A good IQ score is anything above 100, with 110–119 classed as high average, 120–129 as superior, and 130 or above as very superior — the top 2% of the population. Because IQ tests are standardized to a mean of 100 with a standard deviation of 15, "good" is always a statement about where you stand relative to everyone else, not a count of right answers. Below we'll put exact numbers on each range, answer whether 110, 115, 120 or 130 counts as good, and explain what research actually says a high score buys you in school and at work.
The IQ classification table
Modern tests such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale group scores into labeled bands. Here is how the population breaks down:
| IQ range | Share of population | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 130 and above | ~2.1% | Very superior / gifted |
| 120–129 | ~6.4% | Superior |
| 110–119 | ~15.7% | High average |
| 90–109 | ~50% | Average |
| 80–89 | ~15.7% | Low average |
| 70–79 | ~6.4% | Borderline |
| Below 70 | ~2.1% | Extremely low |
Half the population scores between 90 and 109, so anything at 110 or above already puts you in the top quarter. For a walkthrough of every band, see the IQ scale explained; for the same data with percentiles attached, see the IQ score chart.
Thinking in percentiles, not points
The most honest way to judge a score is by percentile — the share of people you outscore. An IQ of 100 beats 50% of the population, 110 beats about 75%, 115 beats about 84%, 120 beats about 91%, and 130 beats about 98%. Notice how quickly the air thins: the 10-point jump from 100 to 110 moves you past a quarter of the population, while the jump from 130 to 140 moves you past less than 2%. You can convert any score with our full IQ percentile table.
What a good IQ actually predicts
IQ is one of the best-studied constructs in psychology, and the APA task force report Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns summarizes the picture well: test scores predict school grades at a correlation of roughly 0.5. That is a strong relationship by social-science standards — but it also means IQ explains only about a quarter of the variance in grades. The rest comes from motivation, study habits, teaching quality and circumstance.
At work, Schmidt and Hunter's landmark meta-analysis of personnel selection found general mental ability to be among the strongest single predictors of job performance, with validity around 0.5 for complex jobs and lower for simpler ones. Again, the practical reading is two-sided: a higher IQ genuinely helps, especially in cognitively demanding roles, yet most of what determines performance is not captured by the test. Two people with identical scores routinely have very different careers.
The correlation with income is more modest still, and it weakens further once education is accounted for. In short: a good IQ is an advantage, not a destiny — and a merely average score closes very few doors.
Is 110, 115, 120 or 130 a good IQ?
Is 110 a good IQ?
Yes. An IQ of 110 sits in the high average band and is higher than roughly 75% of the population. It is a comfortably above-average score, typical of people who do well in school and in most professional work.
Is 115 a good IQ?
Yes — 115 is exactly one standard deviation above the mean, which places you at about the 84th percentile. Studies of university graduates often find average scores near this level, so 115 is broadly in line with completing a demanding degree.
Is 120 a good IQ?
Definitely. A score of 120 crosses into the superior classification and outscores about 91% of people. This range is common among professionals in cognitively demanding fields such as medicine, law and engineering.
Is 130 a good IQ?
A score of 130 is two standard deviations above the mean — roughly the 98th percentile — and is the classic cutoff for "gifted" classification and for high-IQ societies like Mensa (on tests with SD 15). Only about 1 person in 50 scores this high. For what lies even further out, see the highest IQ ever recorded.
Is 125 a good IQ?
Yes — 125 sits near the top of the superior band, at roughly the 95th percentile. Only about 1 person in 20 scores this high, and it is within measurement error of the 130 gifted cutoff on many tests.
Is 140 a good IQ?
A score of 140 is exceptional: roughly the 99.6th percentile, or about 1 person in 260. At this level the practical question shifts from "is it good?" to how reliably a standard test can even measure it, since few norming-sample members score this high.
Common benchmarks for a "good" score
Because "good" depends on purpose, it helps to know the thresholds that actually get used in the real world:
- 100 — the population average; the reference point everything else is measured against.
- ~115 — commonly reported as the average among four-year college graduates.
- ~120–125 — typical of research findings for physicians, attorneys and engineers as group averages.
- 130 — the standard gifted-program and Mensa cutoff (98th percentile on an SD-15 test).
- 145+ — three standard deviations up; about 1 in 1,000, and near the reliable ceiling of most standard tests.
Note these are group averages and admission cutoffs, not entry requirements for careers. Plenty of successful physicians score below their profession's average, and plenty of people with 130+ scores work in ordinary jobs. The overlap between bands is enormous.
Context matters more than the label
A few caveats keep the numbers honest. First, every test has measurement error: a typical 95% confidence interval spans about ±5 points, so a 112 and a 118 may not be meaningfully different. Second, scores can vary between test sittings with sleep, stress and familiarity. Third, online tests — including good ones — provide estimates, not clinical diagnoses; only a professionally administered test qualifies for formal purposes. And finally, a single composite number hides your cognitive profile: someone with strong verbal reasoning and weaker processing speed can share a total score with someone whose profile is the mirror image.
Can you move your score?
Modestly, and mostly at the margins. Education has a measurable effect — roughly 1 to 5 IQ points per additional year of schooling in quasi-experimental studies — and sleep, health and test familiarity all influence how well you perform on the day. What doesn't hold up is the promise of dramatic gains from brain-training apps. We review the evidence in how to increase your IQ.
The bottom line
If your score is 110 or above, you can fairly call it good; at 120 it is objectively high, and at 130 it is rare. But remember what the number is: a snapshot of performance on abstract reasoning tasks, compared to a norming sample where the average is fixed at 100. It says something real about pattern recognition and learning speed. It says nothing about creativity, judgment, persistence or character — the things that determine what a good mind actually accomplishes.