Scores
What IQ Is Considered Genius, and Where Did 140 Come From?
On this page
- What IQ is considered genius?
- Where does the 140 genius line come from?
- How rare is a genius-level IQ?
- What IQ is considered gifted?
- Is 130 IQ genius?
- Is genius the same as a high IQ?
- What does a very high IQ score actually measure?
- Is a gifted child a genius?
- Can an online test show that you are a genius?
- What about famous people with “genius IQs”?
- How can you find your own score?
- FAQ
No IQ score is officially considered genius. Psychology dictionaries do not define a genius level. The popular line of 140 comes from one old study. That study picked children who scored above 140.
What IQ is considered genius?
No IQ is considered genius in any official sense. No test or dictionary defines a genius score. American Mensa’s supervisory psychologist makes the same point: psychological dictionaries give no definition of a “genius” IQ1.
People still use the word, of course. When they do, they usually mean a score of 140 or more. That number is common in articles and quizzes. But it is a habit, not a standard, and different writers pick different lines.
The honest answer is therefore a range of popular lines, not one score. Here is how often each one is reached on an SD 15 test:
| Popular line | Percentile | How rare |
|---|---|---|
| 130 | 97.72 | about 1 in 44 |
| 140 | 99.62 | about 1 in 261 |
| 145 | 99.87 | about 1 in 741 |
| 150 | 99.96 | about 1 in 2,300 |
| 160 | above 99.99 | about 1 in 32,000 |
“How rare” means the share of people who score that high or higher. Every number is computed from the normal curve.
Where does the 140 genius line come from?
The 140 genius line comes from a long-term study of children. It selected children who scored above 140. The researcher who led it was Lewis Terman. For him, 140 was simply an entry rule. Over time, that entry rule turned into a popular definition1.
That history matters. A line chosen to pick a study group says nothing about genius today. It was a practical cutoff, set for one project.
A 140 today sits at the 99.62nd percentile. Read what a 140 IQ means for its full profile, with its labels and range.
How rare is a genius-level IQ?
A genius-level IQ is rare if you take 140 as the line. About 1 in 261 people score that high or higher. At 145, three standard deviations above the average, it is about 1 in 741. At 160, it is about 1 in 32,000.
These numbers come from the math of the bell curve. Real tests all have ceilings, so the far top is hard to measure. See what a 145 IQ means for the three-SD point. The page on a 160 IQ covers the far top.
The rarity also depends on the test’s standard deviation. A 140 on an SD 15 test differs from a 140 on an SD 24 test. The IQ scale explains the different scales.
What IQ is considered gifted?
No single IQ is considered gifted, because gifted has no single definition. The National Association for Gifted Children describes giftedness as high performance or capability. It is judged against others of the same age, experience and environment3. It can show in one area or several.
Many schools and programs use the top 10 percent as a guide. On an SD 15 test, the top 10 percent starts at a score of about 119.2. Some programs set higher lines, and many look at more than one test.
So a score of 120 may count in one district and not in the next. If you are asking for a child, ask the school or program for its written rule. Our guide to IQ tests for kids explains how school testing works.
Is 130 IQ genius?
No. A 130 IQ is the start of the top band. It is not a genius score by any official rule. It is at the 97.72nd percentile, about 1 in 44 people.
A 130 is, however, the line Mensa uses on Wechsler tests, because it matches the 98th percentile. See what a 130 IQ means for the full answer.
Is genius the same as a high IQ?
No. A high IQ is a high score on a reasoning test. In everyday speech, genius usually means rare achievement or originality. The two words describe different things.
An IQ test measures certain kinds of reasoning on one day. It does not measure what a person will create, discover or build. That is why this site never calls a score “genius”. It reports the score, its percentile and its range instead.
Mensa shows the difference in practice. Its rule is about a score, not about achievement. People must score in the top 2% on an approved, supervised test2. The Mensa IQ test page explains how admission works.
What does a very high IQ score actually measure?
A very high IQ score measures strong performance on the reasoning tasks in one test. It is a summary of several parts, not a single talent.
A modern adult test covers five areas: verbal comprehension, visual spatial skills, fluid reasoning, working memory and processing speed4. A person can be very strong in some and ordinary in others. Clinical reports list each part next to the total.
Research on matrix puzzles gives a clue about the top end. There, higher scorers mainly differ in two things. They find abstract rules more easily, and they keep more steps in mind at once5. That is impressive, but it is a specific skill, not a measure of a whole mind.
Is a gifted child a genius?
No. Gifted describes high performance or capability compared with peers of the same age, in one area or more. Genius, in everyday speech, describes rare adult achievement. These are two different ideas.
A gifted label is a decision by a school or a program, made under that program’s own rules. There is no single count of gifted children, and no test result turns a child into a genius.
Can an online test show that you are a genius?
No online test can show that you are a genius, because no test can. An online test also cannot measure the far top of the scale well.
Our own test is short, so it runs out of hard questions. On our test, a perfect answer sheet currently shows about 140. Anything above 145 is shown as “145 or higher”. Unsupervised online tests also score a little high on average, by about 3 points in a large review7.
If the top end matters to you, a supervised test given by a psychologist is the route. The page on the highest IQ score explains test ceilings. Our methodology shows the limits of our own test.
What about famous people with “genius IQs”?
Most famous “genius IQ” numbers are not test results at all. They are estimates, often made long after the person lived. Mensa’s supervisory psychologist calls claims of 180 or 200 for people who died before tests existed not credible1.
Einstein is the best-known case. There is no evidence that he ever took an intelligence test. The numbers quoted for him disagree widely. Read Einstein’s IQ for where those numbers came from.
How can you find your own score?
To find your own score, take a test with norms. Our free IQ test gives an estimate, a range and a percentile in one sitting. It will not call you a genius, and it will not ask for payment.
FAQ
What is a genius IQ score?
There is no official genius IQ score. The line most people quote is 140, which comes from an old study’s entry rule.
What IQ is considered gifted?
Gifted has no single IQ cutoff. Many programs use the top 10 percent as a guide. On an SD 15 test, that starts at about 119.2.
Is 140 IQ genius?
Not officially. A 140 is at the 99.62nd percentile. It is the popular genius line only because an old study used it to pick children.
Is 160 IQ genius?
A 160 is extremely rare, about 1 in 32,000 people, but no rule makes it genius. Few tests can even measure that high with any precision.
What percent of people have a genius IQ?
It depends on the line you pick. About 0.4% of people score 140 or higher, and about 2.3% score 130 or higher.
Does a high IQ mean success?
No score guarantees success. An IQ test measures reasoning on one day. Many other things shape what a person achieves.