PTSD VA Rating Explained: The Criteria at 30%, 50%, 70%, and 100%

If you're filing a PTSD claim, the diagnosis itself is only half the picture. The percentage you actually get paid at depends on a completely separate question: how much does it impair your ability to work and function socially? That's what the rating schedule measures, and it's worth understanding before you write a word of your personal statement.

What regulation actually rates PTSD?

PTSD is rated under Diagnostic Code 9411, which points to the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders at 38 CFR § 4.130. That's the same formula used for depression, anxiety, and every other psychiatric diagnosis — there's no separate, PTSD-specific rating scale. The words in that regulation are what a rater is checking your file against, so they're worth knowing precisely.

What does each rating level require — and pay?

The schedule describes each level in terms of overall occupational and social impairment, with example symptoms attached. The 2026 monthly rates below are for a veteran alone; dependents add more starting at 30%.

Two reading rules change how you should use that table:

• The symptoms are illustrative, not a checklist. Courts have held the § 4.130 lists are examples of severity, not requirements — a veteran can rate at 70% without obsessional rituals if the overall picture shows deficiencies in most areas.
• Ties go to the higher level. Under 38 CFR § 4.7, when your impairment sits between two ratings, the higher applies if your picture "more nearly approximates" it. A file that documents mostly-50% symptoms plus suicidal ideation is a file a rater must weigh against the 70% level, not round down.

What separates 30% from 50%?

The jump from 30% to 50% is largely about frequency and reliability. At 30%, panic attacks happen weekly or less, and the impact on work is occasional and intermittent — bad weeks, not a bad life. At 50%, the language shifts to "reduced reliability and productivity": the impairment isn't occasional anymore, it's a standing feature of how you function, with panic attacks more than once a week and judgment or relationships noticeably affected.

What separates 50% from 70%?

This is usually the biggest jump veterans experience in real terms — in the criteria and in the check. At 50%, symptoms reduce how reliably you function. At 70%, the schedule's phrase is "deficiencies in most areas" — work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, and mood, not just one or two. The example symptoms include suicidal ideation, obsessional rituals that interfere with routine activities, illogical speech, and near-continuous panic or depression affecting independent functioning.

The 70% level also matters for a second reason: it's a TDIU threshold. A veteran at 70% for PTSD who can't hold substantially gainful work can be paid at the 100% rate without reaching 100% on paper.

What does 100% actually require?

100% is total occupational and social impairment — not severe, total. The schedule's examples describe a level most veterans, even those significantly disabled by PTSD, won't fully meet: gross impairment in thought processes or communication, persistent delusions or hallucinations, grossly inappropriate behavior, persistent danger of hurting yourself or others, intermittent inability to perform activities of daily living, disorientation to time or place, or severe memory loss such as forgetting your own name. If your real situation is "can't work, but functioning at home," the honest comparison is usually 70% + TDIU, not schedular 100%.

The "automatic 50%" rule, and what it actually is

You'll see claims that PTSD "starts at 50%." The real rule is narrower: under 38 CFR § 4.129, a veteran discharged from service because of a mental disorder caused by a highly stressful in-service event gets a minimum 50% rating — temporarily. It lasts six months, followed by a re-examination that assigns the lasting rating. If you weren't medically discharged for the condition, no automatic anything applies; the § 4.130 criteria above decide everything.

Why can't I get separate ratings for PTSD, depression, and anxiety?

Because the anti-pyramiding rule (38 CFR § 4.14) prohibits rating the same functional impairment twice. PTSD, depression, and anxiety share overlapping symptoms — sleep disturbance, concentration problems, mood — so the VA assigns one combined mental health rating covering all of it, at whichever severity level your evidence supports. Filing five diagnoses produces one rating, and a new diagnosis later is evaluated as a claim for increase to that single rating.

What does stack: physically distinct secondary conditions. Sleep apnea secondary to PTSD is its own diagnostic code and its own rating, and it's one of the most-filed secondary claims in the system. GERD, migraines, and hypertension have documented pathways from PTSD too — separate body systems, separate ratings.

What should the evidence in my file actually show?

Since the rating turns on functional impairment, the evidence that moves it is evidence of impact:

• Ongoing therapy or psychiatry records — ask your provider to track validated scale scores like the PCL-5 over time, so the file shows a documented pattern rather than a single snapshot.
• The stressor, stated once and precisely. VA Form 21-0781 is where the in-service stressor lives; combat, fear-of-hostile-activity, and MST claims have relaxed corroboration rules, but the statement still has to be specific.
• Buddy statements from a spouse or family member describing concrete changes: isolation, anger outbursts, missed events.
• Work records connected to symptoms — reprimands, accommodations, or job loss tied to documented episodes.
• An honest C&P exam. Mental health exams are where "I'm fine" does the most damage — the C&P exam guide covers the traps.

Frame everything in terms of function, not feeling. "I have not been inside a grocery store in two years" tells a rater something specific; "I get anxious in public" doesn't. Quantify: panic attacks per week, nights of interrupted sleep, missed workdays.

Bottom line

PTSD's rating isn't decided by the diagnosis — it's decided by how completely the condition disrupts your work and relationships, measured against the specific language in § 4.130, with ties going to the higher level. Read the level above where you think you land, and check whether your records and personal statement actually describe that level of impairment, in those terms, before you file. The free scan maps your conditions — including the secondary pathways a PTSD rating supports — against the criteria before you spend a dollar on anything.

Sources: 38 CFR § 4.130 — Schedule of ratings, mental disorders, 38 CFR § 4.7 — Higher of two evaluations, 38 CFR § 4.129, 38 CFR § 4.14 — Avoidance of pyramiding, VA.gov — PTSD disability benefits.