38 CFR §4.25
The Combined Ratings Table
Why 50% plus 30% equals 70%, not 80% — the “whole person” formula the VA uses to combine multiple ratings.
Read the official text of 38 CFR §4.25In plain English
The VA does not add your ratings together. It combines them using a whole-person method. You start as 100 percent of a person. Your highest rating is applied first, and what is left over is the efficiency you still have. The next rating is applied to that remainder — not to the original 100.
Work an example. A 50% rating leaves 50 remaining. A 30% rating applied to those 50 removes 15 more, for 65. Add that to the first 50 and you get 85, which rounds to a 90% combined rating. Change the numbers and the same logic applies every time: each additional rating is worth less than its face value.
After all ratings are combined, the final figure is rounded to the nearest 10 percent. An 85 becomes 90. An 84 becomes 80. That single rounding step can be worth hundreds of dollars a month, which is why the order and accuracy of every individual rating matters.
What the rule actually requires
- Disabilities are combined, never added, using the combined ratings table in the regulation.
- Ratings are applied in order from highest to lowest against the remaining “efficiency”.
- The final combined value is converted to the nearest 10 percent — for example, 85 becomes 90.
- The bilateral factor under §4.26 is applied before the final rounding when both arms or both legs are involved.
Why this matters to your claim
Veterans routinely expect a higher combined number than they receive and assume the VA made an error. Usually the combining math is correct — the real problem is that one of the individual ratings underneath it is too low. Fix the underlying rating and the combined number moves.
This is our plain-English summary, written for veterans — it is not the regulation itself and it is not legal advice. The controlling text is the current official version, linked above. The VA makes all final decisions about eligibility and payment.
Official text of 38 CFR §4.25
