA's way:
- Start at 100 percent able. The 50 percent knee rating takes half, leaving 50 percent able.
- The 40 percent back rating applies to that remaining 50, removing 20. Now 30 percent able remains.
- The 10 percent tinnitus rating applies to the remaining 30, removing 3. That leaves 27 percent able.
- Subtract 27 from 100 to get 73 percent disabled.
- The VA rounds to the nearest 10, so 73 becomes a combined rating of 70.
The VA publishes a combined ratings table that does this arithmetic automatically: find the higher rating down the left side, the next rating across the top, and read the result where they meet.
Rounding Can Cut Either Way
Rounding to the nearest 10 means small differences in the raw number can shift the payment tier.
| Raw Combined Value | Rounded Rating |
| 64 | 60 |
| 65 | 70 |
| 73 | 70 |
| 75 | 80 |
A value ending in 5 rounds up, which is why one additional 10 percent rating sometimes moves a family into a higher tier and sometimes changes nothing at all.
What a Rating Is Worth Each Month
Payment amounts depend on the combined rating and on who counts as a dependent. The rates below are the VA's figures effective December 1, 2025:
| Combined Rating | Veteran Alone | Veteran With Spouse |
| 10% | $180.42 | Same (no dependent increase) |
| 20% | $356.66 | Same (no dependent increase) |
| 70% | $1,808.45 | $1,961.45 |
| 80% | $2,102.15 | $2,277.15 |
| 90% | $2,362.30 | $2,559.30 |
| 100% | $3,938.58 | $4,158.17 |
Two details stand out. First, ratings of 10 and 20 percent pay the same amount regardless of dependents; the extra for a spouse, children, or dependent parents begins at 30 percent. Second, the gap between 90 and 100 percent is far larger than between any other two tiers, which is why the last step up receives so much attention.
The VA's current veteran compensation rate tables also list amounts for children, school-age dependents over 18, and spouses who receive Aid and Attendance.
A Second Example With Both Legs Affected
Bilateral conditions follow an added step, set out in 38 C.F.R. § 4.26. When both legs, both arms, or paired muscles have rated conditions, the VA first combines those two ratings, then adds 10 percent of that result before combining with anything else.
Federal regulations give a worked example: ratings of 60, 20, 10, and 10 percent, where the two 10s affect both legs. The two 10s combine to 19, and adding a tenth brings that to 21. The order then becomes 60, 21, and 20. The 60 and 21 combine to 68, then 68 and 20 combine to 74, which rounds to a final 70 percent.
Checking the Numbers at Home
Running different scenarios helps families understand where they stand before filing for an increase or a new condition. A free tool such as Chisholm Chisholm & Kilpatrick’s VA calculator lets a veteran plug in individual ratings and see the combined result alongside an estimated monthly amount.
Useful questions to explore with a calculator:
- Would a pending claim for a new condition actually change the combined rating?
- How close is the raw value to the next rounding threshold?
- How much would adding a dependent change the payment?
Mistakes That Cost Families Money
Some of the most common problems have nothing to do with medical evidence.
- Dependents never added. A marriage or a new baby doesn't automatically update a VA file. The veteran has to report it.
- Assuming 10 more percent always helps. Because of the whole-person method, a new low rating can leave the combined number unchanged.
- Ignoring the bilateral factor. When conditions affect both arms or both legs, the VA applies an extra adjustment before combining with other ratings. It is easy to miss on a quick calculation.
- Treating the letter as final. Veterans have review options after a decision, and the deadlines for some of them are short.
- Overlooking dependent parents. The rate tables include increases for parents who rely on the veteran financially, not just spouses and children.
Money, Stress, and the Household
Disability compensation arrives monthly, which makes it a central piece of many military family budgets. When the number is lower than expected, the stress spills into everything from grocery planning to whether a spouse can cut back hours.
Understanding the math won't change a rating, but it removes the sense that the system is arbitrary. Pairing that clarity with steady routines at home helps too, and ideas on how to restore balance to your life can be a useful starting point when paperwork starts to crowd out family time.
The Short Version
VA ratings are combined, not added. Each new rating applies only to the share of the person still considered able, and the final figure is rounded to the nearest 10.
Learn the table, check dependents, run the numbers before filing, and the decision letter stops feeling like a mystery.
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