The short answer: a single veteran gets $180.42 a month at a 10% rating and $3,938.58 at 100% in 2026, with every stop in between set by law. The number on your own deposit depends on two levers — your combined rating and your dependents — and the first lever works in a way almost nobody expects. Here's the full 2026 rate card, the math VA uses to stack ratings, and what a spouse, kids, or parents add to the total.
These amounts took effect December 1, 2025 with a 2.8% cost-of-living increase, first paid in January 2026. Compensation is monthly and tax-free.
| Combined rating | Veteran alone | With spouse | With spouse + 1 child |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | $180.42 | $180.42 | $180.42 |
| 20% | $356.66 | $356.66 | $356.66 |
| 30% | $552.47 | $617.47 | $666.47 |
| 40% | $795.84 | $882.84 | $947.84 |
| 50% | $1,132.90 | $1,241.90 | $1,322.90 |
| 60% | $1,435.02 | $1,566.02 | $1,663.02 |
| 70% | $1,808.45 | $1,961.45 | $2,074.45 |
| 80% | $2,102.15 | $2,277.15 | $2,406.15 |
| 90% | $2,362.30 | $2,559.30 | $2,704.30 |
| 100% | $3,938.58 | $4,158.17 | $4,318.99 |
Notice the first two rows: at 10% and 20%, the spouse-and-child columns don't move. Dependents only raise the payment at 30% or higher — a 20% rating pays a flat $356.66 whether you're single or supporting a family.
Here's the part that surprises people. VA doesn't add your ratings together. It works through them from highest to lowest, and each rating takes its percentage of whatever healthy body you have left. The regulation is 38 CFR 4.25.
Take 30% for a back condition and 20% for tinnitus. After the 30% rating, 70% of you remains. Tinnitus takes 20% of that 70, which is 14 points. Combined value: 44%. Only now does rounding happen, once, to the nearest 10% — endings of 1 through 4 round down, 5 through 9 round up — so 44% becomes a 40% combined rating. It pays like 40%, not the 50% a straight sum would suggest.
Run the same machine on a 50% rating plus a 30% rating: the second takes 30% of the remaining 50, landing at 65%, which rounds up to 70%. That one rounding step is worth $373.43 a month over 60% in 2026 — one reason veterans fight over a 65% versus 64% effective value. A few more combinations, so you can see the pattern:
The VA disability pay calculator runs this math on your own rating list, shows the running combination step by step, and prices the result against the 2026 tables for your family size.
Conditions affecting both arms, or both legs, get a bonus. VA combines all the ratings on that paired extremity first, then adds 10% of that combined value — the bilateral factor in 38 CFR 4.26 — before folding the result into your other ratings.
Knees are the classic case. A left knee at 40% and a right knee at 20% combine to 52%, and the factor carries 57.2% forward instead. Add a 30% back condition on top and the overall value is 70.04%, rounded to 70% — $2,074.45 a month with a spouse and child. Without the bilateral factor, the same ratings would land at 66.4%, still rounding to 70%, but heavier stacks can absolutely cross a rounding boundary on the strength of the factor alone.
From 30% up, family size moves the number. The table above covers the common cases; beyond one child, each additional child under 18 adds a set amount ($76 a month at 70% in 2026), and each dependent parent adds another ($123 at 70%). A child between 18 and 23 who's still in a qualifying school program is paid at a higher rate ($246 a month at 70%) — you'll need to file VA Form 21-674 to keep that going after a child turns 18. If a spouse needs Aid and Attendance, an extra amount applies ($141 a month at the 70% rating, in the VA's own example).
No, and that's worth dwelling on. There's no federal income tax on VA disability compensation, and states can't touch it either. Unlike military retired pay there's no withholding, no 1099, and no tax season paperwork. A $1,808.45 payment at 70% is $1,808.45 of spendable money — to match it, a civilian in the 22% bracket would need about $2,319 of gross monthly salary.
VA pays on the first of each month. When the 1st lands on a weekend or federal holiday, the direct deposit hits the last business day before — so a Friday the 1st pays Friday, a Sunday the 1st pays the prior Friday. The 2.8% raise followed the same calendar logic: effective December 1, 2025, showing up in accounts at the start of January 2026.
Usually, yes. VA compensation isn't means-tested, so receiving it doesn't by itself block Social Security Disability Insurance. The two programs measure different things — service connection for VA, work credits and disability for SSDI. Military retirees face the offset rules instead (waivers like CRDP exist for that crowd). If you're mapping both benefits, the SSDI benefits calculator prices the Social Security side, and the VA loan calculator covers the other money question veterans ask about most.
Enter your ratings, mark arm and leg conditions for the bilateral factor, and see your 2026 monthly pay with dependents.
VA Disability Pay Calculator →Ratings of 10% and 20% are the most common single ratings, and they pay $180.42 and $356.66 a month in 2026. But most veterans carry several ratings that combine, and the 70% combined rating pays $1,808.45 a month alone, or $2,074.45 with a spouse and one child.
The 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment took effect December 1, 2025, and veterans first saw it in the payment that arrived at the start of January 2026. The raise matches the Social Security COLA by law.
Not for taxes. VA disability is tax-free at the federal level and states don't tax it either. For needs-tested programs the answer varies, so check the program's rules; SSDI and VA disability can be received at the same time, since VA compensation is not means-tested.