VA PTSD Ratings Explained: 0%, 30%, 50%, 70%, 100%

PTSD is the most common mental-health rating in the VA disability system, and the rating criteria — codified at 38 CFR § 4.130 — are arguably the most consequential set of words in the entire schedule. The criteria do not measure clinical severity; they measure occupational and social impairment, as captured in a specific list of symptoms. Two veterans with identical clinical PTSD presentations can end up at very different ratings depending on how their symptoms map onto the schedule, which is why understanding the language of § 4.130 is the single highest-leverage piece of knowledge for veterans pursuing a mental-health claim.

This guide walks through all five rating levels for PTSD, identifies which symptoms drive the rating to each tier, and explains what most C&P examiners get wrong.

The five rating levels under § 4.130

The rating schedule for PTSD under DC 9411 has five levels: 0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, and 100%. (The schedule lists 0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, and 100%, skipping 20% and the 40-60-80-90 levels — a quirk of the mental-health schedule that catches many veterans by surprise.)

0% — Diagnosis without occupational or social impairment. PTSD is documented but symptoms do not interfere with work or relationships, or the symptoms are controlled by continuous medication.

10% — Mild or transient symptoms that decrease work efficiency only during periods of significant stress, OR symptoms controlled by continuous medication.

30% — Occasional decrease in work efficiency and intermittent periods of inability to perform occupational tasks, with symptoms such as depressed mood, anxiety, suspiciousness, panic attacks weekly or less frequently, chronic sleep impairment, or mild memory loss.

50% — Reduced reliability and productivity due to symptoms such as flattened affect; circumstantial, circumlocutory, or stereotyped speech; panic attacks more than once a week; difficulty understanding complex commands; impairment of short and long-term memory; impaired judgment; impaired abstract thinking; disturbances of motivation and mood; and difficulty in establishing and maintaining effective work and social relationships.

70% — Deficiencies in most areas, such as work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood, due to such symptoms as suicidal ideation; obsessional rituals interfering with routine activities; intermittently illogical, obscure, or irrelevant speech; near-continuous panic or depression affecting the ability to function independently; impaired impulse control; spatial disorientation; neglect of personal appearance and hygiene; difficulty in adapting to stressful circumstances; and inability to establish and maintain effective relationships.

100% — Total occupational and social impairment, due to such symptoms as gross impairment in thought processes or communication; persistent delusions or hallucinations; grossly inappropriate behavior; persistent danger of hurting self or others; intermittent inability to perform activities of daily living; disorientation to time or place; and memory loss for names of close relatives, occupation, or own name.

How the VA actually applies the criteria

The criteria look like checklists, but they are not. Two crucial rules from case law govern how they are applied:

1. The Mauerhan rule. The symptoms listed at each level are examples, not requirements. A veteran does not have to exhibit every single symptom on the list to qualify for that rating; the question is whether the overall picture matches the broad descriptor at the top of each level (e.g. "deficiencies in most areas").

2. The "predominant disability picture" rule. Mental-health ratings are based on the picture during typical bad weeks, not on a single best or worst day. This is why we recommend that veterans describe their symptoms during typical flare-ups — not their good days — at C&P examinations.

Together these two rules mean that the gold-standard piece of evidence is a treating-clinician statement that says, in the language of the schedule, what the veteran's typical picture is. "The veteran exhibits deficiencies in most areas of work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, and mood" is a sentence that tracks the 70% language exactly, and that sentence in a credible treatment note is often the single piece of evidence that drives a rating from 50% to 70%.

The 50%-vs-70% threshold

The single most-litigated boundary in the schedule is between 50% (reduced reliability) and 70% (deficiencies in most areas). The 2026 monthly compensation gap is approximately $657 — and the long-term impact is much larger because reaching 70% opens the door to schedular TDIU eligibility.

The driving symptoms at the 70% level are:

• Suicidal ideation (which the veteran does not have to be actively planning to act on)
• Near-continuous panic or depression affecting the ability to function independently
• Difficulty in adapting to stressful circumstances
• Inability to establish and maintain effective relationships

A veteran whose treatment notes consistently document any one of these — particularly suicidal ideation, even passive — is, under the Mauerhan rule, eligible for the 70% rating regardless of whether other symptoms on the list are also present.

The 70%-vs-100% threshold

The 100% level requires "total occupational and social impairment" — the language is intentionally severe. Reaching 100% schedular for PTSD typically requires either inpatient hospitalization, persistent psychotic features, or grossly inappropriate behavior. Veterans whose work and social lives are limited but functional usually top out at 70% on the schedule alone.

This is exactly why TDIU exists: a veteran rated 70% for PTSD who is unable to maintain substantially gainful employment can be paid at the 100% rate via TDIU without meeting the schedular 100% criteria. For most veterans with severe PTSD, TDIU is the more realistic pathway than schedular 100%.

Common C&P-exam pitfalls

Several patterns produce systematic under-rating:

Describing your best day. C&P examiners often ask "how are you today?" and use that as the baseline. Always describe your typical bad week, not the day of the exam.

Underplaying suicidal ideation. Veterans frequently understate passive suicidal ideation out of fear of involuntary commitment. Passive ideation does not result in commitment — it results in a higher rating.

Failing to bring a list of symptoms. A printed sheet with the specific symptoms you experience, mapped to the schedule's language, prevents you from forgetting key items under the stress of the exam.

Letting the examiner skip questions. If the examiner does not ask about a specific symptom — for example, panic-attack frequency — bring it up yourself. The exam template is a list; missing items default to "not present."

Strategy for veterans currently rated below their actual level

If you currently have a 30% or 50% PTSD rating and your symptoms have worsened to match the next tier, file a claim for increase. The five-year and 20-year stable-rating protections under § 3.344 sharply limit decrease risk for ratings older than five years. Pair the increase claim with a clinician statement using schedule-tracking language.

If you currently have a 70% PTSD rating and you cannot work, consider TDIU — even if the underlying schedular rating would otherwise stay at 70%, TDIU pays at the 100% rate. See our TDIU vs schedular guide for the trade-offs.

If you have a 70% rating and you do work, consider building toward schedular 100% via secondary service connection. Sleep apnea secondary to PTSD and hypertension secondary to PTSD are the two most common secondary pathways and either of them, combined with a 70% PTSD rating, frequently pushes the combined rating into the schedular 100% range. Run your scenarios through the combined-rating calculator to see exactly how each new rating moves the total.