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VA disability appeal statistics, with the methods behind them.

Explore outcomes and evidence patterns in Claim Raven's analyzed Board of Veterans' Appeals decisions. Each chart identifies the sample it uses.

  • 1,378,030 rulings in 511,036 decisions
  • 1,871,000+ Board decisions in the library
  • Updated October 6, 2026

The VA claims system at a glance

For scale, the official numbers: the Veterans Benefits Administration reports completing more than 2.5 million disability compensation and pension claims in 2024 and paying over 173 billion dollars in compensation and pension benefits that year (VBA detailed claims data). Population, expenditure, and utilization statistics live at the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, and condition-level claim volumes are published in the VBA Annual Benefits Report.

For the claims VA is working right now, VBA posts its Monday Morning Workload Report on the same detailed claims data page: weekly spreadsheets on the claims inventory, the backlog, claims accuracy and fully developed claims. What each step of a single claim means, and how long VA reports claims are taking, is in Claim Raven's VA claim status guide.

VA also reports monthly totals for the two review lanes that come before the Board. Claim Raven tracks VA's monthly Higher-Level Review and Supplemental Claim grant rates and wait times, along with how long each Board docket is taking, on a separate page.

What those official sources do not publish is what happens when a claim is appealed and why. That is the gap this page covers, from the decisions themselves.

How Board appeals end

Across 1,378,030 rulings with a recorded outcome, the most common result is not a decision at all: 40.8% of rulings were sent back for more development. That is added wait time no published VA statistic surfaces this way.

Board outcome distribution

Granted 306,286 rulings 22.2% Denied 372,938 rulings 27.1% Remanded 562,014 rulings 40.8% Dismissed or withdrawn 136,792 rulings 9.9% Source: 1,378,030 rulings in 511,036 Board decisions (2021 to 2026), Claim Raven's 1,871,000+ decision library. Board outcomes on appealed claims, not initial-claim outcomes. Associations, not causes. claimraven.com/va-disability-statistics · CC BY 4.0

This chart is a census of every ruling, so its bars are shares of all 1,378,030 rulings and they add to 100%. Every grant rate elsewhere on this page is computed differently, over decided rulings only: the 9.9% dismissed or withdrawn here are left out of both halves of a rate, because the Board never decided those issues. A partial grant counts as granted.

The evidence gradient: grant rate by nexus quality

A nexus is the medical link between a condition and service, and it usually rests on a medical opinion. This section groups service connection rulings the Board granted or denied by the medical opinion evidence it weighed. Remanded rulings are not part of this section: the Board sends those back for more work before it weighs the evidence to a result. Across every ruling the Board granted or denied, 45.1% were granted, so that is the line to compare each tier against. The gradient across the tiers is the strongest pattern in the data: when the Board relied on a favorable medical opinion, the claim was granted 99.2% of the time; when it set the VA opinion aside without crediting a favorable one, 82.1%; when it weighed no medical opinion at all, 27.1%; and when the opinion evidence went against the claim, 0.7%.

Grant rate by medical opinion evidence

Favorable opinion credited 85,224 rulings 99.2% VA opinion set aside 43,661 rulings 82.1% Opinion against claim 90,385 rulings 0.7% No medical opinion 74,345 rulings 27.1% No nexus question 385,609 rulings 42.8% Source: 1,378,030 rulings in 511,036 Board decisions (2021 to 2026), Claim Raven's 1,871,000+ decision library. Board outcomes on appealed claims, not initial-claim outcomes. Associations, not causes. claimraven.com/va-disability-statistics · CC BY 4.0

What the Board credited among the medical opinions on a service connection ruling it granted or denied (remands are not read for this). Favorable opinion credited: the Board relied on a favorable VA or private medical opinion. VA opinion set aside: no favorable opinion was credited, but the Board found the VA opinion inadequate or gave it less weight. Opinion against claim: the Board relied on an unfavorable opinion, or gave a favorable private opinion less weight. No medical opinion: the Board weighed none. No nexus question: granted or denied rulings that are not about service connection.

Two honest notes. First, this is an association: cases with a favorable opinion may be stronger cases in other ways too. Second, the "no nexus question" tier (rating appeals and similar, where service connection was not in dispute) granted 42.8% of the time, which shows other factors matter alongside the medical link.

Board outcomes by condition

Outcome rates for every condition with at least 300 decided rulings (137 conditions). Click a column header to sort. A ruling can appear in more than one category. For example, Sleep Apnea includes all sleep apnea rulings, while Sleep Apnea secondary to PTSD includes only that subset. These are not official VA issue codes.

