VA Disability Rating for Anxiety

VA rates anxiety on the same scale it uses for every mental health condition except eating disorders: the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders in 38 CFR § 4.130. Generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, OCD and unspecified anxiety disorder each have their own diagnostic code, but all of them run on one ladder of 0, 10, 30, 50, 70 and 100 percent. The level turns on how much the anxiety impairs your work and social life, not on the name of the diagnosis.

This page covers the anxiety rating chart, what each level pays in 2026, the anxiety diagnostic codes, how to prove service connection without the stressor rules PTSD carries, the C&P exam and buddy letters, and why VA and the Board deny anxiety claims.

TL;DR

• VA rates anxiety under 38 CFR § 4.130, the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders, at 0, 10, 30, 50, 70 or 100 percent. The level turns on occupational and social impairment, and the listed symptoms are examples, not a checklist.
• Generalized anxiety disorder is DC 9400, panic disorder and/or agoraphobia is DC 9412, OCD is DC 9404 and unspecified anxiety disorder is DC 9413. All of them use the same formula and pay the same at each level.
• At the 2026 rates for a veteran alone, 70 percent pays $1,808.45 a month and 100 percent pays $3,938.58. A 70 percent rating meets the single-disability threshold for TDIU, which pays at the 100 percent rate.
• Anxiety claims do not need the stressor corroboration PTSD claims need under 38 CFR § 3.304(f). They need a current diagnosis, an in-service event or illness, and a medical link.
• Anxiety and depression, or anxiety and PTSD, get one mental health rating when the symptoms overlap, not two (38 CFR § 4.14).
• Across 5,758 decided Board rulings on anxiety from 2021 to 2026, 32.7% were granted, 34.8% denied and 32.5% remanded.

Anxiety VA rating chart under 38 CFR § 4.130

Every anxiety diagnosis is rated under the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders. The formula describes each level by the degree of occupational and social impairment, then lists example symptoms. Below is the impairment language for each level as § 4.130 words it, with the example symptoms that come up most in anxiety claims.

• 100 percent: "Total occupational and social impairment." Examples include gross impairment in thought processes or communication, persistent danger of hurting self or others, and intermittent inability to perform activities of daily living.
• 70 percent: "Occupational and social impairment, with deficiencies in most areas, such as work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood." Examples include suicidal ideation, obsessional rituals which interfere with routine activities, near-continuous panic or depression affecting the ability to function independently, difficulty in adapting to stressful circumstances (including work or a worklike setting), and inability to establish and maintain effective relationships.
• 50 percent: "Occupational and social impairment with reduced reliability and productivity." Examples include panic attacks more than once a week, impaired judgment, disturbances of motivation and mood, and difficulty in establishing and maintaining effective work and social relationships.
• 30 percent: "Occupational and social impairment with occasional decrease in work efficiency and intermittent periods of inability to perform occupational tasks (although generally functioning satisfactorily, with routine behavior, self-care, and conversation normal)." Examples include anxiety, suspiciousness, panic attacks (weekly or less often) and chronic sleep impairment.
• 10 percent: "Occupational and social impairment due to mild or transient symptoms which decrease work efficiency and ability to perform occupational tasks only during periods of significant stress, or symptoms controlled by continuous medication."
• 0 percent: "A mental condition has been formally diagnosed, but symptoms are not severe enough either to interfere with occupational and social functioning or to require continuous medication."

The symptoms are examples of the type and degree of impairment at each level, not a list you have to match (Mauerhan v. Principi, 16 Vet. App. 436 (2002)). The Board asks whether your symptoms, listed or not, are similar in severity, frequency and duration to the ones at a level, and whether they cause that level's impairment (Vazquez-Claudio v. Shinseki, 713 F.3d 112 (Fed. Cir. 2013)). Under 38 CFR § 4.126, VA has to weigh how often symptoms occur, how severe they are, how long they last and how long any remissions last, based on all the evidence rather than only the examiner's view at the moment of the exam. It cannot assign a rating on social impairment alone.

Panic attack frequency is written into the formula. Panic attacks weekly or less often appear at 30 percent, more than once a week at 50 percent, and near-continuous panic at 70 percent. That makes a dated record of attacks one of the most useful things in a panic-heavy anxiety claim.

VA proposed in 2022 to replace this formula with a five-domain model ("Schedule for Rating Disabilities: Mental Disorders," 87 FR 8498). As of early October 2026 it is still a proposal, and § 4.130 is the rule VA applies. The PTSD page explains what the proposal would change.

