VA Disability Rating Schedule Guide: How 38 CFR Part 4 Works

The VA disability rating schedule is a federal regulation, 38 CFR Part 4, Schedule for Rating Disabilities, usually shortened to VASRD. "38 CFR" means Title 38 of the Code of Federal Regulations. It is the rulebook the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) uses to turn a diagnosis and exam findings into a percentage.

38 CFR 4.1 explains the point. The schedule is "primarily a guide," and its percentages represent "the average impairment in earning capacity" a disease or injury causes in civilian jobs. The schedule does not ask how much pain you are in. It asks what you can no longer do, and how that would affect an average person's ability to earn a living.

2 other ideas shape every rating. 38 CFR 4.10 sets the basis of a rating. It is how well the body, the psyche, or an organ system works "under the ordinary conditions of daily life including employment." And 38 CFR 4.3 requires VA to resolve reasonable doubt about the degree of disability in your favor.

For the beginner's version, start with understanding VA disability ratings. This page is about reading the schedule itself.

Part 4 has 2 subparts. Subpart A (sections 4.1 to 4.31) holds the general rules: combining, rounding, analogous ratings, pyramiding and unemployability. Subpart B (sections 4.40 to 4.150) is the schedule proper, grouped by body system:

Source: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-38/chapter-I/part-4, current as of September 2026.

A VA diagnostic code (DC) is the 4-digit number the schedule gives each condition; the first digit tells you the body system. Your rating decision lists a code next to every rated condition. That code is the address of the criteria VA used, so it is the first thing to look up.

When VA rates an unlisted condition by analogy (more below), the decision shows a hyphenated code such as 5299-5260. The "99" ending means an unlisted condition in that body system, and the second number is the code VA borrowed.

Each diagnostic code is followed by tiers that describe the condition at each percentage. The rater matches your evidence to the closest one. 4 examples show how differently the schedule writes those tiers.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), diagnostic code 9411. Every mental health condition uses the same General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders in 38 CFR 4.130. The tiers are about occupational and social impairment, not the diagnosis. PTSD is treatable, and VA mental health care includes specialized care for it; see the VA health care coverage guide.

Source: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-38/chapter-I/part-4/subpart-B/subject-group-ECFRfa64377db09ae97/section-4.130, last amended August 4, 2014.

The symptoms listed under each tier are examples, not a checklist.

Knee, diagnostic codes 5260 and 5261. Joints in 38 CFR 4.71a are rated on measured range of motion, in degrees. Limitation of flexion (DC 5260) pays 0% at 60 degrees, 10% at 45 degrees, 20% at 30 degrees and 30% at 15 degrees. Limitation of extension (DC 5261) pays 0% at 5 degrees, 10% at 10 degrees, 20% at 15, 30% at 20, 40% at 30 and 50% at 45 degrees. Flexion and extension can be rated separately for the same knee. This is why the schedule turns on the goniometer readings the examiner records at the VA claim exam (also called a C&P exam).

Sleep apnea, diagnostic code 6847. Under 38 CFR 4.97, the tiers key off treatment. It pays 0% for documented sleep-disordered breathing without symptoms and 30% for persistent daytime hypersomnolence. It pays 50% when the condition "requires use of breathing assistance device such as continuous airway pressure (CPAP) machine," and 100% for chronic respiratory failure, cor pulmonale or tracheostomy. Last amended 2006.

Tinnitus, diagnostic code 6260. 38 CFR 4.87 gives recurrent tinnitus a single tier: 10%, and only 1 rating whether you hear it in 1 ear, both ears or your head. Last amended 2003.

4 codes, 4 styles: functional impairment, measured motion, treatment required, and a flat rate.

Subpart A has rules that move a rating up or down without changing the exam findings.

• Higher of two evaluations, 38 CFR 4.7. When your condition falls between 2 tiers, VA assigns the higher one if your "disability picture more nearly approximates" it. Otherwise the lower one applies.
• Pyramiding, 38 CFR 4.14. "The evaluation of the same disability under various diagnoses is to be avoided." The same symptom cannot be paid twice. But 38 CFR 4.25 says disabilities arising from a single disease are rated separately. So distinct symptoms can still earn separate ratings, and secondary conditions get their own codes; see common secondary conditions.
• Analogous ratings, 38 CFR 4.20. An unlisted condition is rated under a closely related listed one with similar functions affected, location and symptoms. "Conjectural analogies" are not allowed.
• Bilateral factor, 38 CFR 4.26. With compensable ratings in both arms, both legs or paired skeletal muscles, VA combines those first and adds 10% of that value before combining the rest. Since a 2023 amendment, VA leaves a bilateral disability out of the factor if that produces a higher final rating.

Watch out: The code VA chose is printed on your decision. If a condition was rated under a code whose criteria do not describe the symptoms in the record, that is a specific, reviewable error.

The schedule rates each condition separately; 38 CFR 4.25 combines them. A person with a 60% disability is "40 percent efficient," so a second condition can only take a share of that remaining 40. VA orders the ratings from highest to lowest and applies each one to what remains. It rounds once at the end to the nearest 10, with values ending in 5 going up.

