A “good” IQ score depends on what you mean. Statistically, anything from 90 to 109 is average and is where about half of people score; 110–119 is above average (High Average), 120–129 is high, and 130 or above is very high — the usual threshold for giftedness. The average IQ is 100 by definition.
IQ score ranges at a glance
| Score | Plain-English meaning | WAIS-IV label | Share of people |
|---|---|---|---|
| 130+ | Very high / gifted range | Very Superior | 2.5% |
| 120–129 | High | Superior | 7.2% |
| 110–119 | Above average | High Average | 16.6% |
| 90–109 | Average | Average | 49.5% |
| 80–89 | Below average | Low Average | 15.6% |
| 70–79 | Well below average | Borderline | 6.5% |
| 69 or below | Extremely low | Extremely Low | 2.1% |
The shares come from the normal model (mean 100, SD 15) using whole-number boundaries; real test norm tables differ by a fraction of a percent. For every individual score see the IQ percentile chart.
Is 110 a good IQ? Is 120? Is 130?
Each is above the average of 100. 110 beats about 75% of people, 120 about 91%, and 130 about 98%. A score of 100 is exactly average and 90 is still within the normal range. Below 90 is below average, and below about 70 is the range where an intellectual disability may be considered — but only together with an assessment of everyday adaptive functioning (DSM-5).
“Good” for what? What IQ actually predicts
If “good” means “likely to help in school and work”, the research gives a measured answer. Strenze’s (2007) meta-analysis of longitudinal studies found that intelligence correlated about .56 with educational attainment, .43 with occupational level and .20 with income. For job performance, the classic estimate of .51 (Schmidt & Hunter, 1998) has been revised to about .31 (Sackett et al., 2022). These are real relationships, but they leave most of the variation in outcomes to other things: effort, interests, personality, health, opportunity and luck.
In practical terms, there is no score that is “good enough” for a particular career. In UK survey data, professional groups such as doctors, lawyers, teachers and programmers average around 109–114, but every group includes people well below and well above that — see average IQ by occupation.
What is a good IQ for a child?
Children’s IQ tests are normed by age, so a 10-year-old with 100 is exactly average for 10-year-olds. The same bands apply: 90–109 average, 110+ above average. Children’s scores are less stable than adults’, especially before school age, and should be interpreted by a psychologist along with school performance. Many gifted programmes look at scores around 125–130 and above, plus other evidence. See average IQ by age.
Why one number is never the whole story
- Error: a full clinical test has a standard error of about 3 points; a measured 115 is really “about 109–121”.
- Profile: two people with the same full-scale IQ can have very different verbal, spatial, memory and speed scores.
- Norms: scores depend on the test and its norm year; outdated norms inflate scores (the Flynn effect, about 3 points per decade in 20th-century data).
- Source: online tests are often not normed at all — see how accurate online IQ tests are.
What is a genius IQ?
There is no scientific “genius” score. Terman (1916) used “near genius or genius” for scores above 140 on his early Stanford-Binet, but modern tests avoid the word. A score of 140 is about 1 in 260 people, 145 about 1 in 740 and 160 about 1 in 31,600 — at which point most tests reach their ceiling.
Sources
- Wechsler, D. (2008). WAIS-IV Technical and Interpretive Manual. Pearson. (Descriptive classifications; FSIQ range 40–160; normative sample N = 2,200, ages 16–90.)
- Wechsler, D. (2014). WISC-V Technical and Interpretive Manual. Pearson. (Descriptors Extremely High … Extremely Low.)
- Strenze, T. (2007). Intelligence and socioeconomic success: A meta-analytic review of longitudinal research. Intelligence, 35(5), 401–426.
- Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1998). The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology. Psychological Bulletin, 124(2), 262–274.
- Sackett, P. R., Zhang, C., Berry, C. M., & Lievens, F. (2022). Revisiting meta-analytic estimates of validity in personnel selection. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(11), 2040–2068.
- Wolfram, T. (2023). (Not just) intelligence stratifies the occupational hierarchy: Ranking 360 professions by IQ and non-cognitive traits. Intelligence, 98, 101755. Occupation figures as tabulated in J. Thompson, “Minds and professions” (2023).
- American Psychiatric Association (2013/2022). DSM-5 / DSM-5-TR: Intellectual Disability (Intellectual Developmental Disorder).
- Trahan, L. H., Stuebing, K. K., Fletcher, J. M., & Hiscock, M. (2014). The Flynn effect: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 140(5), 1332–1360.
- Terman, L. M. (1916). The Measurement of Intelligence. Houghton Mifflin.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good IQ score?
Statistically, 90–109 is average, 110–119 above average, 120–129 high and 130+ very high. The average is 100.
Is 110 a good IQ?
Yes. 110 is High Average and higher than about 75% of people.
Is 120 a good IQ?
Yes. 120 is a high score, higher than about 91% of people (about 1 in 11 score 120 or more).
What is the average IQ?
100 by definition: tests are normed so the average person of each age scores 100, with a standard deviation of 15.
What IQ is considered genius?
There is no scientific genius cut-off. Scores of 140+ (about 1 in 260) are sometimes called genius-level, but modern tests do not use that label.