Yes, depression is a recognized VA disability. The VA rates it under the same general formula used for all mental health conditions, and it can qualify you for monthly tax-free compensation ranging from about $180 to over $2,360 depending on your rating and dependents. The key requirement is proving your depression connects to your military service, either directly or through another service-connected condition.
How the VA Rates Depression
The VA uses a single rating formula for all mental health conditions, including major depressive disorder. Ratings are based on how much your symptoms interfere with your ability to work and maintain relationships, not simply on having a diagnosis. The possible ratings are 0, 10, 30, 50, 70, and 100 percent.
A 0 percent rating means you have a formal diagnosis but your symptoms don’t interfere with work or social functioning and don’t require ongoing medication. You won’t receive monthly compensation at this level, but it does establish the condition in your VA record, which matters if your symptoms worsen later.
A 30 percent rating applies when your symptoms are mild or come and go, reducing your work performance only during periods of significant stress, or when your symptoms are controlled by continuous medication. At 50 percent, you’re generally functioning day to day but experience intermittent periods where you can’t perform at work, along with symptoms like depressed mood, anxiety, chronic sleep problems, panic attacks, or mild memory loss.
The 70 percent rating reflects a more serious level of impairment: reduced reliability and productivity at work, difficulty maintaining relationships, memory problems, impaired judgment, flattened emotional responses, frequent panic attacks, and persistent disturbances in motivation and mood. At 100 percent, you have total occupational and social impairment, meaning depression essentially prevents you from working or maintaining meaningful social connections.
What the VA Pays at Each Rating
As of December 2025, a single veteran with no dependents receives approximately $180 per month at 10 percent and $357 per month at 20 percent. The amounts increase substantially at higher ratings: roughly $1,808 at 80 percent, $2,102 at 90 percent, and $2,362 at 100 percent. These payments are tax-free. If you have a spouse, children, or dependent parents, your monthly amount increases at ratings of 30 percent and above.
Three Ways to Connect Depression to Service
Direct Service Connection
This is the most straightforward path. You show that something during your active duty, whether combat exposure, military sexual trauma, a specific traumatic event, or the cumulative stress of service, caused your depression. You’ll need evidence of a current diagnosis, documentation of the in-service event or stressor, and a medical opinion linking the two.
Secondary Service Connection
This is one of the most common ways veterans receive a depression rating. If you already have a service-connected physical condition, like chronic pain from a back injury, traumatic brain injury, or nerve damage, and that condition has caused or worsened your depression, you can claim depression as a secondary disability. In a January 2025 Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision, for example, a veteran was granted a 70 percent rating for depressive disorder caused by chronic pain from service-connected sciatic nerve damage. Chronic pain, limited mobility, sleep disruption, and loss of independence from physical injuries frequently lead to depression, and the VA recognizes this connection.
Aggravation
If you had depression before entering the military and your service made it permanently worse, you may qualify under an aggravation theory. The VA would rate you based on the degree of worsening beyond your pre-service baseline.
Evidence You’ll Need to File
The VA requires three things for any disability claim: proof of a current diagnosis, evidence of an in-service event or condition, and a medical link (called a “nexus”) between the two. For depression, that translates to specific documents.
You’ll need your DD-214 or separation documents, your service treatment records, and any medical evidence related to your depression, including treatment records, therapist notes, and psychiatric evaluations. If your claim involves a traumatic event during service, you’ll also need to complete VA Form 21-0781, a statement describing the in-service event connected to your mental health condition.
The nexus is often the piece that makes or breaks a claim. This is a medical opinion, typically from a psychiatrist or psychologist, stating that your depression is “at least as likely as not” connected to your military service or to a service-connected condition. Vague or speculative opinions won’t hold up. The VA has rejected medical statements that are too general or don’t reach the required level of certainty. If you’re pursuing secondary service connection, the nexus letter should clearly explain how your existing service-connected condition caused or aggravated your depression.
The C&P Exam
After you file your claim, the VA will schedule a Compensation and Pension exam with a mental health professional. This is not a treatment appointment. The examiner evaluates your current symptoms and how they affect your daily life using a standardized questionnaire.
They’ll assess specific symptoms: depressed mood, anxiety, sleep impairment, memory problems, panic attacks, motivation issues, suicidal thoughts, speech patterns, judgment, and your ability to think abstractly. They’ll also evaluate your overall level of functioning, specifically how your depression affects your ability to work, maintain relationships, handle routine tasks, and care for yourself. The examiner then assigns one of the impairment levels that corresponds to a rating percentage.
Be honest and thorough during this exam. Describe your worst days, not just how you’re doing on the day of the appointment. If you forget things, struggle to get out of bed, have trouble keeping jobs, or have withdrawn from friends and family, say so. Many veterans underreport their symptoms out of habit or stoicism, which leads to lower ratings that don’t reflect their actual impairment.
Depression Is Not a Presumptive Condition
Unlike certain cancers and respiratory diseases linked to burn pit exposure or Agent Orange, depression is not on the VA’s list of presumptive conditions. This means you can’t skip the step of proving the connection to your service. You’ll need that nexus evidence regardless of where or when you served. The PACT Act expanded presumptive conditions significantly for toxic exposures, but mental health conditions like depression still require individual proof of service connection.
Possible Changes to the Rating System
The VA proposed a rule in February 2022 that would eliminate the 0 percent rating for mental health conditions entirely, establishing a minimum 10 percent rating for any diagnosed mental disorder. This would mean that every veteran with a service-connected depression diagnosis would receive at least some monthly compensation. As of now, this rule has not been finalized, but it signals the VA’s direction on mental health ratings. If you currently hold a 0 percent rating for depression, it’s worth watching for this change.
Tips for Strengthening Your Claim
Get consistent treatment. A documented history of therapy sessions, medication management, and ongoing symptoms carries far more weight than a single evaluation at the time of your claim. If you’ve been managing on your own, start by establishing care through a VA medical center or a private provider.
Buddy statements from family members, fellow service members, or coworkers can support your claim by describing changes in your behavior, mood, and functioning that they’ve observed. These are especially valuable when service treatment records are incomplete, which is common for mental health issues that went unreported during active duty.
If you’re claiming depression as secondary to a physical disability, make sure your treatment records reflect the connection. When your doctor notes that your chronic pain is contributing to depressive symptoms, or that your limited mobility has led to social isolation and low mood, that documentation strengthens the link the VA needs to see.