Worked example — not a real case
Illustrative worked example. The household is hypothetical; every figure is computed by the same verified engines and rule packs the calculators use.
Worked example · updated 2026-07-30
How 50% + 30% + 20% Combines to 70%, Not 100%
Three VA disability ratings, combined the way 38 CFR 4.25 actually does it: largest first against remaining capacity, then rounded to the nearest 10. The same three percentages are then re-run with two of them tagged as paired limbs, so the bilateral factor in 38 CFR 4.26 changes the answer.
The illustrative household
An illustrative veteran holds three service-connected ratings — 50%, 30%, and 20% — and is married with one child under 18. The first computation treats all three as unrelated conditions. The second treats the 50% and 30% as the same paired limb (a left and a right knee), which triggers the bilateral factor.
Walkthrough
Step 1 — ratings measure remaining efficiency, so they cannot add
38 CFR 4.25 treats a person as 100% efficient and each rating as taking a share of what efficiency remains. A 50% rating leaves 50% of the person unimpaired; a second rating can only act on that remaining half. Adding percentages would let three moderate conditions total more than a whole person, which is exactly what the regulation is built to prevent.
Step 2 — combine in descending order
The regulation combines the largest rating first, then works down. Start at 50. The 30% rating takes 30% of the remaining 50 points, adding 15 for a running total of 65. The 20% rating then takes 20% of the remaining 35 points, adding 7 for an exact combined value of 72. Order matters to the intermediate steps; the final value is the same either way.
Step 3 — round to the nearest 10
Only a multiple of 10 can be a combined rating. 38 CFR 4.25(a) rounds the exact value to the nearest 10, with a value ending in 5 rounding up. An exact 72 rounds down to 70. The four points between 72 and the 75 that would have rounded up are, in payment terms, invisible — which is why an additional low rating sometimes changes nothing at all.
Step 4 — the bilateral case, re-run below
38 CFR 4.26 handles disabilities affecting both arms or both legs differently: the paired ratings are combined with each other first, 10% of that combined value is added, and the result then joins the rest of the combination as a single figure. The second computation below tags the 50% and 30% as a left and a right knee. The same three percentages land on a different final rating.
Step 5 — the rating selects a row; dependents select the column
The rounded rating alone does not set the payment. At 30% and above, the monthly amount depends on the household: spouse, children under 18, school children aged 18 to 23, and dependent parents each move the veteran to a different row of the published rate table. The figures below are read from the verified 2026 VA rate pack, effective December 1, 2025, for a veteran with a spouse and one child.
What the engine returns
Computed at page render from the inputs above, by the same functions the calculator runs.
Combined rating for the three unpaired ratings
70%
exact combined value 72%, rounded to the nearest 10
Show the math, step by step
- Unpaired · Start with 50%
- 50%
- Unpaired · 50% + 30% of remaining 50%
- 65%
- Unpaired · 65% + 20% of remaining 35%
- 72%
- Unpaired · Round to nearest 10 (38 CFR 4.25(a))
- 72% → 70%
- Bilateral · Bilateral pair 50% + 30%
- combine to 65%, +10% bilateral factor (6.5) = 71.5% (38 CFR 4.26)
- Bilateral · Start with 71.5%
- 71.5%
- Bilateral · 71.5% + 20% of remaining 28.5%
- 77.2%
- Bilateral · Round to nearest 10 (38 CFR 4.25(a))
- 77.2% → 80%
Verified 2026-07-30 against VA.gov — Current Veterans disability compensation rates (effective 2025-12-01)
Estimate only — not legal, financial, or benefits advice. Only VA can determine your actual benefit.
Official source: VA.gov — about disability ratings (combined ratings table) ↗
Takeaway
Combined ratings are a share-of-remaining-capacity calculation, not a sum, and the final round to the nearest 10 quietly discards anything below the halfway mark. The bilateral factor is the exception worth knowing, because whether two ratings happen to sit on paired limbs can move the final number by a full step. Only VA rates conditions and issues the combined rating in a decision; this page shows the published arithmetic.
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How Ratings Work
The VA rating system in plain, verifiable language: how each condition gets a percentage from the rating schedule, how multiple ratings combine under 38 CFR 4.25, what the bilateral factor is, and why the final number rounds to the nearest 10 — with every rule linked to its official source.
VA Pay Chart 2026
The complete 2026 VA disability pay chart, effective December 1, 2025: monthly compensation for every rating from 10% to 100% and every dependent status — veteran alone, with spouse, with children, with parents — plus added amounts, transcribed from VA.gov and verified.
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The household on this page is hypothetical and is described as such throughout. Nothing here reports a real person, a real determination, or a real outcome, and no result on this site is a promise about any case. Estimates only — the agency named above makes every actual determination.