Criteria and payment examples checked against official sources on .
How the VA rates PTSD
PTSD uses Diagnostic Code 9411 in 38 CFR 4.130. VA assigns a percentage for the impairment documented in your record, rather than counting diagnoses or using a calculator to score symptoms.
Under 38 CFR 4.126, VA considers how often symptoms occur, how severe they are, how long they last and how you function between episodes. The whole record matters, not just how you appeared at one examination. Social difficulties alone do not determine the evaluation.
PTSD rating criteria by level
These are brief summaries of the current mental-disorder rating formula, not a symptom checklist or a way to self-assign a rating.
A diagnosis is established, but symptoms do not meaningfully disrupt work or social functioning and ongoing medication is not needed.
Symptoms are mild or brief, affecting work mainly during considerable stress, or are kept under control by ongoing medication.
Work performance sometimes declines or tasks cannot be completed for periods, while ordinary functioning is generally maintained.
Symptoms make performance less dependable and productive, with effects on work and relationships.
Symptoms cause substantial shortcomings across most major areas of life, including work, relationships, judgment or mood.
The disability produces total impairment in both work and social functioning.
PTSD combined with other conditions
Other separately rated, service-connected conditions can change your final rating. VA combines percentages using Table I in 38 CFR 4.25, then rounds the final result to the nearest ten, with a final five rounding upward. These are arithmetic examples, not assumptions about which conditions will be granted.
30% of the remaining 30 = 9.
Table I result: 70 + 9 = 79%.
Final rating: 80%.
2026 basic pay, veteran alone: $2,102.15.
| Assigned ratings | Before final rounding | Final rating | 2026 monthly pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| 70% PTSD + 30% sleep apnea | 79% | 80% | $2,102.15 |
| 70% PTSD + 10% tinnitus | 73% | 70% | $1,808.45 |
| 70% PTSD + 50% sleep apnea | 85% | 90% | $2,362.30 |
| 70% PTSD + 50% sleep apnea + 10% tinnitus | 87% | 90% | $2,362.30 |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
Adding a rating does not always move the final percentage. In the tinnitus example, 73% still rounds to 70%, so basic pay stays the same. With three ratings, use the table at each step: 70% and 50% give 85%, then 10% gives 87% before final rounding.
Check your own combination in the interactive VA disability calculator, follow the VA combined-rating examples, or compare dependents in the 2026 VA compensation chart.
Secondary conditions to PTSD
Having PTSD and another diagnosis does not prove that one caused the other. Under 38 CFR 3.310, a secondary claim needs evidence of causation or aggravation by a service-connected disability. Aggravation also requires medical evidence establishing baseline severity; an association or a general article does not establish the relationship in your individual case.
- Sleep apnea: a sleep study can establish the diagnosis, but does not itself show a connection to PTSD. See the sleep apnea criteria and evidence guide.
- Depression and anxiety: overlapping mental-health symptoms generally receive one evaluation. 38 CFR 4.14 prevents compensating the same impairment twice; separate diagnosis labels or different service events do not automatically justify separate ratings.
- Other conditions or medication effects: document the diagnosis, treatment timeline and medical explanation for the claimed link. Whether digestive, cardiovascular or sexual-function symptoms support a separate award depends on the evidence and applicable criteria, not a standard list of PTSD secondaries.
TDIU and PTSD
TDIU can pay compensation at the 100% rate when service-connected disabilities prevent substantially gainful work, even though the schedular rating is lower. The usual percentage thresholds in 38 CFR 4.16 are one disability at 60% or more, or multiple disabilities combining to at least 70% with one at 40% or more. Certain disabilities can count as one for this threshold.
A single 70% PTSD rating meets the usual percentage threshold; it does not establish inability to work or guarantee TDIU. Marginal or protected work can require separate consideration. Section 4.16(b) provides a referral route when the ordinary percentage thresholds are not met.
The calculator shows ordinary schedular pay and does not assess TDIU. For evidence and application details, use VA's Individual Unemployability guide or discuss your record with an accredited representative.