Condition Decided Not decided Granted Denied Remanded
Secondary Service Connection 202,970 2,686 20.2% 17.4% 62.4%
Knee 107,856 8,323 21.6% 28.1% 50.3%
Lumbar Spine 77,827 6,311 23.0% 26.8% 50.2%
Effective Date 76,367 10,477 37.1% 49.7% 13.2%
TDIU 59,729 6,379 30.2% 18.8% 51.0%
Hearing Loss 53,933 4,854 20.3% 44.2% 35.6%
Radiculopathy 46,305 4,414 29.5% 32.9% 37.6%
Sleep Apnea 45,237 3,863 28.9% 19.1% 52.0%
PTSD 41,911 5,563 37.6% 38.4% 24.0%
Neuropathy 38,304 3,560 26.1% 30.5% 43.4%
Shoulder 33,094 2,883 17.3% 28.3% 54.3%
Hip 32,908 2,891 16.2% 30.5% 53.3%
Migraines 30,358 3,037 32.6% 24.8% 42.5%
Tinnitus 28,921 2,916 50.2% 28.3% 21.5%
Hypertension 27,198 2,382 25.6% 29.0% 45.4%
Ankle 27,035 2,255 19.8% 28.3% 52.0%
Cervical Spine 24,251 1,972 20.5% 26.2% 53.3%
Gulf War Illness 23,780 207 13.7% 23.9% 62.5%
Foot 22,956 2,128 16.4% 27.8% 55.9%
Cancer 22,953 2,179 29.7% 25.7% 44.7%
Heart Disease 21,427 1,889 25.3% 28.7% 46.0%
Scars 19,432 2,475 21.1% 50.5% 28.4%
Sciatica 17,784 1,780 30.2% 35.0% 34.7%
Diabetes 17,378 1,581 24.5% 32.8% 42.7%
Special Monthly Compensation 15,909 1,537 43.4% 24.4% 32.2%
GERD 13,787 1,260 26.2% 24.4% 49.4%
Degenerative Disc 13,454 1,183 28.3% 30.5% 41.2%
Depression 12,973 1,786 38.7% 33.6% 27.7%
Erectile Dysfunction 12,503 1,137 23.2% 31.4% 45.5%
Arthritis 12,160 1,200 21.5% 30.4% 48.1%
COPD 10,401 1,034 16.2% 30.1% 53.7%
Sinusitis 10,382 1,028 26.1% 33.1% 40.9%
Wrist 8,558 794 14.5% 30.7% 54.8%
TBI 8,367 880 17.7% 33.5% 48.9%
Elbow 8,016 736 13.1% 31.9% 55.0%
Flat Feet 7,889 816 25.5% 30.7% 43.8%
Allergic Rhinitis 7,781 817 23.9% 41.2% 34.9%
Prostate Cancer 7,485 698 32.3% 30.9% 36.8%
Kidney Disease 7,076 747 20.9% 28.9% 50.1%
Neuropathy secondary to Agent Orange 7,010 54 19.2% 25.1% 55.8%
IBS 6,556 711 31.1% 28.2% 40.7%
Eczema 6,245 650 21.0% 32.3% 46.6%
Substance Abuse 6,158 667 34.9% 35.2% 29.9%
Asthma 6,137 563 27.9% 27.6% 44.5%
Vertigo 6,005 558 23.2% 24.9% 52.0%
Anxiety 5,758 970 32.7% 34.8% 32.5%
Plantar Fasciitis 5,630 592 25.4% 27.2% 47.4%
Carpal Tunnel 5,578 527 21.2% 28.3% 50.5%
Chronic Fatigue 5,534 617 13.7% 36.3% 50.0%
Prostate 5,302 447 22.7% 32.8% 44.5%
Insomnia 5,106 599 27.8% 31.1% 41.0%
Vision Loss 5,025 647 9.4% 35.3% 55.3%
Bladder 4,942 482 23.3% 29.9% 46.8%
Skin Cancer 4,296 328 23.4% 23.5% 53.0%
Sleep Apnea secondary to PTSD 4,111 133 38.1% 10.5% 51.4%
Shin Splints 3,649 370 18.6% 33.0% 48.4%
Spinal Stenosis 3,579 352 31.0% 28.9% 40.2%
Bunions 3,467 390 21.1% 35.5% 43.4%
Parkinson's 3,051 239 35.8% 26.4% 37.9%
Hypothyroidism 2,997 279 26.8% 27.6% 45.6%
Neuropathy secondary to Diabetes 2,914 106 35.0% 19.4% 45.6%
Hemorrhoids 2,905 330 18.8% 40.0% 41.2%
Fibromyalgia 2,870 309 19.9% 29.8% 50.3%
Peripheral Vascular 2,855 230 19.9% 27.4% 52.6%
Adjustment Disorder 2,778 353 40.0% 36.2% 23.8%
Radiculopathy secondary to Lumbar 2,746 118 42.7% 17.1% 40.2%
Chronic Fatigue Gulf War 2,624 31 11.9% 36.7% 51.4%
Hernia 2,601 274 13.6% 39.0% 47.4%
Heart Arrhythmia 2,550 258 22.9% 28.6% 48.5%
