Workers Comp Settlement Chart: What Each Body Part Is Worth
In New York, a permanently lost arm is worth 312 weeks of compensation. In Georgia, the same arm is 225 weeks. A hand runs 244 weeks in New York and 160 in Georgia, and Florida threw its body-part chart out entirely. Every number on this page comes straight from the statute that pays it, with the formula that turns weeks into dollars and a calculator to run your own.
How Scheduled Awards Actually Work
Most states write a price list directly into their workers compensation law: the permanent loss of each body part is worth a fixed number of weeks of pay. Lawyers call these scheduled losses. The formula behind every chart on this page is the same three numbers multiplied together:
Weeks for the body part × your percentage of loss × your weekly compensation rate
The weeks come from the statute below. The percentage comes from a doctor at maximum medical improvement, the point where you have healed as much as you are going to: a stiff shoulder might be a 20 percent loss of use of the arm, an amputation is 100 percent. The weekly rate is usually two thirds of your average weekly wage, capped by your state's maximum. A 50 percent loss of use of a hand in New York is 122 weeks; at a $900 weekly rate, that is $109,800. The percentage is where the money is won or lost, because every point on a 300-week limb is worth thousands of dollars, and the insurer's doctor and your doctor rarely agree on it.
The Chart: New York's Schedule, Body Part by Body Part
New York's schedule under Workers Compensation Law section 15(3) is the classic of the genre and the most complete, so it anchors this chart. These are the weeks for a 100 percent loss; partial losses pay the doctor's percentage of these numbers.
| Body part | Weeks (100% loss) | At $600/week | At $1,000/week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arm | 312 | $187,200 | $312,000 |
| Leg | 288 | $172,800 | $288,000 |
| Hand | 244 | $146,400 | $244,000 |
| Foot | 205 | $123,000 | $205,000 |
| Eye | 160 | $96,000 | $160,000 |
| Thumb | 75 | $45,000 | $75,000 |
| Index finger | 46 | $27,600 | $46,000 |
| Great toe | 38 | $22,800 | $38,000 |
| Second finger | 30 | $18,000 | $30,000 |
| Third finger | 25 | $15,000 | $25,000 |
| Any other toe | 16 | $9,600 | $16,000 |
| Fourth finger | 15 | $9,000 | $15,000 |
Weeks are from New York WCL section 15(3). Dollar columns are illustrations at two example weekly rates; New York caps the weekly rate at $1,222.42 for injuries through June 30, 2026, and your own rate is two thirds of your average weekly wage up to that cap. Weekly benefits already paid for the same injury generally count against a New York schedule award.
The Same Body, Six Different States
Move the identical injury across a state line and the math changes completely. Here is how the six states in our workers comp guide series price permanent loss:
| State | System | Key numbers, from the statute |
|---|---|---|
| New York | Weeks schedule | Arm 312, leg 288, hand 244, foot 205, eye 160, thumb 75 (WCL 15(3)) |
| Georgia | Weeks schedule | Arm 225, leg 225, hand 160, eye 150, foot 135, thumb 60, paid at two thirds of your wage (OCGA 34-9-263) |
| Florida | No body-part chart | Impairment rating instead: 2 weeks per point for 1 to 10 percent, 3 weeks for 11 to 15, 4 weeks for 16 to 20, 6 weeks for 21 and up, paid at 75 percent of your temporary total rate (FS 440.15(3)) |
| Massachusetts | One-time wage multiples | Major arm 43 times the state average weekly wage, minor arm 39, major hand 34, leg 39, foot 29, paid on top of weekly checks (MGL c.152 s.36) |
| Oklahoma | Weeks schedule | Arm 275, leg 275, hand 220 (85A section 46) |
| Rhode Island | Weekly add-on schedule | Arm or leg 312 weeks, hand 244, paid as an extra weekly amount of half your wage, capped at $180 a week (RIGL 28-33-19) |
Two of the six deserve a second look. Florida is the trap for chart-shoppers: search results full of body-part charts simply do not apply there, because since 2003 Florida pays on your whole-person impairment percentage, and at 75 percent of your normal rate. Massachusetts is the sleeper: its Section 36 money is calculated from the state average weekly wage, $1,922.48 for injuries on or after October 1, 2025, so a major arm at 43 times that figure is over $82,000 as a one-time payment, genuinely on top of weekly benefits, and it goes unclaimed constantly because nobody tells the worker it exists.
Quick Scheduled-Loss Calculator
Estimate only. It applies the statutory weeks for the state you pick; it does not model offsets against benefits already paid, state maximum rates, Florida's impairment system, or Massachusetts wage multiples. For a number built on your whole case, use the free case review.