How much VA pays for anxiety

At the 2026 rates (effective December 1, 2025), for a veteran alone with no dependents, the anxiety levels pay as follows.

• 10 percent pays $180.42 a month.
• 30 percent pays $552.47 a month.
• 50 percent pays $1,132.90 a month.
• 70 percent pays $1,808.45 a month.
• 100 percent pays $3,938.58 a month.

The gap between 70 and 100 percent is $2,130.13 a month, about $25,562 a year, tax-free. VA pays by your combined rating, so the anxiety level adds money only when it changes the combined percentage. Family rates are higher at 30 percent and above.

Anxiety at 70 versus 100 percent, and TDIU

The step from 70 to 100 percent is the hardest in the formula. Seventy percent describes deficiencies in most areas of life. One hundred percent describes total occupational and social impairment, with examples such as persistent danger of hurting self or others and an intermittent inability to handle basic daily activities. In the Board decisions I review, the files that reach 100 percent show that the veteran cannot hold any meaningful work and cannot sustain social or family functioning, not just that both are badly strained.

TDIU under 38 CFR § 4.16 is the other route to the 100 percent rate. It pays when service-connected conditions keep you from substantially gainful work, and a single disability rated 60 percent or more meets the schedular threshold, so a 70 percent anxiety rating qualifies on percentage. The remaining work is showing that the anxiety prevents substantially gainful employment. Marginal work does not count as substantially gainful: earnings at or below the poverty threshold for one person, or a protected job such as one in a family business, can still support TDIU.

Generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder and OCD VA ratings

Anxiety is not one diagnostic code. § 4.130 lists several anxiety codes, and Note 2 to § 4.130 sends every one of them to the General Rating Formula above.

• DC 9400: generalized anxiety disorder
• DC 9403: specific phobia; social anxiety disorder (social phobia)
• DC 9404: obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
• DC 9410: other specified anxiety disorder
• DC 9412: panic disorder and/or agoraphobia
• DC 9413: unspecified anxiety disorder

No diagnosis receives a percentage because of its name. A veteran with generalized anxiety disorder rated 70 percent under DC 9400 receives the same compensation as a veteran with PTSD rated 70 percent under DC 9411. The code records the diagnosis; the impairment decides the level. The Board section below shows how rating appeals under the anxiety codes have gone.

For OCD, explain how obsessions and compulsions affect tasks, relationships and ordinary routines; the 70 percent level names "obsessional rituals which interfere with routine activities." For panic disorder, keep a dated record of the attacks and what they cost you at work and at home. If you also have PTSD or depression, the same symptoms cannot be counted again under a separate diagnosis. If your diagnosis changes over the years, for example from unspecified anxiety disorder to generalized anxiety disorder, 38 CFR § 4.125(b) requires VA to decide whether the new diagnosis is a progression, the correction of an error, or a new and separate condition.

Sources: 38 CFR § 4.130, DCs 9404 and 9412 (opens in a new tab) and § 4.14, overlapping manifestations (opens in a new tab).

How to prove anxiety is service connected

Anxiety claims follow the general service connection test: a present disability, an in-service disease, injury or event, and a causal link between them (Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163 (Fed. Cir. 2004)). There is no stressor-corroboration step. That rule, in 38 CFR § 3.304(f), applies to PTSD only, which needs "credible supporting evidence that the claimed in-service stressor occurred." The PTSD page covers how to meet it.

So an anxiety claim can rest on in-service circumstances that would never qualify as a PTSD stressor, such as sustained high-tempo operations, chronic sleep deprivation, deployment stress or anxiety first treated at sick call. That broader in-service element does not make anxiety the easier claim at the Board, where PTSD was granted more often in the same data, and the data cannot say why. A broad in-service element helps little when nothing in the file links it to the current diagnosis, and that link usually has to come from a medical opinion.

Direct service connection

Direct service connection is the main path for anxiety. The strongest files show anxiety, panic attacks or sleep trouble in service treatment records, or a documented in-service event, plus a current DSM-5 diagnosis and an opinion that explains the link. A personality disorder is not a disease or injury for compensation purposes (38 CFR § 4.127), so a current diagnosis that names only a personality disorder will not carry the claim, although an anxiety disorder superimposed on it can be service connected.

The opinion has to do real work. It should name the in-service event or illness, explain the medical reasoning that connects it to the current diagnosis, and deal with other explanations the Board might consider. "More likely than not related to military service" by itself is not enough. The Board section below shows how anxiety claims went when the Board relied on a favorable opinion, an opinion against the claim, or none.

