What Is a Normal IQ Score? IQ Ranges and Percentiles Explained

IQ tests are scored on a scale with a fixed average of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. The scale is normed against a large sample of the population, so your score is really a statement about how you compare with other people, not an absolute measurement of intelligence.

IQ score ranges and what they mean

• 69 and below — extremely low; about 2% of people
• 70–84 — below average; about 14%
• 85–115 — average; about 68% of people fall in this band
• 116–129 — above average; about 14%
• 130 and above — very high, often labelled "gifted"; about 2%

Roughly 95% of people score between 70 and 130. Scores above 145 or below 55 are rare enough that most standard tests cannot measure them precisely.

IQ and percentiles

A percentile is the share of people you score higher than.

• IQ 100 — 50th percentile (exactly average)
• IQ 110 — about 75th percentile
• IQ 115 — about 84th percentile
• IQ 120 — about 91st percentile
• IQ 130 — about 98th percentile
• IQ 140 — about 99.6th percentile

What an IQ score does and does not tell you

• It reflects reasoning, pattern recognition, working memory and processing speed under test conditions
• It does not measure creativity, character, motivation, practical skill or emotional intelligence
• It moves with sleep, stress, practice with the test format, and how much you have eaten
• Online tests, including ours, are estimates — useful for tracking yourself over time, not for a formal diagnosis, which needs a supervised test administered by a psychologist

Test yourself

Our free IQ test gives an estimated score and a percentile across several reasoning categories, and you can retake it to see how your results move.

Frequently asked questions

What is the average IQ? 100, by definition. The middle of the population is re-centred to 100 whenever tests are updated.

Is 120 a good IQ score? Yes — it is higher than about 9 in 10 people and firmly in the "above average" range.

What is a genius IQ? There is no official cut-off, but 140+ is the number most often used informally. It corresponds to roughly the top 0.4% of people.

Are online IQ tests accurate? They correlate reasonably with supervised tests but are noisier. Treat the result as a ballpark figure with a margin of several points either way.

Can you improve your IQ? You can raise your score with practice, sleep and lower anxiety, and childhood scores respond to education and environment. Large, permanent jumps in adults from brain games are not well supported.