VA Disability Increase 2027: The 3.6% COLA in Dollars and When It Takes Effect

Education only, not legal or financial advice. Not affiliated with the VA or DoD. Numbers checked against official sources on October 28, 2026. Disclosures.

The VA disability increase 2027 is 3.6%, the same cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) Social Security announced on October 14, 2026. In dollars, a veteran rated 100% with no dependents would go from $3,938.58 to about $4,080.37 a month, which is $141.79 more. At 70%, the raise is about $65.10 a month. At 30%, it is about $19.89.

The catch: for VA disability pay, the raise is not automatic. Congress has to pass this year’s COLA bill first, and as of October 28, 2026, it had not. So the percentage is set, but every 2027 dollar figure on this page is an estimate until VA publishes its new table.

Here is what the 3.6% means at every rating, where the bill stands, when the increase takes effect, and how to work out your own raise in about a minute.

The 2027 increase in dollars, every rating

A percentage doesn’t pay the bills. Dollars do. This table takes VA’s official rates for a veteran alone, effective December 1, 2025, and applies the 3.6% COLA.

A few things jump out.

• Same percentage, very different dollars. Everyone gets 3.6%, but 3.6% of $3,938.58 is a lot more than 3.6% of $180.42. At 100% the raise is about $141.79 a month. At 10% it is about $6.50.
• The 90% to 100% gap grows. At 90% the raise is about $85.04 a month. At 100% it is about $141.79. That is because the 100% rate is so much higher to begin with.
• Yearly figures are just monthly x 12. At 50%, $40.78 a month is about $489.36 more over a full year of payments.

For the full chart with every dependent row, including spouse, children, parents and the added amounts, see our VA disability pay chart 2027.

The increase with a spouse or children

From 30% up, dependents on your award raise your monthly rate, and those dependent amounts get the COLA too. So families get a slightly bigger raise in dollars. Here is the 2027 increase for four common family setups at 30%, 50%, 70% and 100%.

At 100% with a spouse, the raise is about $149.69 a month, compared with $141.79 for a veteran alone. With a spouse and one child at 100%, it is about $155.48. At 10% and 20%, VA pays the same rate with or without dependents, so the raise there is the same for everyone.

Tip: For military spouses running the family budget: the bigger family raise only applies if VA has you and the kids on the award. At 70%, the gap between “veteran alone” and “spouse and one child” is $266.00 a month today ($2,074.45 minus $1,808.45). That is about four times the whole 2027 COLA at that rating.

Has the 2027 VA COLA been signed?

Not as of our last check on October 28, 2026. Here is the timeline so far.

• May 11, 2026: S. 4487, the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2026, was introduced in the Senate. The House version is H.R. 8552.
• June 30, 2026: latest action on H.R. 8552 listed by the BillTrack50 tracker, which showed it in committee.
• October 14, 2026: Social Security announced the 3.6% COLA for 2027. That locks in the percentage the bill uses.
• October 28, 2026: the third-party bill trackers we checked still showed the bill had not passed either chamber.

This is a once-a-year bill, and it is short. It doesn’t create a new benefit. It sets the yearly raise for VA disability compensation. The text says the increase takes effect December 1, 2026, at the same percentage as the Social Security increase.

Watch out: A headline that says the VA raise is “confirmed” may only mean Social Security confirmed the 3.6%. That is not the same as the VA COLA bill becoming law. Look for a VA.gov table with a new effective date before you treat any 2027 number as final.

We will update this page when the bill passes and again when VA posts its table.

When the 2027 increase takes effect

Under the bill text, the increase is effective December 1, 2026. That is the same effective date VA used last year, when the current rates took effect December 1, 2025.

Two things follow from that.

1. You don’t apply for it. Once the bill is law, VA applies the COLA to your award automatically. There is no form and no claim.
2. The effective date and the deposit date are two different things. “Effective December 1” is the first month paid at the new rate. The exact day the first raised payment lands depends on VA’s payment schedule. We are not putting a deposit date on this page until VA confirms it.

How the VA COLA is set

VA doesn’t pick its own number. VA’s rates page says VA disability pay matches the Social Security COLA percentage, and this year’s bill writes that into law: “the same percentage” as the Social Security increase.

Social Security sets its COLA each October from a Consumer Price Index measure, which tracks changes in prices. SSA explains its method on its COLA information page. Once SSA announces, the VA percentage is effectively known. The only open questions are when Congress passes the bill and when VA posts the table.

Then VA applies the percentage to its rate table. For the veteran-alone rates and the 100% amounts, that means each rate times 1.036, rounded to the cent. For dependent amounts at 30% to 90%, the law (38 U.S.C. 1115) figures the amount as a share of the 100% amount and drops the cents. That is why a simple “times 1.036” on a family row can be off by up to about a dollar.

Last year’s increase: 2.8%

Last year’s COLA was 2.8%, effective December 1, 2025. We can show it with VA’s own numbers. VA’s 100% rate for a veteran alone, effective December 1, 2024, was $3,831.30. Times 1.028 gives $3,938.58, which is exactly the rate VA published for December 1, 2025.

So the 2027 increase is bigger than last year’s in both percentage and dollars. It also tells you our estimate method works: applied to last year’s table, it reproduced VA’s published rates exactly. We only list past COLAs here that we could check against VA’s own tables.

How to figure your own 2027 raise

As an Army veteran, I like numbers I can check with a pencil. You need one number: your current monthly VA rate from VA’s table for your rating and dependents. Not your bank deposit, which can include other things.

This simple method is exact for veteran-alone rates and for any 100% rate. For a family row at 30% to 90%, it gets you within about a dollar. Example: 70% with a spouse and one child is $2,074.45 today. Times 1.036 gives $2,149.13, but following the law’s rounding gives $2,148.55. Our calculator uses the law’s method, so you don’t have to.

Military retirees: a separate COLA

If you also draw military retired pay, you get two COLAs under two different laws.

• Retired pay COLA is automatic. Under 10 U.S.C. 1401a it follows the same price index SSA uses, so it is also 3.6% for 2027. No bill needed. DFAS had not posted its 2027 COLA notice when we checked.
• REDUX retirees get less. The law subtracts 1 percentage point when the COLA is above 1%, so REDUX would be 2.6% (our calculation from 10 U.S.C. 1401a(b)(3)).
• Retired pay rounds down to the whole dollar under 10 U.S.C. 1412(a). VA rates do not, which is one more reason the two raises won’t line up to the cent.
• Your first COLA can be smaller if you retired during the year, because it can be prorated.

If you are rated under 50% and have a VA waiver, a bigger VA rate means a bigger waiver. Part of your VA raise can show up as a shift between your two payments instead of new money. Compare VA’s table to your VA payment, and your gross retired pay to DFAS’s numbers, separately.

What to do before December 1

1. Don’t file anything for the COLA. It is automatic once it is law.
2. Check your dependents. If you are rated 30% or higher, make sure your spouse, kids and any dependent parents are on your award. VA says to file within a year of a marriage, birth or adoption to get paid back to that date.
3. Know your current rate. Write down your official monthly amount from VA’s table so you can check the new one.
4. Watch for VA’s table. When VA posts rates with a new effective date, compare them to your estimate. Expect cents of difference, maybe a dollar on family rows.
5. Get free help if your pay looks wrong. A VA-accredited VSO helps for free. Skip anyone charging to “maximize” your claim who isn’t VA-accredited.

VA Disability Pay Chart 2027: Every Rating, With Spouse and Children

VA Disability Calculator 2027: Combined Rating + Dependents

VA Combined Rating Calculator: How VA Math Works