Anxiety secondary to a service-connected condition

Under 38 CFR § 3.310, anxiety can be service connected when a service-connected condition caused it, or aggravated it, meaning the anxiety would be less severe but for that condition. Chains veterans argue include anxiety secondary to chronic pain, tinnitus, TBI or another serious service-connected condition. An opinion that addresses only causation and skips aggravation is inadequate (El-Amin v. Shinseki, 26 Vet. App. 136 (2013)).

Anxiety also anchors chains of its own, with sleep apnea, hypertension and migraines claimed secondary to it. The Board section below shows how direct and secondary anxiety claims fared, and the secondary pair with enough rulings to publish.

The anxiety C&P exam, lay statements and buddy letters

The C&P examiner interviews you, reviews the record and selects an overall impairment level on the mental disorders questionnaire. What the examiner does not see is your life outside the exam room: the morning panic attacks, avoiding stores and crowds, irritability that strains your family, missed work that never made it into a clinical note. Section 4.126(a) tells raters to weigh all of the evidence, not just the examiner's assessment at the moment of the exam, which is why statements from you and the people around you matter.

A lay statement is competent evidence of what a person observed (38 CFR § 3.159(a)(2)). A spouse can describe behavior changes, a coworker can describe what happens at work, and you can describe what the symptoms feel like. Diagnosing a mental condition is generally left to medical professionals (Clemons v. Shinseki, 23 Vet. App. 1 (2009)), so the statements should describe, not diagnose.

What to put in a buddy letter for anxiety

A useful buddy letter for anxiety covers five things.

• How the writer knows you, and for how long.
• Specific changes they saw, with rough dates, compared with how you were before.
• What the anxiety looks like day to day: panic attacks, avoidance, sleep, irritability.
• What it costs at work and at home: missed shifts, lost jobs, canceled plans, strained relationships.
• For a service connection claim, when they first noticed the symptoms relative to your service.

The Board finds lay statements credible when they are specific and consistent with the rest of the record. A generic statement gives it little to weigh. The cost details matter most in a rating appeal, because the formula is written in terms of work and social impairment. Employer statements, performance reviews and attendance records do the same work from another angle.

Why VA denies anxiety claims

Across 5,758 decided Board rulings on anxiety from 2021 to 2026, 32.7% were granted, 34.8% denied and 32.5% remanded. A ruling is one issue the Board decided in one decision; one decision often rules on several issues. The anxiety grant rate is 8.0 points above the Board-wide grant rate of 24.7 percent and 4.9 points below PTSD in the same data.

In the same data, PTSD's grant rate was 37.6 percent across 41,911 decided rulings and depression's was 38.7 percent across 12,973. Anxiety rulings were sent back less often than the Board-wide remand rate of 45.3 percent, which leaves a near three-way split: about a third granted, a third denied and a third remanded.

When the Board denied anxiety service connection, it most often found no current diagnosis, followed by no link to service and no in-service event; the Board section below shows how often each part of the claim failed and why claims were sent back. The denials repeat a few patterns.

No current diagnosis. The record shows symptoms but no diagnosis that conforms to DSM-5 (38 CFR § 4.125(a)), a diagnosis that has since resolved, or only a personality disorder.

No link to service. There is no in-service treatment, a long gap after separation, and no opinion that explains a connection, or an opinion that states a conclusion without reasoning.

No in-service event or illness. A direct claim needs something in service the opinion can build on, whether in the service treatment records or in credible statements about your circumstances of service.

Severity not shown in work and social terms. In a rating appeal, service connection is settled and the question is whether the file documents enough impairment for a higher level. A common pattern: the examiner notes worry, sleep trouble and irritability and selects the 30 or 50 percent level; the veteran appeals; and the Board finds the symptoms documented but their effect on work, family and social life never spelled out. The Board section below shows how rating appeals and service connection appeals have gone.

A single exam treated as the whole picture. An exam that captures a good day, or one that is out of date, does not reflect the frequency and duration § 4.126(a) requires VA to weigh. An inadequate or stale exam is a common reason the Board sends a claim back.

Questions veterans ask about anxiety

How much VA disability do you get for anxiety?

It depends on the level VA assigns under § 4.130. At the 2026 rates for a veteran alone, 10 percent pays $180.42 a month, 30 percent $552.47, 50 percent $1,132.90, 70 percent $1,808.45 and 100 percent $3,938.58.

What is the VA rating for depression and anxiety together?

One rating. When anxiety and depression are both service connected and the symptoms overlap, VA assigns a single evaluation under the General Rating Formula for the combined impairment, because 38 CFR § 4.14 bars rating the same symptoms twice. The depression page covers how that single rating works.

