PTSD VA rating criteria and scale
Almost every mental health condition in the schedule, PTSD, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, is rated on the same six-tier formula; eating disorders are the exception. The formula is not about your diagnosis. It is about how much the condition gets in the way of work and relationships.
VA rates PTSD under diagnostic code 9411 at 0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, or 100%. The percentage reflects how much the condition impairs work and social functioning, judged from the frequency, severity, and duration of symptoms across the whole record, not from the diagnosis or one exam (38 CFR § 4.130; § 4.126). The code is only a label: the rating comes from the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders, which also covers depression and anxiety (diagnostic codes 9434, 9400, and 9413, among others), so the chart below is also the VA mental health rating chart. Note 2 to § 4.130 sends diagnostic codes 9201 to 9440 to it.
VA PTSD rating chart: the six tiers
Each tier opens with a phrase describing the overall level of occupational and social impairment, followed by a list of symptoms offered as examples of that level. The phrase is the rating. The symptoms are illustrations.
| Rating | Level of impairment | Example symptoms the schedule lists |
|---|---|---|
| 0% | Diagnosed, but symptoms are not severe enough to interfere with work or social functioning, or to require continuous medication. | None listed. |
| 10% | Mild or transient symptoms that decrease work efficiency only during periods of significant stress, or symptoms controlled by continuous medication. | None listed beyond the description. |
| 30% | Occasional decrease in work efficiency and intermittent periods of inability to perform occupational tasks, generally functioning satisfactorily. | Depressed mood, anxiety, suspiciousness, panic attacks (weekly or less often), chronic sleep impairment, mild memory loss. |
| 50% | Reduced reliability and productivity. | Flattened affect, circumstantial speech, panic attacks more than once a week, difficulty understanding complex commands, impaired short- and long-term memory (for example, forgetting to complete tasks), impaired judgment and abstract thinking, disturbances of motivation and mood, difficulty maintaining effective work and social relationships. |
| 70% | Deficiencies in most areas, such as work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood. | Suicidal ideation, obsessional rituals, intermittently illogical, obscure, or irrelevant speech, near-continuous panic or depression affecting independent function, impaired impulse control such as unprovoked irritability with periods of violence, spatial disorientation, neglect of personal appearance and hygiene, difficulty adapting to stressful circumstances including work, inability to establish and maintain effective relationships. |
| 100% | Total occupational and social impairment. | Gross impairment in thought or communication, persistent delusions or hallucinations, grossly inappropriate behavior, persistent danger of hurting self or others, intermittent inability to perform activities of daily living, including minimal personal hygiene, disorientation to time or place, memory loss for names of close relatives, own occupation, or own name. |
The Federal Circuit held in Vazquez-Claudio v. Shinseki (2013) that the symptoms in each tier are examples, not requirements, and that the question is whether your symptoms are of the same frequency, severity, and duration as those listed, producing that tier's level of impairment. You do not need every symptom in the 70% row to be rated 70%. You need symptoms like them, producing deficiencies in most areas. The earlier case Mauerhan v. Principi (2002) said the same about symptoms not on the list at all: they count too, if they cause the same level of impairment.
VA mental health rating changes: where the proposal stands
VA has proposed replacing the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders. The proposal, "Schedule for Rating Disabilities: Mental Disorders" (RIN 2900-AQ82), was published in the Federal Register on February 15, 2022 at 87 FR 8498, and its comment period closed on April 18, 2022. As of October 25, 2026, the Federal Register lists no final rule under that RIN, and § 4.130 on eCFR still carries the six tiers above. A proposal changes no rating until VA publishes a final rule, so PTSD, depression, anxiety, and other mental disorders are rated today on the current formula.
What the proposal would change, if adopted as proposed:
- Five areas of functioning instead of a symptom list. Cognition; interpersonal interactions and relationships; task completion and life activities; navigating environments; and self-care. Each would be scored from 0, no difficulties, to 4, total impairment, partly by how often the impairment occurs.