The regulation's own examples: 50% and 30% combine to 65, which rounds to 70%. 40% and 20% combine to 52, which rounds to 50%. And 60%, 40% and 20% combine to 76, then 81, which rounds to 80%.

The lookup table, more examples and a calculator are in VA math and the combined rating calculator; the VA disability pillar guide shows how it fits into a claim, and VA's own explainer walks through the same table.

A separate rate table turns the percentage into money. The rates below took effect December 1, 2025, after the 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment for 2026, and they are tax-free.

Source: https://www.va.gov/disability/compensation-rates/veteran-rates/, effective December 1, 2025.

Every level and dependent combination is in VA disability rates for 2026; the VA disability compensation guide covers how payments start and change.

2 provisions pay beyond the schedule:

• TDIU, 38 CFR 4.16. Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU) pays the 100% rate to a veteran who cannot keep substantially gainful work because of service-connected conditions. The regulation sets 2 rating thresholds: 1 condition rated 60% or more, or a combined rating of 70% with 1 condition at 40%. Marginal work, generally earnings at or below the Census Bureau poverty threshold for 1 person, does not count against you. See the total disability benefits guide.
• Special Monthly Compensation (SMC). Extra pay for specific losses or needs, on top of or instead of the schedular rate. SMC-K is $139.87 a month and can be added at any rating from 0% to 100%; the SMC-S housebound rate for a veteran alone is $4,408.53 (effective December 1, 2025).

VA is changing the rating schedule less in 2026 than the headlines suggest. VA has been rewriting the schedule 1 body system at a time for years. Here is where each piece stood on eCFR (the online Code of Federal Regulations) and the Federal Register in September 2026.

Took effect in 2026, then reversed. On February 17, 2026, VA published an interim final rule, Evaluative Rating: Impact of Medication (91 FR 7118), effective that day. It added language to 38 CFR 4.10 saying that when medication or treatment lowers the level of disability, the rating is based on that lowered level. It was a response to the 2025 court decision Ingram v. Collins. On February 27, 2026, VA rescinded it (91 FR 9712) and restored the prior text. The current 4.10 has no medication sentence.

Still proposed, not in effect. The rewrites that dominate 2026 search results remain proposed rules:

• Mental disorders. The February 15, 2022 proposed rule would replace the General Rating Formula with 5 domains (cognition; interpersonal interactions and relationships; task completion and life activities; navigating environments; self-care). It would rate at 10, 30, 50, 70 or 100%, and set a 10% minimum for any diagnosed mental disorder, ending the 0% tier. The current 4.130 still carries its 2014 amendment date.
• Sleep apnea. The same day's ear, nose, throat and respiratory proposed rule would rate DC 6847 by how well treatment works. It would pay 0% if asymptomatic with or without treatment, 10% for incomplete relief, and 50% or 100% only when treatment is ineffective or cannot be used, with 100% requiring end-organ damage. The current 4.97 still pays 50% for a prescribed CPAP.
• Tinnitus. That proposed rule would also remove DC 6260 and compensate tinnitus only through its underlying cause, such as hearing loss. The current 4.87 still pays a flat 10%.
• Neurological conditions. A November 12, 2024 proposed rule would modernize sections 4.120 to 4.124a; no final rule.

Smaller proposals. Painful scars under DC 7804 (proposed September 29, 2025) and a minimum 10% for bradycardia after a pacemaker (proposed January 30, 2026). The last body system actually finalized was the digestive system, effective May 19, 2024.

What this means for you: the criteria on eCFR today are the criteria VA is using today. If a final rule does arrive, 38 CFR 3.951(a) says a readjustment to the schedule cannot reduce an existing rating without medical evidence that the condition actually improved. Whether to file before a change is a question for you and an accredited representative.

A rating decision can be checked against the schedule in 5 steps. This is the same comparison a VA-accredited representative makes when reviewing a decision letter, free of charge.

1. The code sheet on the rating decision lists a diagnostic code for each condition.
2. That code on eCFR (the body-system table above gives the section) has every tier, not just the one VA picked.
3. The tier language is compared to the claim exam report and treatment records. The C&P exam preparation guide explains how the exam report is obtained.
4. The special rules apply next: 4.7 at a close call, pyramiding, whether an analogous code fits, and the bilateral factor for paired-limb ratings.
5. The combined ratings calculator confirms the math.

If the schedule supports a higher tier than VA assigned, the VA disability appeal guide explains the review options. Is your VA disability rating too low? lists common under-rating patterns. VA's M21-1 Adjudication Procedures Manual, which tells raters how to apply the schedule, is public. You can get free help with this review from a VA-accredited representative.

State benefits do not use the schedule directly, but almost all of them use the percentage it produces. Property tax exemptions usually start at a set rating or at 100% permanent and total. Vehicle registration discounts, hunting and fishing licenses, and tuition programs for dependents commonly require a minimum rating. Check your state's rules whenever your rating changes.