Is an IQ of 118 good?

How rare is an IQ of 118?

Only about 11.5% of people score higher than 118. Here is what that looks like in groups of different sizes:

What an IQ of 118 means

An IQ of 118 is 18 points above the average of 100, or 1.20 standard deviations above the mean. It falls in the high average band.

Scores from 110 to 119 are above average, higher than roughly 75–90% of people. This is a comfortable range for university study and analytical work.

How a 118 does on our test

On our free 30-question test, an IQ of 118 takes about 24 correct answers out of 30. Here is how 24 correct answers usually split across the four areas:

• Pattern reasoning 8 of 10
• Numerical reasoning 6 of 7
• Verbal reasoning 5 of 6
• Logical reasoning 5 of 7

Worked out from our scoring model, assuming the easier questions are the ones you get right. Harder questions count for more, so two people with the same number correct can score a few points apart. We’ll replace this with real results once enough people have taken the test. How scoring works

Jobs where the typical worker scored about 118

In a study that followed Wisconsin men from high school into their 50s, these job groups had a typical (median) score closest to 118. 55 of the 56 groups had a median below 118.

IQ 118

1. Natural scientists and mathematicians 111

   Median 111. Middle half of workers 101.5 to 121. Middle 80% 93 to 133.

2. Legal occupations 113

   Median 113. Middle half of workers 109 to 124. Middle 80% 99 to 133.

3. Electrical engineers 113

   Median 113. Middle half of workers 103 to 121. Middle 80% 95 to 129.

4. College professors 115

   Median 115. Middle half of workers 104 to 124. Middle 80% 97 to 133.

5. Physicians (MD or equivalent) 120.5

   Median 120.5. Middle half of workers 112 to 127. Middle 80% 106 to 133.

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Source: Hauser (2002), Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, Figure 12. The study covers men who finished high school in Wisconsin in 1957 and their brothers, with IQ measured in high school (Henmon-Nelson test, group average 102) and jobs held in 1992–94. Groups with fewer than 30 people are left out, and people who left school early aren’t in the study, so low scores are under-represented. Every job spans a wide range: 27 to 42 points between its 10th and 90th percentile.

Famous people near IQ 118

Published test results and estimates within 5 points of 118. The presidents’ figures come from a 2006 study that worked them out from biographies, not tests, on an older IQ scale. Each is the average of four estimates. Eight presidents have estimates based on records of their childhood and youth, the method Catharine Cox used for historical geniuses in 1926; the rest were imputed statistically and are rougher still.

• Estimated: about 120

  Ulysses S. Grant

  18th US president (1869–77)

  Four estimates from 110 to 130, based on records of his childhood and youth.

• Tested: 123

  Garry Kasparov

  World chess champion (1985–2000)

  Scored 135 on a test Hans Eysenck put together for him and 123 on Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices, both taken for Der Spiegel in 1987. Eysenck himself warned against reading the number too precisely.

Sources: Simonton (2006), Political Psychology ; Der Spiegel, 20 December 1987 .

IQ 118 on other scales

Not every test uses the same scale. The same performance that earns 118 on a modern test with a standard deviation of 15 produces a different number on tests with a wider spread:

Scores near 118

Wondering where most people land? See what the average IQ is, or every band on the IQ scale.

IQ 118: common questions

By the MyIQTest team · Reviewed November 2026 · Figures assume the standard scale (mean 100, SD 15). Methodology