Where the Chart Misleads People
The back is not on it. The single most common serious work injury, the spine, is unscheduled almost everywhere. Back, neck, head and organ injuries are valued through lost earning capacity or impairment systems instead, and a serious unscheduled injury is often worth more than any chart line. If your injury is spinal, the chart above is the wrong tool entirely; our back and neck settlement guide is the right one.
The percentage is the fight, not the weeks. The statute fixes the weeks; nobody litigates them. What gets litigated is whether your shoulder is a 15 percent or a 35 percent loss of use of the arm, because on 312 weeks that gap is worth more than a year of pay. The rating assigned at maximum medical improvement is a medical opinion, second opinions are allowed, and accepting the insurer doctor's first number is the most expensive form of politeness in workers comp.
The chart never includes pain and suffering. No workers comp system pays it. That money exists only in a third-party claim against someone other than your employer: the manufacturer of the press that took the hand, the subcontractor whose load crushed the foot, the driver who hit you while you worked. A scheduled award and a third-party claim can run at the same time, and the third-party side is routinely the larger number. It is also the question no insurer will ever ask for you; our free case review asks it first.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a workers comp settlement chart?
It is the schedule written into each state's workers compensation law assigning a set number of weeks of pay to the permanent loss, or loss of use, of each body part. New York gives an arm 312 weeks and a hand 244; Georgia gives an arm 225 weeks and a hand 160. Your award is the weeks for that body part, times your percentage of loss, times your weekly compensation rate.
How much is a back injury worth on the chart?
The back, neck and spine are usually not on the chart at all. Most states treat spine injuries as unscheduled, valued instead by how much earning power you permanently lost, which often makes a serious back claim worth more than a scheduled award. Anyone quoting a back injury straight off a body-part chart is oversimplifying.
Do I get the full chart amount for my injury?
Only for a total loss. Most awards are partial: a doctor assigns a percentage of lost use at maximum medical improvement, and you receive that percentage of the scheduled weeks. A 50 percent loss of use of a hand in New York pays 122 weeks, not 244. The percentage is a medical opinion, and disputing a low one is routine and often worthwhile.
Which states actually use a body-part chart?
Most states keep a weeks-based schedule, including New York, Georgia, Oklahoma and Rhode Island. Florida is the big exception: it abolished body-part scheduling and pays impairment income benefits based on your whole-person impairment percentage instead. Massachusetts pays specific one-time sums calculated as multiples of the state average weekly wage rather than weeks of your own pay.
Is the scheduled award paid on top of my weekly checks?
It depends on the state. In Massachusetts, Section 36 loss-of-function money is genuinely additional to weekly benefits. In New York, weekly benefits already paid for the same injury are generally counted against the schedule award. Never assume either way; how the award interacts with wage checks is one of the first questions to get answered in your own state.
Does surgery increase a scheduled award?
Usually indirectly. Surgery itself is a medical benefit paid separately, but a body part that needed surgery typically carries a higher permanent loss-of-use percentage at maximum medical improvement, and that percentage is what multiplies the weeks. Surgery also strengthens the record that the injury is serious, which matters in every negotiation.
Can I settle for more than the chart says?
Sometimes, because the chart only prices the scheduled loss. A full settlement can also include future medical care, disputed back benefits, and unscheduled losses. And if anyone other than your employer helped cause the injury, a maker of a defective machine, another contractor, a negligent driver, that third-party claim is priced on ordinary injury law with pain and suffering, which the chart never includes.
Do I need a lawyer to get a scheduled loss award?
Not always, but the money usually turns on the loss-of-use percentage, and that is exactly where insurers push low. A few percentage points on a 312-week arm is tens of thousands of dollars. If the insurer's doctor rates you lower than your own doctor does, or a third party was involved, representation tends to pay for itself.
Sources
- New York Workers Compensation Law section 15(3), schedule loss of use weeks; NY Workers Compensation Board, Schedule Loss of Use guidance (wcb.ny.gov).
- Georgia Code, OCGA section 34-9-263, compensation for permanent partial disability.
- Florida Statutes section 440.15(3), impairment income benefits for accidents on or after October 1, 2003 (flsenate.gov); Florida Division of Workers Compensation, impairment income benefits guidance.
- Massachusetts General Laws chapter 152 section 36, specific injuries (malegislature.gov); Massachusetts DIA maximum rate for injuries on or after October 1, 2025.
- Oklahoma Statutes title 85A section 46, permanent partial disability schedule.
- Rhode Island General Laws section 28-33-19, additional compensation for specific injuries.
Related Resources
Hurt on the Job?
The chart prices one piece of your claim. A free case review values all of it, including the third-party money the chart never shows.
Start My Free Case Review