Lung Cancer 2,483 247 27.3% 28.4% 44.3%
Thoracic Spine 2,395 260 23.1% 30.5% 46.4%
Rotator Cuff 2,391 267 24.8% 32.5% 42.7%
Hepatitis 2,366 256 18.1% 33.6% 48.4%
Chronic Bronchitis 2,232 253 17.2% 33.2% 49.6%
Varicose Veins 2,070 166 20.0% 31.4% 48.7%
Schizophrenia 2,043 240 38.1% 25.1% 36.8%
Gout 2,013 200 17.7% 26.8% 55.4%
Temporomandibular 1,979 259 19.3% 33.1% 47.5%
Glaucoma 1,818 140 14.2% 30.5% 55.2%
Cataracts 1,779 102 12.0% 33.6% 54.5%
Epilepsy 1,746 146 19.3% 28.6% 52.1%
Rheumatoid Arthritis 1,577 157 14.0% 23.3% 62.7%
Dry Eye 1,532 149 30.5% 25.7% 43.7%
Restless Leg 1,524 183 18.2% 28.0% 53.8%
Bladder Cancer 1,485 259 40.7% 27.6% 31.7%
IBS Gulf War 1,456 8 39.8% 14.5% 45.7%
Scoliosis 1,371 133 22.9% 31.9% 45.2%
Diabetic Retinopathy 1,349 117 24.0% 32.2% 43.8%
Herniated Disc 1,314 150 24.4% 29.8% 45.9%
Anemia 1,280 138 18.2% 29.8% 52.0%
Sinusitis secondary to Burn Pit 1,267 11 40.7% 19.9% 39.4%
Deviated Septum 1,241 135 22.9% 37.1% 40.0%
Gastritis 1,196 127 24.2% 23.6% 52.2%
Bipolar 1,168 170 43.2% 28.8% 28.1%
Acne 1,115 140 18.4% 36.9% 44.8%
Leukemia 1,105 113 39.3% 20.8% 39.9%
Colon Cancer 1,102 112 23.9% 25.2% 50.9%
Lymphoma 1,093 127 31.9% 28.2% 39.9%
Kidney Cancer 1,036 107 30.0% 20.8% 49.2%
Parkinsons secondary to Agent Orange 1,014 12 41.8% 23.9% 34.3%
COPD secondary to Burn Pit 1,013 9 25.8% 15.3% 58.9%
Fibromyalgia Gulf War 992 8 21.8% 30.4% 47.8%
Menieres 971 69 33.2% 21.3% 45.5%
Diverticulitis 945 83 14.2% 27.2% 58.6%
Kidney Stones 904 100 18.3% 31.2% 50.6%
Sleep Apnea secondary to Obesity 872 2 43.5% 8.9% 47.6%
Radiculopathy secondary to Cervical 851 32 41.1% 15.3% 43.6%
Sarcoidosis 844 63 26.2% 23.1% 50.7%
Hiatal Hernia 808 84 20.5% 29.7% 49.8%
Cardiomyopathy 720 66 31.9% 23.1% 45.0%
Pulmonary Fibrosis 707 62 34.8% 25.0% 40.2%
Multiple Sclerosis 694 64 33.1% 21.5% 45.4%
Smell and Taste Loss 689 76 21.5% 38.6% 39.9%
Psoriasis 683 67 24.5% 27.1% 48.5%
Asthma secondary to Burn Pit 681 5 45.1% 13.4% 41.6%
Sleep Apnea secondary to Sinusitis 649 17 36.4% 10.5% 53.2%
Hypertension secondary to PTSD 647 26 21.8% 13.4% 64.8%
Migraines secondary to PTSD 566 16 35.7% 9.0% 55.3%
Thyroid Cancer 563 48 31.3% 18.7% 50.1%
Barrett's Esophagus 560 54 27.7% 24.1% 48.2%
ED secondary to Diabetes 558 22 26.5% 17.7% 55.7%
Psoriatic Arthritis 520 57 28.5% 14.4% 57.1%
Ulcerative Colitis 506 39 28.5% 22.3% 49.2%
Hypertension secondary to Diabetes 478 20 20.1% 16.5% 63.4%
Lupus 473 40 23.0% 19.2% 57.7%
Narcolepsy 454 64 24.0% 31.5% 44.5%
Hyperthyroidism 447 39 19.7% 27.1% 53.2%
Heart Disease secondary to Hypertension 429 11 39.6% 9.3% 51.0%
Costochondritis 425 45 21.6% 33.4% 44.9%
GERD secondary to PTSD 414 19 31.9% 7.7% 60.4%
Kidney secondary to Diabetes 384 16 34.6% 16.7% 48.7%
Radiculopathy secondary to Ddd 379 21 54.1% 16.6% 29.3%
Neuropathy secondary to Agent Orange Diabetes 367 0 7.6% 33.0% 59.4%
Aortic Aneurysm 351 28 21.9% 25.9% 52.1%
Pancreatitis 349 30 19.5% 25.5% 55.0%
ADHD 332 33 22.0% 27.1% 50.9%
Migraines secondary to Cervical 309 8 31.4% 7.8% 60.8%

