California Workers' Comp Settlement Chart by Injury (2026)

What does the California workers' comp settlement chart actually show?

The real chart lists what each percentage of permanent disability pays. It does not list a price for a hand, a back, or a knee.

Many sites show a list of body parts next to a dollar range and call it the California settlement chart. California law does not work that way. There is one official chart, and it is built on your percentage of permanent disability, not on which part of your body was hurt.

Labor Code section 4658 sets the exact number of payment weeks for each percentage of disability. Multiply those weeks by the current weekly rate, and you get the disability award. Here is that chart, current for 2026. Find your rating in the left column, and read across for your benefit weeks and the award those weeks add up to at the maximum weekly rate.

PD rating	Benefit weeks	Award at the 2026 max ($290/wk)
10 percent	30 weeks	$8,700
20 percent	75 weeks	$21,750
30 percent	130 weeks	$37,700
40 percent	200 weeks	$58,000
50 percent	270 weeks	$78,300
60 percent	350 weeks	$101,500
70 percent	430 weeks	$124,700 plus a life pension

This table prices only the disability piece of a settlement. A full offer can also include future medical care, unpaid benefits, and a retraining voucher, each covered further down this page. The harder question, and the one most body-part charts skip, is how your own percentage gets set in the first place.

How is your permanent disability percentage set?

A doctor rates your impairment under the AMA Guides, state law multiplies that number by 1.4, then adjusts it again for your age and your job.

Once your treating doctor, a Qualified Medical Evaluator (QME), or an Agreed Medical Evaluator (AME) says your condition will not change much over the next year, they write a report rating your whole person impairment. That rating comes from the American Medical Association's Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, 5th Edition, the medical reference California uses by law.

From there, Labor Code section 4660.1 takes over for any injury on or after January 1, 2013. It multiplies your whole person impairment by an adjustment factor of 1.4. California's Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC) confirms this step replaced the older future earning capacity adjustment used for injuries before 2013. After the 1.4 adjustment, the state's rating schedule adjusts the number again for your age and your occupation. What is left after all three steps is your final percentage of permanent disability, the number behind the chart above.

A few conditions are limited by law rather than run through this formula without restriction. Under Labor Code section 4660.1, an added rating for sleep problems, sexual dysfunction, or a psychiatric condition on top of a physical injury is usually not allowed, with narrow exceptions such as psychiatric harm from a violent act.

Why isn't there one official chart by body part?

The AMA Guides rate how much function your whole body lost, not which part was hurt, so the same injury can land on very different percentages.

The Guides group injuries by body system, the spine, an upper limb, a lower limb, and so on, and measure lost function, not a fixed price for the part itself. A torn rotator cuff is not one flat number. The rating changes with your remaining range of motion, any related nerve damage, and whether surgery left a measurable loss the Guides recognize.

That is also why a single average for surgery is not a published figure. Surgery can raise or lower your impairment number once you have healed, but California does not set a separate payout for having had an operation. A surgical injury still runs through the same steps above: whole person impairment, the 1.4 adjustment, the age and occupation adjustment, and the chart. Two workers who had the same operation can end up with different ratings, and different checks, once their own medical evidence is measured.

Wage and apportionment move the number too. Each week of permanent disability pays two-thirds of your average weekly wage, capped at the maximum shown in the chart. Under Labor Code section 4663, a doctor must state what share of your disability came from the work injury itself, separate from an old injury or an unrelated condition. The claim only pays the work-related share, so a thin report on this point can quietly shrink your check.

What else gets added to a permanent disability award?

A real settlement can include future medical care, unpaid wage-replacement, and a retraining voucher, on top of the disability award on the chart.

The chart above prices only one piece of your claim. Three more pieces often raise the total.

• Future medical care. If your claim stays open through a Stipulated Award, the insurer keeps paying for approved treatment tied to your injury. If you instead take a lump sum through a Compromise and Release, that sum is meant to cover your own future care, and a severe injury needing years of treatment can make this the largest part of the whole settlement.
• Unpaid temporary disability (TD). If wage-replacement checks were missed, late, or underpaid while you were off work, that unpaid amount is added back in.
• The supplemental job displacement benefit (SJDB). If your employer cannot offer you regular, modified, or alternative work within the deadline the law sets, Labor Code section 4658.7 entitles you to a voucher worth up to $6,000. You can put it toward retraining, tuition, tools, or a licensed job-placement service, and it expires two years after it is issued or five years after your injury, whichever is later.

None of these are optional extras an insurer adds as goodwill. Each one is a separate right set by statute, and a complete settlement accounts for all of them, not just the disability award alone.

How do you find your real settlement number?

Start from your written impairment rating, confirm the right adjustments were applied, then add future medical care, unpaid benefits, and the voucher.

A few checks catch most of the money an insurer quietly leaves out.

1. Get the actual rating in writing from your treating doctor, QME, or AME. A verbal estimate is not a rating.
2. Check that the 1.4 adjustment and the age and occupation adjustment were both applied. A rating that skips a step is usually too low.
3. Confirm your average weekly wage. Overtime, a second job, and a recent raise are often left off the first wage statement an insurer uses.
4. List what is still owed: any late or short temporary disability checks, open treatment, and whether you qualify for the SJDB voucher.
5. Match the final percentage against the chart above yourself, so the number in any offer has to add up.

If a rating looks low for what you went through, a Qualified Medical Evaluator can take a second, independent look. For a closer walk-through of how a California settlement comes together from start to finish, see this settlement guide.

Get your California settlement checked before you sign.

A short review can confirm whether an offer matches your real rating, your real wage, and the future care and voucher the law adds on top.

Yazdchi Law reviews California workers' comp settlements for injured workers across the Antelope Valley, the San Fernando Valley, and Greater Los Angeles, including claims heard at Workers' Compensation Appeals Board offices in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Pomona, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Oxnard. The firm reviews each matter individually and decides separately whether it can take a case.

Call (661) 273-1780 or use the contact form for a free review of your rating and your offer. There is no fee unless the firm recovers benefits for you.