Concussion Settlement Calculator

Unlike a broken bone, a concussion has no single "value" tied to the diagnosis. Two people can be diagnosed with the exact same concussion in the same ER, and one settles for $25,000 while the other settles for $250,000. The difference is almost entirely how long their symptoms last and how well those symptoms are documented.

Source: SetCalc analysis of court records, verdict databases, and legal publications, 2020-2026. Ranges reflect national data; your state and the strength of your liability case can shift values significantly. See settlement statistics by state.

Every concussion is technically a traumatic brain injury, the mildest kind. But in a settlement, the words on your medical records matter enormously, because they place your case on one side or the other of a line that can mean a difference of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The dividing line is built around one variable doctors record at the scene: how long, if at all, you lost consciousness.

The medical coding system (ICD-10-CM) that hospitals use captures this distinction precisely. The codes that appear on your chart are not just billing details; they are objective evidence of how serious the treating doctors considered your injury.

Source: ICD-10-CM 2026 code set. The F07.81 code replaces the acute S06.0X codes once a patient is being treated only for lasting post-concussion symptoms.

A loss of consciousness longer than 30 minutes, a Glasgow Coma Scale score below 13, or any bleeding or bruising visible on a scan moves the diagnosis out of "concussion" and into moderate or severe traumatic brain injury, where settlements begin in the hundreds of thousands. If your records show those features, your case belongs on our TBI settlement calculator rather than this page.

Per the CDC, most adults recover from a concussion within two to four weeks, and the majority who are assessed and treated promptly recover fully within about four weeks. That large majority of quick-recovery cases is why published "average" concussion settlement figures look modest, often quoted in the $20,000 to $48,000 range. But averages hide the cases that matter most: the 10 to 20 percent of concussions that do not heal on schedule.

When symptoms persist beyond three months, the injury is generally reclassified as post-concussion syndrome (ICD-10 F07.81). This is the threshold that transforms a claim. A case that would have settled for $30,000 if symptoms cleared in a month can be worth ten times that if the same symptoms are still present, documented, and disrupting the person's life a year later. The CDC advises following up with a doctor whenever symptoms last beyond two to three weeks or worsen after you return to normal activity, which is exactly the documentation trail a strong PCS claim is built on.

A concussion is a functional injury, not a structural one. The brain is bruised at the cellular level, but there is usually nothing to see on a standard CT scan or MRI. This is the central challenge of every concussion claim: you feel genuinely impaired, but the imaging is "normal," and the insurance company uses that normal result to argue you were never really hurt.

Because no single image proves the injury, concussion claims are won by stacking several independent forms of evidence that converge on the same conclusion.

Concussion claims are a favorite target for minimization because the injury is invisible and the symptoms are easy to dispute. Knowing the standard playbook lets you document around it before the argument is ever made.

• 1."Your scan was normal." The most common tactic. A normal CT or MRI is expected with a concussion; these scans detect bleeding and fractures, not the cellular injury that causes concussion symptoms. The counter is neuropsychological testing and a documented symptom timeline.
• 2."You looked fine at the scene." Many concussion symptoms emerge hours or days after the impact. Appearing alert at the crash, or even scoring a 15 on the Glasgow Coma Scale, does not rule out a serious concussion. Post-concussion syndrome frequently begins after a perfectly normal initial presentation.
• 3."Your symptoms are subjective." Headaches, fog, and fatigue cannot be measured on a single test, so insurers call them exaggerated. Objective neuropsychological data and a consistent treatment history are what defeat this.
• 4."This is stress or a pre-existing condition." Insurers attribute brain fog and headaches to anxiety, depression, or prior history. A clear before-and-after record, showing you functioned normally before the accident, is the rebuttal. The eggshell plaintiff rule also protects people whose pre-existing conditions made them more vulnerable to injury.
• 5.A fast, low first offer. Because concussion symptoms can worsen over time, insurers try to close the file early with a quick check, often a few thousand dollars, before post-concussion syndrome can develop. In one documented case, an insurer's opening offer of $31,000 on a concussion claim ultimately settled for $100,000 after the symptoms were fully documented.

The strength of your documentation, started early and kept consistently, is what separates a lowball concussion offer from a full-value settlement. Follow these steps from the day of the injury.

Here is what real concussion settlements look like once you account for symptom duration, documentation quality, and location. These examples are modeled on patterns in actual settlement and verdict data.

The ranges and examples above give you a starting point, but your specific value depends on the combination of how long your symptoms last, how well they are documented, your medical bills and lost wages, and your state.

SetCalc's AI-powered calculator weighs your specific details against real settlement data from your state. Unlike generic calculators, it factors in: