What Is A VA Disability Rating?

Are you a Veteran who’s trying to get the VA disability rating you deserve? Filing your claim with the VA can be frustrating and confusing — especially if you don’t know where to start. Understanding your rating is crucial to building and proving your VA disability claim. 

What is a VA Disability Rating?

You might be wondering, “what is a VA disability rating?” A VA disability rating is given to a disabled veteran during the VA disability claim process. This rating is also known as a percentage that determines how much benefits (money) the Veteran will be eligible to obtain for their service-connected disabilities. 

Eligible Service-Connected Conditions 

There is a long list of conditions [link white paper article 2 to the word “conditions”] that will make you eligible to receive VA disability benefits. As long as there is medical evidence to prove your disability is service-related, you have the opportunity to receive disability benefits. 

Two common conditions include:

• Physical disabilities 
• Mental Disabilities

Physical disabilities can include conditions such as hearing loss, chronic pain, asthma, and cancers cause by being exposed to toxic chemicals during your time in service. Mental disabilities can include conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, and traumatic brain injury (TBI). 

VA Rating System 

The VA follows the rules of the VA’s Schedule for Rating Disabilities (VASRD) to determine rating percentages. This is based on your symptoms, treatment options, and how it directly results from your disability. 

All disabilities can be rated between 0% and 100% and go by increments of 10. If you are given a 0% disability rating, it typically means that the condition hardly affects your daily life but is still recognized as present (or maybe you didn’t provide enough medical evidence). A rating of 100% generally means your condition is severe enough that you are either not able to work or that your condition impacts your daily life tremendously. 

You can also be given a rating for multiple conditions. 

VA Disability Compensation

You might be wondering, “what will my disability compensation look like?” Your compensation will determine the rating you are given for your condition(s). 

The VA will also look into your current living situation — If you have children, a spouse, or dependent parents, you will be eligible to receive additional compensation benefits. 

For example, a Veteran receiving benefits in 2021 with no dependents can receive these amount monthly:

• 10%: $144.14
• 20%: $284.93
• 30%: $441.35
• 40%: $635.77
• 50%: $905.04
• 60%: $1,146.39
• 70%: $1,444.71
• 80%: $1,679.35
• 90%: $1,887.18
• 100%: $3,146.42

You can find the full VA Disability Compensation rates for 2021 here. 

Get Started!

We hope this article helped you better understand VA disability ratings! Are you ready to get started on your VA disability claim? Please don’t go through it alone, and contact us today. 

Written by Advice for Veterans