Target rating planner: what do I need to reach 100%?
The calculator tells you where you stand. This planner runs the same VA math forward. Enter the ratings you already have and the combined rating you are aiming for, and it shows what one more rating at every level from 10% to 100% would do to your combined rating, including the bilateral version of each answer where pairing changes it.
Your current ratings and your goal
Enter the ratings you already have, ticking Bilateral for a rating on one side of a pair (an arm, a leg, or paired skeletal muscles) when the other side is also rated. Then pick the combined rating you are aiming for. The planner runs the same 38 CFR 4.25 and 4.26 math as the calculator on every possible added rating.
The address bar encodes only the ratings and goal above, so you can bookmark or share a plan. Nothing is sent to a server: the math runs in your browser.
How to read the results
- The real threshold is the combined value, not the rating. VA rounds once, at the end, so a goal of 90% is really a combined value of 85 or more. The planner works in combined values and shows both numbers for every option.
- The smallest single rating is the headline. Ratings are awarded in 10% steps, so the answer is the lowest step whose row is highlighted. A rating at that level or above it reaches the goal.
- Watch the bilateral column. If one side of a pair (say, the right knee) is already rated, a new rating on the other side can switch on the bilateral factor and be worth several extra points. Where that changes the outcome, the planner shows both versions of the row instead of one.
- Seeking an increase is different from adding. An increase replaces the rating on that condition; it does not stack on top of it. To model an increase, enter your ratings with that condition at the level you are seeking, not in addition to its current level.
What this planner cannot tell you
It does arithmetic, not claims advice. Whether VA grants a new rating or an increase depends on the rating schedule for the condition and the evidence in your file, and a 60% rating on one condition is not interchangeable with 60% on another in any sense except the math. Special Monthly Compensation and TDIU are also outside this arithmetic. If the plan says a rating would get you to your goal, the next question is whether the evidence supports that rating, which is a question for your decision letter, an accredited representative, or a VSO.