Very superior, gifted range, top 2% of people · Rarer than 1 in 652,598
🏛️ Mensa: eligible (top 2%)
🌍 In the United States (national average ≈ 98, an estimate from test samples), an IQ of 170 is in the top 0.1%.
What an IQ of 170 means. Smarter than 99.9% of people. Classification: Very Superior / Gifted — Very superior, gifted range, top 2% of people. Rarer than 1 in 652,598.
IQ
Classification
Percentile
100
Average
50.0%
120
Superior
90.9%
130
Very Superior / Gifted
97.7%
❓ FAQ
Is an IQ of 170 a good score?
An IQ of 170 falls in the "Very Superior / Gifted" range and is higher than 99.9% of the population.
What percentile is an IQ of 170?
An IQ of 170 sits at the 99.9th percentile — the top 0.1% of the population. Roughly 1 in 652,598 people score this high.
Can you join Mensa with an IQ of 170?
Yes — Mensa admits the top 2% (about IQ 130 on the SD15 scale), and 170 clears that bar. Note that only supervised tests count, not online practice tests.
How many people have an IQ of 170 or higher?
Roughly 12,412 people worldwide — about 0.1% of 8.1 billion.