A free guide to VA benefits.
Written plainly. Built by a U.S. Army veteran and former VA HUD-VASH housing and peer specialist.
Look up rating criteria for hundreds of conditions, walk through the claims process step by step, and find your state's veteran benefits.
Free. No signup. Your answers stay on your device.
What brings you here?
Pick whichever path matches what you're looking for. Everything on the site is free.
See what you may be eligible for
Answer a few questions about your service and get a personalized list of federal and state benefits to look into. About three minutes.
Take the 3-minute briefingDisability ratingsLook up a specific condition
Rating criteria, diagnostic codes, evidence requirements, and C&P exam tips for hundreds of conditions across every body system.
Browse rating articlesClaims processNavigate the claims process
Step-by-step guides on filing, evidence, nexus letters, C&P exams, appeals, supplemental claims, and the PACT Act.
Browse claims guidesState benefitsFind your state's benefits
Property tax exemptions, education waivers, employment preference, license programs — what your state offers beyond the federal VA.
Browse 50 states + DCCalculatorCombine your ratings
Calculate your combined VA rating using the official "whole person" formula, including the bilateral factor and final rounding.
Open the calculatorStart here
A few of the most-read pages across rating criteria, the claims process, and the blog.
PTSD Rating Criteria
How the VA rates PTSD under 38 CFR 4.130, what evidence helps, and common reasons for low initial ratings.
Read article →Claims guideBurn Pit & PACT Act Claims
Presumptive conditions under the PACT Act, who qualifies, and how to file or re-file a previously denied claim.
Read article →BlogHow to File a VA Disability Claim
A plain-English walkthrough of the claims process — from gathering evidence to what happens after you submit.
Read article →BlogHow VA Combined Ratings Work
Why two 50% disabilities do not add up to 100%. The "whole person" formula, the bilateral factor, and the final rounding step.
Read article →Recently updated
See everything that's changed →- Oct 30Pulmonary hypertension and bladder pages follow the printed schedule rows
The two pulmonary hypertension pages now print DC 6817's rows and Note identically and name the lung codes that carry their own pulmonary hypertension clause. The DC 7516 page says repaired-fistula residuals are rated as voiding dysfunction or urinary tract infection.
- Oct 28Survivor and burial posts become short overviews that point to rule guides
The DIC and burial benefits posts now give a plain overview: what each benefit is, who it is for, where to start and what to do next. Each points to the full rules guide for eligibility, deadlines and current amounts.
- Oct 28Survivor and burial guides: one page each for DIC, death, burial and cemetery
Four guides now cover DIC with VA.gov's current rates, how VA decides a service-connected death, burial, plot and transportation allowances, and national cemetery, headstone and memorial-item eligibility, read against 38 U.S.C., 38 CFR and VA.gov. Four overlapping pages now point to them.