What is a good IQ score?
Updated November 2026 · 5-minute read
Short answer: the average IQ is 100, and about two-thirds of people score between 85 and 115. A score above 100 beats about half of people, 120+ is well above average (roughly the top 9%), and 130+ is roughly the top 2%.
How IQ scores work
An IQ score doesn't tell you what percentage of questions you got right. It tells you how your result compares with other people of your own age. Modern tests are scaled so that the average is always 100, with a "standard deviation" of 15 points. That just means most people land within 15 points of 100, and the further a score is from 100, the rarer it is.
Because scores are compared within age groups, 100 is average at every age. A 12-year-old and a 50-year-old who both score 100 are each exactly average for their age.
IQ score ranges
Test makers use slightly different labels, but the ranges below are widely used. The last column shows roughly how many people fall in each band.
| IQ score | Usually described as | Share of people |
|---|---|---|
| 130 and above | Very high | about 2% |
| 120 – 129 | Well above average | about 7% |
| 110 – 119 | High average | about 16% |
| 90 – 109 | Average | about 50% |
| 80 – 89 | Low average | about 16% |
| 70 – 79 | Well below average | about 7% |
| Below 70 | Very low | about 2% |
What percentile is my IQ?
A percentile tells you the share of people who scored the same or lower than you.
| IQ score | Higher than about… |
|---|---|
| 85 | 16% of people |
| 100 | 50% of people |
| 110 | 75% of people |
| 115 | 84% of people |
| 120 | 91% of people |
| 125 | 95% of people |
| 130 | 98% of people |
| 140 | 99.6% of people |
So, what counts as "good"?
- Above 100 means you did better than about half of people.
- 110 to 119 is comfortably above average.
- 120 and up is a strong score that only around 1 in 11 people reach.
- 130 and up is often used as the threshold for "gifted" programmes. There's no official "genius" score.
Keep it in perspective, though. IQ tests measure certain kinds of reasoning, like spotting patterns, working with numbers and solving logic problems. They don't measure creativity, practical skills, kindness, motivation or hard work, and those matter a lot in real life.
Are online IQ tests accurate?
A professional IQ test, such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, is given one-to-one by a trained psychologist and scored against a large, carefully chosen sample of people. Online tests, including ours, can't match that. They're a fun way to get a rough idea and to practise this kind of thinking, but treat the number as an estimate, not a measured IQ.
Your result can also move a few points depending on sleep, focus, distractions and whether you've seen similar puzzles before.
Are people getting smarter?
Raw scores on IQ tests rose steadily through the 20th century, by roughly 3 points per decade in many countries. This is known as the Flynn effect, after the researcher James Flynn. Test makers update ("re-norm") their tests every so often so that the average stays at 100. In some wealthy countries the rise has recently slowed or even reversed slightly.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average IQ?
100, by design. Tests are scaled so the average for each age group is 100.
Is an IQ of 120 good?
Yes. It's higher than about 91% of people.
Is 130 a genius IQ?
There's no official genius cut-off. 130+ is higher than about 98% of people and is often used for gifted programmes.
Can you raise your IQ?
Practising puzzles makes you better at those puzzles, and being rested and focused helps on test day. Broad, lasting jumps in adult IQ are much harder to achieve, and scores tend to be fairly stable over time.
Curious where you stand? Take our free 36-question IQ-style test. No sign-up, instant score, and every answer explained at the end.
Take the free IQ test Try the memory testSources: IQ classification (Wikipedia) · Interpretation of an IQ score (RIOT IQ) · Flynn effect (Lancaster University psychology glossary) · Pietschnig & Voracek (2015), a century of IQ gains