What Is the Average IQ in 2025? (US and Other Countries)

IQ is a score you get from a special test that checks how good you are at thinking and solving problems. This test compares your skills with others like you.

These tests see how fast and correctly you can understand things and use your brain to answer questions or figure out problems.

A study from Northwestern University looked at how well people did on these tests from 2006 to 2018.

They found that most Americans’ IQ scores went down in many areas, but they got better in one part.

The study used data from over 394,000 people. It showed that people did worse in understanding words, solving puzzles, and doing math.

But they did better in thinking about 3D shapes and patterns.

IQ Statistics by State/Jurisdiction

Here is a table highlighting average IQ scores and other literacy-related statistics by state.

Average IQ scores by State

State	Average IQ	Literacy Rate	Numeracy Rate	Highschool Graduation Rate	Bachelor Degree Rate	Advanced Degree Rate	Population with Bachelor’s Degree	Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination Passing Scores
Massachusetts	104.3	82.7%	74.9%	96.1%	50.62%	28.27%	25.3%	85
New Hampshire	104.2	88.5%	80.9%	94.44%	40.98%	15.72%	24.5%	79
North Dakota	103.8	86.6%	79%	93.62%	31.74%	9.38%	22.4%	85
Vermont	103.8	87.2%	79%	94.55%	44.44%	18.42%	26%	80
Minnesota	103.7	86.9%	79.6%	94.13%	38.9%	13.4%	25.5%	85
Maine	103.4	86.6%	77.1%	94.53%	35.99%	13.82%	22.2%	80
Montana	103.4	86.9%	77.3%	94.35%	34.8%	12.45%	22.4%	80
Iowa	103.2	85.1%	77%	93.32%	30.54%	9.87%	20.7%	80
Connecticut	103.1	82.8%	74%	91.11%	42.13%	18.94%	22.1%	80
Wisconsin	102.9	84.7%	75.8%	93.33%	32.54%	11.04%	21.5%	80
Kansas	102.8	83.1%	75%	91.89%	35.4%	13.39%	22%	80
New Jersey	102.8	79.3%	69.9%	90.98%	43.1%	17.4%	25.7%	75
South Dakota	102.8	85.1%	76.3%	93.05%	31.67%	10.11%	21.6%	85
Wyoming	102.4	86.4%	77.5%	93.59%	29.24%	10.72%	18.5%	85
Nebraska	102.3	83.6%	75.7%	92.16%	34.45%	12.28%	22.2%	85
Virginia	101.9	81.2%	71.6%	91.38%	41.81%	18.33%	23.5%	85
Washington	101.9	83.9%	76.5%	92.35%	40.97%	15.13%	23.8%	85
Ohio	101.8	82.3%	71.2%	91.74%	30.72%	11.79%	18.9%	85
Indiana	101.7	81.3%	70.5%	90.64%	28.88%	10.39%	18.5%	80
Colorado	101.6	83.4%	75.2%	92.43%	44.42%	17.04%	27.4%	85
Pennsylvania	101.5	81.9%	71.3%	95.89%	36.54%	16.94%	20.6%	75
Idaho	101.4	83.6%	74.3%	91.26%	30.72%	10.54%	20.2%	85
Oregon	101.2	83.2%	75.3%	91.87%	36.33%	13.88%	22.4%	85
Utah	101.1	85.5%	77.7%	93.17%	36.81%	12.69%	24.1%	86
Missouri	101	81.1%	70.9%	91.59%	31.72%	12.24%	19.5%	80
New York	100.7	75.6%	65.3%	88.03%	40.9%	17.72%	22.2%	85
Michigan	100.5	82.4%	72%	91.96%	31.67%	12.48%	19.2%	85
Delaware	100.4	79.7%	68.8%	91.36%	35.62%	15.05%	20.6%	85
North Carolina	100.2	78.7%	67.1%	89.7%	34.91%	13.19%	21.7%	80
Texas	100	71.8%	61.5%	85.39%	33.12%	11.9%	21.2%	85
Illinois	99.9	79.6%	69.9%	90.17%	37.14%	15.01%	22.1%	80
Maryland	99.7	80%	69.8%	91.09%	48.55%	24.16%	22.4%	85
Rhode Island	99.5	79.6%	70.4%	89.14%	36.5%	15.61%	20.9%	80
Kentucky	99.4	78.1%	66.3%	87.99%	26.98%	11.11%	15.9%	80
Oklahoma	99.3	79.9%	69%	88.71%	27.92%	9.62%	18.3%	75
Alaska	99	87.3%	79.2%	93.31%	32.79%	11.91%	20.9%	80
West Virginia	98.7	79.1%	67.2%	88.82%	24.12%	9.94%	14.2%	80
Florida	98.4	76.3%	65.2%	89.79%	33.16%	12.55%	20.6%	80
South Carolina	98.4	77.6%	65%	89.61%	31.53%	11.95%	19.6%	77
Georgia	98	76.4%	63.4%	88.97%	34.63%	13.7%	20.9%	75
Tennessee	97.7	78.3%	66%	89.74%	30.48%	11.28%	19.2%	82
Arkansas	97.5	76.9%	64.3%	88.67%	25.27%	9.37%	15.9%	85
Arizona	97.4	76.6%	66.8%	88.97%	32.43%	12.64%	19.8%	85
Nevada	96.5	74.7%	63.5%	87.16%	27.57%	9.64%	17.9%	85
Alabama	95.7	76.1%	62.6%	87.93%	27.43%	10.85%	16.6%	75
New Mexico	95.7	70.9%	60.5%	87.48%	30.05%	14.08%	16%	80
Hawaii	95.6	84.1%	76.6%	92.93%	35.3%	13.1%	22.2%	85
California	95.5	71.6%	64%	84.45%	36.19%	14.05%	22.1%	86
Louisiana	95.3	72.9%	58.4%	86.68%	26.45%	9.65%	16.8%	80
Mississippi	94.2	72%	56.6%	86.49%	24.78%	9.35%	15.4%	75

