Very superior, gifted range, top 2% of people · Rarer than 1 in 23,863
🏛️ Mensa: eligible (top 2%)
🌍 In the United States (national average ≈ 98, an estimate from test samples), an IQ of 159 is in the top 0.1%.
What an IQ of 159 means. Smarter than 99.9% of people. Classification: Very Superior / Gifted — Very superior, gifted range, top 2% of people. Rarer than 1 in 23,863.
IQ
Classification
Percentile
100
Average
50.0%
120
Superior
90.9%
130
Very Superior / Gifted
97.7%
❓ FAQ
Is an IQ of 159 a good score?
An IQ of 159 falls in the "Very Superior / Gifted" range and is higher than 99.9% of the population.
What percentile is an IQ of 159?
An IQ of 159 sits at the 99.9th percentile — the top 0.1% of the population. Roughly 1 in 23,863 people score this high.
Can you join Mensa with an IQ of 159?
Yes — Mensa admits the top 2% (about IQ 130 on the SD15 scale), and 159 clears that bar. Note that only supervised tests count, not online practice tests.
How many people have an IQ of 159 or higher?
Roughly 339,435 people worldwide — about 0.1% of 8.1 billion.