- A rating from the scores. 100% for a 4 in any area or a 3 in two or more; 70% for a 3 in one area or a 2 in two or more; 50% for a 2 in one area; 30% for a 1 in two or more areas; and 10% as the minimum for any other diagnosed disorder.
- No 0% level. The current formula's 0% rating would go, so every diagnosed mental disorder would be rated at least 10%.
- One formula for eating disorders too, which today have their own formula.
VA's proposal reports that, in its proof-of-concept study, the new formula raised the average rating. If a final rule is published, the statute behind the rating schedule bars a schedule change from reducing a rating already in effect unless the condition has actually improved (38 U.S.C. § 1155). The final rule could differ from the proposal, so check the Federal Register before relying on any of these details.
What the tiers mean in real life
The abstract language hides a fairly concrete picture:
- 30% describes someone who holds a job and has relationships, but has bad weeks. Sleep is a problem, mood is a problem, there are panic attacks now and then.
- 50% describes someone whose work product and attendance are genuinely unreliable because of the condition, whose relationships are strained, and who may be on a second or third job in a few years.
- 70% describes deficiencies in most areas at once, such as work, family, judgment, and mood. Suicidal ideation sits in this tier, and the Veterans Court held in Bankhead v. Shulkin (2017) that ideation alone, without a plan or intent, is still the 70% symptom the schedule names.
- 100% describes total occupational and social impairment: someone who cannot function at work or in society at all.
A veteran who works full time can still be rated 70%. Work is one area among several, and the schedule asks about deficiencies in most areas, not all. Do not let anyone tell you a job caps you at 50%.
Suppose a veteran service-connected for PTSD under DC 9411 has a year of treatment notes recording panic attacks two or three times a week, chronic sleep impairment, flattened affect, and forgetting to finish tasks at work. The veteran works full time but has two written warnings for missed deadlines, and a spouse's statement describes withdrawal from friends. The notes describe judgment and thinking as intact and the marriage as stable. At the C&P exam, after a good week, the veteran reports one panic attack.
- Sort the symptoms. Chronic sleep impairment sits in the 30% list, which covers panic attacks "weekly or less often". Panic attacks "more than once a week", flattened affect, and forgetting to complete tasks sit in the 50% list.
- Weigh the whole record. Section 4.126(a) directs the rater to frequency, severity, and duration across all the evidence, not solely the examiner's view on exam day, so one good week does not erase a year of notes showing two or three attacks a week.
- Ask the impairment question. Missed deadlines describe reduced reliability and productivity, the 50% phrase, and pulling away from friends matches the 50% list's difficulty maintaining effective social relationships. With judgment, thinking, and family relations intact, the facts do not show deficiencies in most areas, the 70% phrase.
Applied to these facts, the formula's language lines up with the 50% tier, not the 30% tier the exam snapshot alone might suggest.
Service connection for PTSD: the stressor
PTSD has its own paragraph in the service-connection rules, 38 CFR § 3.304(f), Direct service connection; wartime and peacetime. It requires a diagnosis, a link between the symptoms and an in-service stressor, and credible supporting evidence that the stressor occurred. That third element is where claims used to die, and the regulation now relaxes it in five situations: PTSD diagnosed during service, combat, fear of hostile military or terrorist activity, prisoner-of-war experience, and personal assault. Three of them in more detail:
- Combat. If you engaged in combat and the stressor is related to it, your own statement is enough, if consistent with the circumstances of your service.
- Fear of hostile military or terrorist activity. Since 2010, a stressor involving fear of hostile activity, such as incoming mortar fire, an IED threat, or suspected sniper fire, does not need independent corroboration if a VA psychiatrist or psychologist, or one VA has contracted with, confirms it is adequate to support the diagnosis and your symptoms are related to it. This is § 3.304(f)(3). It is not limited to any era; the stressor only has to be consistent with the places, types, and circumstances of your service.