Source: Wisevoter data

*** Not required for admission to the bar

Take a look at reading statistics and literacy statistics.

IQ Scores in the US and Worldwide

In their book, The Intelligence of Nations, published in 2019, co-authors Richard Lynn and David Becker determined the unweighted national IQ for the USA to be 92.74 with a standard deviation of 9.83.

The pair adjusted for sample size, data quality, and ethnic composition, arriving at a weighted score of 95.86.

Factoring in the national school assessment results for the US, i.e., SAS-IQ of 99; they found the eventual national IQ to be 97.43.

Country	2019 Average IQ score	2022 Average IQ score	Percentage of students attaining advanced outcomes	OECD 2018 PISA Mean Scores			Percentage of population holding tertiary qualifications
Country	2019 Average IQ score	2022 Average IQ score	Percentage of students attaining advanced outcomes	Reading	Mathematics	Science
Japan	106.48	108.14	58.01	504	527	529	64.81
Taiwan	106.47	**	63.21	503	531	516	**
Singapore	105.89	104.75	74.5	549	569	551	**
Hong Kong	105.37	**	66.66	524	551	517	**
China	104.1	106.59	38.27	555	591	590	35.8
South Korea	102.35	107	66.85	514	526	519	69.29
Belarus	101.60	99.67	**	474	472	471	28.3
Finland	101.20	99.83	25.29	520	507	522	40.06
Liechtenstein	101.07	**	32.06	**	**	**	**
Germany	100.74	101.06	22.91	498	500	503	35.88
Estonia	100.72	96.97	27.97	523	523	530	43.18
Switzerland	99.24	100.74	31.93	484	515	495	52.27
Netherlands	100.74	99.7	25.15	485	519	503	55.6
Australia	99.24	101.96	21.38	503	491	503	54.31
Canada	99.52	99.26	20.56	520	512	518	66.36
UK	99.12	99.05	21.95	504	502	505	57.47
USA	97.43	99.9	29.84	505	478	502	51.17
	Source	Source	Source	OECD 2018 PISA Results			Source

** Comparable data not available

The differences in the national IQ scores among countries exist due to various factors like education system in place, quality of education offered, access to learning resources, culture background, nutrition, and curriculum rigor.

The presence of enabling factors, however, doesn’t necessarily contribute to an increase in the average IQ of a country.

