- An IQ percentile is the percentage of people who score at or below your IQ.
- An IQ score is a standardized number on a fixed scale (mean 100, SD 15), while a percentile is your rank relative to everyone else.
- Use the standard conversion: IQ 100 is the 50th percentile, 110 is about the 75th, 115 is about the 84th, 120 is about the 91st (top ~10%), 130 is about the 98th (top 2%), and 145 is about the 99.9th (top 0.1%).
- IQ percentiles come from the normal (bell-curve) distribution, where scores are converted into standard deviations from the mean.
- A top-2% IQ is 130 or higher, which corresponds to about the 98th percentile and is the usual Mensa cutoff.
What is an IQ percentile?
An IQ percentile is the percentage of people who score at or below your IQ. So if your IQ is at the 84th percentile, you scored higher than about 84% of the population. Percentiles are often more intuitive than raw scores because they describe your standing directly, rather than relying on the abstract 100-point scale.
What is the difference between an IQ score and a percentile?
An IQ score is a standardized number on a fixed scale (mean 100, SD 15), while a percentile is your rank relative to everyone else. The score and the percentile describe the same result two different ways: an IQ of 115 and 'the 84th percentile' mean exactly the same thing. The score stays constant across the population, but it converts to a percentile through the normal distribution.
What percentile is my IQ score?
Use the standard conversion: IQ 100 is the 50th percentile, 110 is about the 75th, 115 is about the 84th, 120 is about the 91st (top ~10%), 130 is about the 98th (top 2%), and 145 is about the 99.9th (top 0.1%). Below the mean, the curve mirrors: 85 is about the 16th percentile and 70 is about the 2nd. The full mapping is shown in the classification table on this page.
How are IQ percentiles calculated?
IQ percentiles come from the normal (bell-curve) distribution, where scores are converted into standard deviations from the mean. Because IQ is set to a mean of 100 and an SD of 15, a score of 130 is exactly two standard deviations above average, which the normal curve places at roughly the 98th percentile. This is why the same percentile always corresponds to the same score, no matter who takes the test.
What percentile is a genius-level or top-2% IQ?
A top-2% IQ is 130 or higher, which corresponds to about the 98th percentile and is the usual Mensa cutoff. The top 0.1% begins around an IQ of 145 (about the 99.9th percentile), a level reached by roughly 1 in 1,000 people. Because the bell curve thins out sharply at the edges, each additional point near the top represents far fewer people than a point near the middle.
| IQ range | Classification | Percentile | % of population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 130+ | Very Superior / Gifted | 98–99.9 | ~2% |
| 120–129 | Superior | 91–97 | ~8% |
| 110–119 | High Average | 75–90 | ~16% |
| 90–109 | Average | 25–73 | ~50% |
| 80–89 | Low Average | 9–24 | ~16% |
| 70–79 | Borderline | 2–8 | ~7% |
| <70 | Extremely Low | <2 | ~2% |
❓ People also ask
What Is a Good IQ Score?
An IQ of 100 is exactly average; 110-119 is above average, 120 and up puts you in the top 10% (a genuinely 'good' score), and 130+ is considered gifted. IQ is built on a normal distribution with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, so most people cluster near the middle.
What Is a Good IQ Score? →Are Online IQ Tests Accurate?
A well-designed online IQ test gives a reliable estimate of your reasoning ability, but it is not a clinical diagnosis — only a proctored test like the WAIS or Stanford-Binet provides that. This test is built on Raven's Progressive Matrices and CHC theory, scored on the standard scale (mean 100, SD 15), with an internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha) of about 0.85-0.92.
Are Online IQ Tests Accurate? →Can You Increase Your IQ?
You can meaningfully sharpen reasoning skills, working memory, and test performance through training and education, but raising your underlying general intelligence (g) substantially and permanently is not well supported — core g is largely heritable. The honest answer is that some gains are real and some popular claims are overstated.
Can You Increase Your IQ? →Genius IQ Level: What Number Counts as Genius?
A 'genius' IQ traditionally starts at 140, while 130 and above is labeled 'very superior' on modern tests. Scores that high are extremely rare, and the famous IQ numbers you see for historical figures are almost always estimates, not measured results.
Genius IQ Level: What Number Counts as Genius? →Average IQ by Age: Why It's Always 100
The average IQ is 100 at every single age, from children to seniors, because IQ tests are age-normed to your own age group. 'Average IQ by age' charts that show rising or falling numbers are misleading, since the scoring is recalibrated for each age band.
Average IQ by Age: Why It's Always 100 →