The three percentages are shares of the "Decided" count on the same row, so they add to 100%. "Granted" counts partial grants and mixed outcomes alongside full grants, because a partial grant awards a benefit the veteran did not have. "Not decided" is the dismissed and withdrawn rulings excluded from the rate. It is small for every condition here, at most 15% of a row, so no rate rests on a narrow base. A row where it exceeded a third would carry the share in the "Not decided" column. Source: Claim Raven analysis of 1,378,030 rulings in 511,036 Board decisions (2021 to 2026) from its 1,871,000+ Board-decision library. Board outcomes on appealed claims, not initial-claim outcomes. Associations, not causes.

Low grant rates in this table usually trace back to evidence, not the condition itself. Across every condition, among service connection rulings the Board granted or denied, those where it relied on a favorable medical opinion were granted 99.2% of the time, against 27.1% when it weighed no medical opinion (see the gradient above).

The conditions most often decided at the Board

Which VA disability claims are most common depends on where you count. VA's Annual Benefits Report counts the conditions VA has service connected. At the Board, the conditions that come up most are the ones veterans most often appeal. These are the 10 conditions with the most decided rulings in this data, with the share granted:

  1. Knee: 107,856 decided rulings, 21.6% granted
  2. Lumbar Spine: 77,827 decided rulings, 23.0% granted
  3. Hearing Loss: 53,933 decided rulings, 20.3% granted
  4. Radiculopathy: 46,305 decided rulings, 29.5% granted
  5. Sleep Apnea: 45,237 decided rulings, 28.9% granted
  6. PTSD: 41,911 decided rulings, 37.6% granted
  7. Neuropathy: 38,304 decided rulings, 26.1% granted
  8. Shoulder: 33,094 decided rulings, 17.3% granted
  9. Hip: 32,908 decided rulings, 16.2% granted
  10. Migraines: 30,358 decided rulings, 32.6% granted

Grant rate is granted over granted, denied and remanded, as everywhere on this page. A row counts every ruling on that condition, so one decision can appear in more than one row.

Secondary claims are not doomed. Unsupported ones are.

Among service connection rulings the Board granted or denied, primary rulings were granted 46.1% of the time and secondary ones 53.7%. Within the same medical opinion tier:

Medical opinion evidencePrimary claims grantedSecondary claims granted
Favorable opinion credited 99.1% (n=52,251) 99.4% (n=32,973)
VA opinion set aside 84.3% (n=36,645) 70.4% (n=7,016)
Opinion against claim 0.5% (n=67,481) 1.0% (n=22,904)
No medical opinion 28.0% (n=60,894) 22.9% (n=13,451)

Source: Claim Raven analysis of 1,378,030 rulings in 511,036 Board decisions (2021 to 2026) from its 1,871,000+ Board-decision library. Board outcomes on appealed claims, not initial-claim outcomes. Associations, not causes.

The practical reading: the medical opinion evidence explains much of the difference, but not all of it. Within a tier, secondary and primary claims differ by as much as 13.9 points.