- Military sexual trauma. Under § 3.304(f)(5), evidence from outside service records can corroborate an MST stressor: behavioral changes, requests for transfer, performance drops, statements from people you told at the time. The March 2024 edition of Form 21-0781 has a checkbox for MST and a dedicated item for behavioral changes after a personal traumatic event.
The stressor statement is VA Form 21-0781. It is optional, and if you file online and answer the application's optional mental health questions, you do not need a separate one. Either way, give dates, locations, unit, and names where you have them.
PTSD with depression or anxiety
Where the symptoms of PTSD, depression, and anxiety overlap, VA rates the combined occupational and social impairment once under § 4.130 rather than once per diagnosis, because § 4.14 bars evaluating the same disability, or the same symptom, under different diagnoses. The practical consequence is that a second mental health diagnosis does not add a second percentage for the same symptoms, but it can push the single rating up a tier if the combined picture is worse.
Physical conditions that grow out of a mental health condition are a different story. Sleep apnea, GERD, hypertension, or migraines can be service connected as secondary conditions under 38 CFR § 3.310 when the evidence, usually a medical opinion such as a nexus letter, shows PTSD caused or worsened them, and each of those gets its own rating (for a condition PTSD only worsened, the rating covers the increase above its baseline). See how the VA rates sleep apnea and the secondary conditions guide.
The evidence that moves a mental health rating
- Treatment records over time. Section 4.126(a) has the rater look at all the evidence, not only the exam, and a year of therapy notes shows frequency and duration in a way one exam cannot. The VA charges no copay for readjustment counseling and related mental health services or for MST-related care, whatever your rating or priority group, and Vet Centers offer free counseling without VA health care enrollment or a rating.
- A symptom log. Panic attacks, nights of broken sleep, days missed, arguments, the week you did not shower. Frequency is what the tiers measure, and nobody remembers frequency accurately in an exam six months later.
- Lay statements. A spouse, a supervisor, a friend from the unit, describing specific changes they saw. These are evidence of social and occupational impairment, which is the actual question, and § 4.126(a) has the rater weigh all the evidence bearing on that impairment, not only the exam.
- Employment records. Write-ups, job changes, accommodations, terminations. Occupational impairment is half the formula.
- A DBQ or opinion from your own treating provider, if the C&P exam comes back low. There is no rule that a treating provider's opinion wins, or that the examiner's does: the rater weighs each opinion, giving weight to how well the provider knows your history, so ask your provider to explain the reasoning behind the opinion.
A mental health C&P exam is a snapshot of one day, and the examiner writes down what you say. Veterans trained to answer "I'm fine" can understate what they live with. Describe the full range, your typical weeks, your worse weeks, and how often each happens, and say what you have stopped doing: the crowds you avoid, the jobs you left, the relationships that ended. Preparing for a C&P exam covers this in detail.
When the rating is not enough
A veteran rated 70% for PTSD who cannot hold a job has a strong case for TDIU, which pays the 100% rate without a 100% rating. The single-disability threshold in 38 CFR § 4.16(a), one condition rated 60% or more, is already met. Read TDIU explained before you assume the next step is an appeal.
PTSD rating questions
How does VA rate PTSD?
VA rates the level of occupational and social impairment PTSD causes, using the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders. The rater considers how often symptoms occur, how severe they are, how long they last, and how you function between flare-ups, based on all the evidence of record rather than only the examiner's view on exam day. A diagnosis alone does not set the percentage, and social impairment alone cannot set it either (38 CFR § 4.126).
What are the VA PTSD rating criteria and scale?
The scale has six steps: 0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, and 100%. Each step opens with a level of impairment, from symptoms not severe enough to interfere with work or social functioning at 0% up to total occupational and social impairment at 100%, followed by example symptoms. The examples are illustrations, not a checklist to count. See the rating chart above (38 CFR § 4.130).
