IQ score chart: what is a good IQ score?
IQ scores are set on a scale where the average is 100 and most people fall within 15 points of it. This IQ score chart shows what each range means and how common it is.
IQ score ranges
| IQ score | Common label | Share of people |
|---|---|---|
| 130 and above | Very high | about 2% |
| 120 to 129 | High | about 7% |
| 110 to 119 | Above average | about 16% |
| 90 to 109 | Average | about 50% |
| 80 to 89 | Below average | about 16% |
| 70 to 79 | Low | about 7% |
| Below 70 | Very low | about 2% |
Labels vary between test publishers. The shares assume a normal distribution with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, the convention used by most modern IQ tests.
The IQ bell curve
The curve is tallest at 100 because most people score near the average. About two thirds of people score between 85 and 115, and about 95 in 100 score between 70 and 130.
IQ percentile chart
A percentile shows the share of people who score at or below a given IQ.
| IQ score | Percentile |
|---|---|
| 70 | 2.3% |
| 80 | 9.1% |
| 85 | 15.9% |
| 90 | 25.2% |
| 100 | 50.0% |
| 110 | 74.8% |
| 115 | 84.1% |
| 120 | 90.9% |
| 130 | 97.7% |
| 140 | 99.6% |
| 145 | 99.9% |
What is a good IQ score?
Any score from 90 to 109 is average, and about half of all people land there. Scores of 110 and above are above average. There is no single “good” number: IQ measures certain reasoning skills, not creativity, character, knowledge or how well someone will do in life. For the background, read what IQ is and how it is measured.
How reliable is a single IQ score?
Even carefully built tests give slightly different scores on different days, because of sleep, mood and the particular questions. That is why professional reports give a range, and why you should treat a short online score as an estimate. Our test shows a likely range for the same reason.
IQ score chart FAQ
What is a good IQ score?
Any score from 90 to 109 is average, and about half of people land there. Scores of 110 and above are above average, and 130 and above are in the top 2 percent. IQ measures certain reasoning skills, not creativity, character or how well someone will do in life.
What is the average IQ?
The average IQ is 100 by definition. IQ tests are standardised so that the average score of the reference population is 100, with a standard deviation of 15 on most modern tests.
What IQ is considered genius?
There is no official IQ cutoff for genius. Scores of 130 and above are usually described as very high, and scores above 140 are sometimes called the genius range informally. Very high scores cannot be measured reliably by short online tests.
What IQ score is the 98th percentile?
An IQ of about 130 is at roughly the 98th percentile on a scale with a standard deviation of 15. That means about 98 out of 100 people score lower.