If your PTSD was denied or underrated
First separate a service-connection denial from a disagreement with an assigned percentage. Under 38 CFR 3.304(f), service connection generally requires a qualifying diagnosis, a medical link to an in-service stressor and the applicable evidence of that stressor. Some circumstances have special evidentiary rules.
- Read the stated reason: identify whether VA questioned the diagnosis, stressor, medical relationship, current impairment or effective date.
- Compare the evidence: review treatment records, the C&P report, medical opinions and statements describing actual effects on work and relationships.
- Personal assault or MST: section 3.304(f)(5) allows supporting evidence outside service records, including relevant behavior changes. The absence of an official report does not end the evidence inquiry.
- Choose the appropriate review route: check the decision's instructions and deadlines. A Supplemental Claim, Higher-Level Review and Board Appeal have different evidence rules.
Start with VA's official decision-review options, our guide to a denied VA claim, or help from an accredited VSO. A source-cited document review can help you locate records and questions to discuss; it does not replace filing the required VA review request.
Reexaminations and rating protections are different
There is no automatic permanent PTSD rating after five or ten years. 38 CFR 3.327 describes when routine future examinations generally are not scheduled, including certain static or unchanged disabilities. VA retains authority to request an examination when needed.
- Five years: 38 CFR 3.344 adds stabilization requirements for evaluations maintained at the same level for five years or more; this is not an absolute ban on reduction.
- Ten years: 38 CFR 3.957 protects service connection, with exceptions for fraud and lack of qualifying service or discharge. It does not freeze the percentage.
- Twenty years: 38 CFR 3.951 generally protects an evaluation maintained at or above that level for twenty years from reduction below it, except for fraud.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Having a job does not by itself rule out a 70% schedular rating. VA considers the documented impact on work and social functioning, including symptom frequency, severity and duration. TDIU has a separate employment test. See 38 CFR 4.126 and 38 CFR 4.16.
Overlapping mental-health symptoms are generally evaluated together. A second diagnosis or a different service event does not automatically justify another rating: 38 CFR 4.14 prohibits paying twice for the same manifestations. Ask your representative how VA addressed any genuinely distinct impairment.
There is no single schedule for everyone. 38 CFR 3.327 addresses when reexamination is needed and when routine future exams generally are not scheduled. Five-year stabilization, ten-year service-connection protection and twenty-year rating protection are different rules, not an automatic permanent rating. See the linked explanation above.
It is a medical opinion explaining the relationship between PTSD and a service stressor. 38 CFR 3.304(f) requires medical evidence linking current symptoms to the stressor, as well as diagnosis and applicable stressor evidence. A private letter is not automatically required in every case, and proving that an event occurred does not by itself supply the medical link.
Diagnostic Code 9411 uses the mental-disorder formula with levels of 0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, 70% and 100%. See the current rating schedule. The calculator estimates compensation after you enter a rating; it does not assign one.
Basic monthly compensation is $1,808.45 for a veteran alone, $1,961.45 with a spouse and $2,074.45 with a spouse and one child, with no dependent parents or additional allowances. These amounts apply if the final combined rating is 70%; other compensable conditions can change it.
If separately assigned, 70% and 50% combine to 85% under Table I, then round to 90%. Basic 2026 pay for a veteran alone is $2,362.30 per month. This arithmetic example does not establish a secondary connection or entitlement to either rating.
No. Having both diagnoses does not establish a causal relationship. A secondary claim requires evidence that a service-connected condition caused or aggravated the other disability under 38 CFR 3.310. For aggravation, VA also addresses the baseline severity.
No. A single 70% rating meets the usual single-disability percentage threshold, but VA must also find that service-connected disability prevents substantially gainful work. Work history, medical evidence and other relevant evidence matter. The calculator does not decide TDIU eligibility.
Yes. The rating schedule reserves 100% for total impairment in both work and social functioning. It is different from TDIU, which can pay at the 100% rate while the underlying schedular percentage remains lower.