Is anxiety a presumptive condition for veterans?

Only for former prisoners of war. Under 38 CFR § 3.309(c), "any of the anxiety states" is presumed service connected for a former POW once it reaches 10 percent at any time after service. Everyone else proves anxiety on a direct or a secondary theory.

Do I need a nexus letter for anxiety?

You need medical evidence linking the anxiety to service or to a service-connected condition. The VA examiner often provides it. A private opinion matters most when the VA opinion is negative, skips aggravation, or rests only on the absence of mental health treatment in your service records.

Can I get TDIU for anxiety?

Yes, if your service-connected conditions keep you from substantially gainful work. A single disability rated 60 percent or more meets the threshold in 38 CFR § 4.16(a), so a 70 percent anxiety rating qualifies on percentage, and TDIU pays at the 100 percent rate.

Bottom Line

Anxiety is rated under 38 CFR § 4.130, the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders, at 0, 10, 30, 50, 70 or 100 percent, the same ladder every mental health diagnosis uses except eating disorders. Generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, OCD and unspecified anxiety disorder have their own codes, but the level turns on occupational and social impairment, not on the label. Anxiety claims do not carry PTSD's stressor-corroboration rule under 38 CFR § 3.304(f); they need a current diagnosis, an in-service event or illness, and a medical link. At the Board, anxiety grants at 32.7 percent across 5,758 decided rulings from 2021 to 2026, 4.9 points below PTSD and 8.0 points above the Board-wide grant rate of 24.7 percent. Denials cluster around a missing current diagnosis and a missing link, and rating appeals turn on whether the file shows impairment in work and social terms. TDIU under 38 CFR § 4.16 closes the gap between 70 and 100 percent when anxiety prevents substantially gainful employment. The two most useful things you can build are a medical opinion that explains the link and lay statements that show what the anxiety costs you at work and at home.

Methodology and Limitations

• Data source: Board figures come from Claim Raven's read of 511,036 Board decisions from 2021 to 2026, which contain 1,378,030 rulings, including 6,728 rulings on anxiety (5,758 with decided outcomes). Rating criteria and diagnostic codes are quoted from 38 CFR § 4.130, with §§ 4.14, 4.16, 4.125, 4.126 and 4.127, checked against the eCFR text in October 2026. Service connection rules come from 38 CFR §§ 3.159(a)(2), 3.304(f), 3.309(c) and 3.310. The proposed rule is "Schedule for Rating Disabilities: Mental Disorders," 87 FR 8498 (February 15, 2022); its status was checked in early October 2026. Compensation figures are VA disability pay rates effective December 1, 2025 (the 2026 rates) for a veteran alone with no dependents.
• Board snapshot: Across 5,758 decided Board rulings on anxiety from 2021 to 2026, 32.7% were granted (including partial grants and mixed outcomes), 34.8% denied and 32.5% remanded. Dismissed, withdrawn and moot rulings are excluded. These are appealed claims, not your personal odds.
• Sample size: 5,758 decided Board rulings on anxiety: 1,880 granted, 2,004 denied and 1,874 remanded. The other 970 of the 6,728 anxiety rulings were dismissed, withdrawn or otherwise not decided. The Board section on this page breaks these down by why claims were denied and sent back, what happened after a remand, appeal type, medical opinion, claim theory, diagnostic code, era since 1992 and secondary pair; those figures are computed from the data, not typed here.
• Classification approach: A ruling counts toward anxiety when the issue the Board decided names it. Medical opinion findings record what the Board credited, not grades of evidence quality. Board patterns in the denial section are drawn from a review of Board decisions on anxiety claims.
• Limitations:
• The 5,758 decided Board rulings on anxiety are appeals that reached the Board, not all anxiety claims filed with VA. Claims granted cleanly at the regional office never appear, so these figures describe the harder cases.
• The data does not track the anxiety subtype, so rulings on generalized anxiety, panic and social anxiety may sit under the same condition, and it does not record the rating tier a grant landed on.
• Comparisons with PTSD and depression reflect observed patterns in the same dataset. The veterans filing under each diagnosis may differ in ways the data does not capture, so these rates do not establish why outcomes differ.
• The General Rating Formula symptom lists are illustrative, not exhaustive. Rating decisions evaluate overall functional impairment.
• Compensation figures are for a veteran alone with no dependents. Family rates differ at 30 percent and above because of dependent allowances.
• These observations describe Board patterns. They are not predictions of individual outcomes, and Claim Raven is data analysis, not legal, medical, or VA-accredited advice.