Lay evidence: how buddy statements correlate with outcomes

The Board makes its finding on lay evidence when it grants or denies a claim, so these figures cover those rulings, not remands; across them, 45.1% were granted. When the Board found the lay evidence (personal statements, buddy letters, testimony) competent and credible, the ruling was granted 89.1% of the time (n=104,942 rulings), against 2.1% when it found it not credible (n=15,107). The gradient by how the Board treated that evidence:

Grant rate by how the Board treated lay evidence

Decisive 66,522 rulings 93.2% Credible 52,813 rulings 79.4% Symptoms only 158,871 rulings 7.6% Not addressed 352,573 rulings 46.2% Source: 1,378,030 rulings in 511,036 Board decisions (2021 to 2026), Claim Raven's 1,871,000+ decision library. Board outcomes on appealed claims, not initial-claim outcomes. Associations, not causes. claimraven.com/va-disability-statistics · CC BY 4.0

The honest nuance: credible lay evidence does not rescue a case the medical opinions go against. Where the Board credited an opinion against the claim and still found the lay statements credible, the grant rate was 19.9% (n=1,012). "Symptoms only" means the Board accepted the statements about symptoms but not as proof of a diagnosis or a link to service. A credibility finding is part of the Board's own decision, and correlation is not cause.

Definitions

Granted
The Board decided the issue in the veteran's favor. This includes partial grants and mixed outcomes, where the Board awarded some of what was sought, because those award a benefit the veteran did not have before.
Denied
The Board decided the issue against the veteran.
Remanded
The Board sent the issue back to the agency of original jurisdiction for more development. Not a final decision; the claim continues, with added wait time.
Ruling
One issue the Board decided in one decision, such as service connection for one condition or the rating for another. A decision often contains several rulings.
Decided
Granted, denied, or remanded. Every grant rate on this page divides favorable outcomes by decided rulings.
Not decided
Dismissed, withdrawn, or moot appeals, where the Board never reached the issue. Excluded from both halves of a grant rate, and reported as a separate count so the gap stays visible.
Nexus
The medical link between a current condition and military service (or an already service-connected condition, for secondary claims). Usually established through medical opinions and records. The tiers on this page group service connection rulings by the medical opinion evidence the Board weighed.
Lay evidence
Non-expert statements from the veteran or people who know them, such as personal statements and buddy letters.
Secondary claim
A claim that one condition was caused or aggravated by another condition that is already service connected.

Methodology and limitations

  • Source: Claim Raven's analysis of 511,036 public Board of Veterans' Appeals decisions dated 2021 to 2026, covering 1,378,030 rulings.
  • A ruling is one issue within a decision. Rates describe rulings, not individual veterans, and reflect appealed cases rather than initial VA claims.
  • Grant rate = favorable outcomes (granted, partial grant, mixed) divided by decided appeals (favorable + denied + remanded). Dismissed, withdrawn, and moot appeals are excluded from both halves because the Board never decided the issue. Of 1,378,030 rulings, 1,241,238 were decided and 136,792 were not.
  • Each chart states its sample size. Percentages use that sample, not the full library. The outcome chart includes dismissed and withdrawn rulings as a separate category.
  • Condition categories can overlap and are not official VA issue codes.
  • These patterns show associations, not cause and effect or an individual claim's chances. Automated analysis can contain errors.

Cite this research

Keep its source, sample size, and date with it. See the citation and reuse details below before publishing an excerpt.

This page is free to cite and link. The statistics and charts are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) license: reuse them anywhere with attribution to Claim Raven. Charts can be downloaded with their source line included. Suggested citation:

Claim Raven (2026). VA Disability Claims Statistics: Board of Veterans' Appeals Outcomes. Analysis of 1,378,030 rulings in 511,036 Board decisions (2021 to 2026) from Claim Raven's 1,871,000+ Board-decision library. https://claimraven.com/va-disability-statistics

Questions about the data or requests for other cuts: contact Claim Raven. For journalists, the methodology above travels with every number, and specific breakdowns can be re-run on request.

Update history

  • October 6, 2026: added the conditions most often decided at the Board and a pointer to VA's weekly claims workload report. Fourteen older posts built on earlier samples now redirect here or to the page that answers them; their figures were not carried over. No rate changed.
  • October 5, 2026: expanded coverage to 2021 to 2026 and refreshed the charts. Updated medical opinion and lay evidence groupings. Rates changed; cite earlier figures with their original date.
  • September 25, 2026: corrected remaining chart labels from decisions to condition records. Rates and sample sizes were unchanged.
  • August 7, 2026: corrected the sample description: 101,518 was the number of condition records, not Board decisions. Rates were unchanged. Earlier citations should use the corrected description.
  • August 6, 2026: corrected grant rates to include partial grants and mixed outcomes, and exclude dismissed, withdrawn, and moot appeals. Published rates changed.
  • August 3, 2026: first publication. 101,518 analyzed condition records.

Explore the research

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