What is the VA diagnostic code for PTSD?
Diagnostic code 9411, posttraumatic stress disorder. The code only identifies the condition. The percentage comes from the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders that the code points to (38 CFR § 4.130).
Which part of 38 CFR covers PTSD?
Three sections do different jobs. 38 CFR § 4.130 holds the rating schedule: diagnostic code 9411 and the General Rating Formula. 38 CFR § 4.126 sets how mental disorders are evaluated, including weighing the whole record. 38 CFR § 3.304(f) sets what service connection for PTSD requires: a diagnosis, a medical link between current symptoms and an in-service stressor, and credible supporting evidence that the stressor occurred (38 CFR § 3.304).
Are PTSD and depression rated separately?
Not for the symptoms they share. VA rates the combined impairment from overlapping psychiatric symptoms once under the General Rating Formula, because 38 CFR § 4.14 bars evaluating the same disability or the same symptom under different diagnoses. A second diagnosis does not add a second percentage for the same symptoms, but it can raise the single rating if the overall impairment is worse. Physical conditions caused by PTSD, such as sleep apnea, are a separate matter and can carry their own ratings (38 CFR § 4.14).
Are PTSD and anxiety rated separately?
The same rule applies. Where anxiety and PTSD symptoms overlap, VA rates them together in one evaluation, since 38 CFR § 4.14 bars rating the same symptom twice. An anxiety diagnosis alongside PTSD can still matter, because the rating reflects the overall level of impairment from all the psychiatric symptoms together (38 CFR § 4.14).
What are the proposed VA mental health rating changes?
VA proposed a new formula for all mental disorders on February 15, 2022 (RIN 2900-AQ82, 87 FR 8498). As of October 25, 2026, the Federal Register lists no final rule, and § 4.130 still uses the current six tiers. As proposed, ratings would rest on scores from 0 to 4 in five areas of functioning, the 0% level would end with a 10% minimum, and eating disorders would join the same formula. A schedule change cannot reduce a rating already in effect unless the condition has improved. The section above covers the details (87 FR 8498; 38 U.S.C. § 1155).
Sources
- 38 CFR § 4.130, Diagnostic Code 9411 and the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders: the six rating tiers, DC 9411 and the other mental disorder codes, and Note 2 sending codes 9201 to 9440 to that formula and eating disorders to their own. The 87 FR 8498 (Feb. 15, 2022) proposed rule is the pending revision, not yet adopted.
- 38 U.S.C. § 1155, Authority for schedule for rating disabilities: a schedule change cannot reduce a rating in effect on its effective date unless improvement is shown.
- 38 CFR § 4.126(a), Evaluation of disability from mental disorders: rate on the frequency, severity, and duration of symptoms and all the evidence, not solely the exam.
- 38 CFR § 4.14, Avoidance of pyramiding: the rule against rating the same disability under several diagnoses (pyramiding).
- 38 CFR § 3.304(f), Direct service connection; wartime and peacetime: the three elements of PTSD service connection and the five relaxed stressor rules.
- 75 FR 39843 (July 13, 2010), Stressor Determinations for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: the final rule that added the fear-of-hostile-activity provision.
- 38 CFR § 4.16(a), Total disability ratings for compensation based on unemployability of the individual: the TDIU thresholds, one disability at 60% or more, or a combined 70% with one at 40%.
- VA Form 21-0781 (March 2024): the statement in support of a mental health claim based on an in-service traumatic event, including MST. VA's form page says it is optional and not needed separately when the online application's mental health questions are answered.
- Board of Veterans' Appeals, Citation Nr. A24000179 (Jan. 2, 2024): applies Mauerhan, Vazquez-Claudio, and Bankhead to a mental health rating.
READY214 holds a daily symptom and mood log, tracks the evidence buckets for each condition, and maps the physical conditions commonly claimed as secondary to a mental health rating. Free, no account needed to look.