How the VA Rates Your Condition: Guides for Illinois Veterans
One guide per condition, each with the official rating criteria, what every level pays in 2026, and the records that tend to make the difference for veterans in the Quad Cities and across Illinois.
Condition Guides
How VA Ratings Actually Work
Each condition is scored against its own yardstick
Part 4 of 38 CFR assigns every disability a diagnostic code with written criteria for each percentage. Read the criteria for your condition first; they tell you exactly which symptoms and test results your evidence needs to show.
Percentages combine, they don’t stack
The VA uses “whole person” math: each rating applies only to the capacity left after the larger ones, and the total rounds to the nearest 10%. A 40% and a 30% combine to 58%, which becomes 60%. Try your own mix in the calculator.
One condition can lead to another
When a service-connected problem causes or worsens a second one, such as back pain that brings on nerve symptoms in the leg, the second condition can earn its own rating. These secondary claims are some of the most often overlooked.
Ways We Can Help
Illinois Veterans: Know What Your Rating Should Be
Start with a free, no-obligation case review. It takes about a minute.