High average, above-average ability on most tasks · Rarer than 1 in 7
🏛️ Mensa cutoff 130 — 14 points away
🌍 In the United States (national average ≈ 98, an estimate from test samples), an IQ of 116 is in the top 11.5%.
What an IQ of 116 means. Smarter than 85.7% of people. Classification: High Average — High average, above-average ability on most tasks. Rarer than 1 in 7.
IQ
Classification
Percentile
100
Average
50.0%
120
Superior
90.9%
130
Very Superior / Gifted
97.7%
❓ FAQ
Is an IQ of 116 a good score?
An IQ of 116 falls in the "High Average" range and is higher than 85.7% of the population.
What percentile is an IQ of 116?
An IQ of 116 sits at the 85.7th percentile — the top 14.3% of the population. Roughly 1 in 7 people score this high.
Can you join Mensa with an IQ of 116?
Mensa requires roughly IQ 130 (top 2% on SD15); 116 is 14 points below the cutoff. Practice and a supervised test may close the gap.
How many people have an IQ of 116 or higher?
Roughly 1,158,795,932 people worldwide — about 14.3% of 8.1 billion.