In countries whose curriculum emphasizes practical skills over theoretical thinking, test takers are still likely to score poorly on the abstract thinking domain of IQ tests.

Adult and Health Literacy

PIAAC Results

The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is comparative study program used to assess a population’s numeracy, reading, and literacy levels as well as digital problem-solving skills.

Results from the PIAAC tests are reported as average scores on a 0 – 500 scale and as percentages of the adult population attaining a given proficiency level – from below Level 1 to Level 5.

In Canada, the PIAAC survey is recognized as the International Study of Adults (ISA).

In Germany, it is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and supported by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

PIAAC is funded and led by the US Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics in the US.

In the 2012 – 2015 round of PIAAC Cycle I, American adults posted a literacy score of 272, two dozen points below Japan. For context, the international average across participating countries was 267.

The results also showed that only half (50%) of US adults performed at or above Level 3 compared to 72% of the population in Japan.

At the same time, 18% of US adults performed at Level 1 or below in literacy, compared to 5% in Japan.

Health Literacy

Health literacy is measure of a person’s ability to read, comprehend, and extract meaning from information pertaining to health care.

The average adult in the US reads between 7th and 8th grade level.

Given medical information is conveyed with language complexity equivalent an 11th or 12th grade level, literacy remains to a challenge to a large US population.

Understanding the Flynn Effect

In his most-cited paper, The Mean IQ of Americans: Massive Gains 1932 to 1978, published in 1984, moral philosopher and intelligence researcher James Flynn observed a fairly consistent increase in US population IQ scores from the early 1930s.

The groundbreaking study found that the average American adult’s IQ score had increased by 13.8 IQ points in the cited period, translating to an average of roughly three points per decade.

Discussions around this phenomenon and subsequent findings birthed the concept of Flynn Effect.

The theory attempts to explain the long-sustained increases in IQ scores (fluid and crystallized intelligence) in various regions of the world.

In the last decade, some researchers have posited that the Flynn effect goes beyond IQ scores.

A recently published paper assessing the changes in the ability to focus from generation to generation found that the average adult’s ability to concentrate has increased over the past three decades. Authors D. Andrzejewski, E. Zeilinger, and J. Pietschnig interpreted these results as evidence of attention being subject to the Flynn effect.

Flynn’s initial observations on IQ have remained relevant among researchers even in recent years.

New arguments have especially surfaced based on the latest data which indicates a contrasting sharp decline in American IQ scores.

This phenomenon of reversed gains in mean IQ score has since been dubbed the ‘Reverse Flynn Effect.’

IQ Classification Tests in the US

While there are several variations of IQ tests today, the scoring system across most is similar. Many IQ tests report a standard score with a mean score of 100. Scores above this mark reflect a positive standard deviation, while those below bear a negative standard deviation. Some of the widely known IQ tests are:

Cattell Cultural Fair Tests
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
Mini-Mental State Examination
Otis-Lennon School Ability Test
Raven’s Progressive Matrices
Snijders-Oomen Nonverbal Intelligence Test
Weschler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence
Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children
Naglieri Non-Verbal Ability Test
Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale
Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children
Weschler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence

Here is how different IQ scales compare:

Names and scales of widely accepted IQ tests

IQ Composite Score Range	Type of IQ Test
IQ Composite Score Range	Wechsler (WAIS–IV, WPPSI–IV)	Stanford–Binet Fifth Edition (SB5)	Woodcock-Johnson R (WJ III NU)	Reynolds Intellectual Ability Scales (RIAS)	Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence (KAIT)	Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment	Differential Ability Scales (DAS-II 2007 GCA)
140+	Very Superior	Very gifted or highly advanced	*	Significantly above average	Upper extreme	Very superior	Very high
130 – 140	Very Superior	Gifted or very advanced		Significantly above average	Upper extreme	Very superior	Very high
120–129	Superior	Superior		Moderately above average	Well above Average	Superior	High
110–119	High Average	High average		Above average	Above average	High average	Above average
90–109	Average	Average		Average	Average	Average	Average
80–89	Low Average	Low average	Low average	Below average	Below average	Low average	Below average
70–79	Borderline	Borderline impaired or delayed	Low	Moderately below average	Well below average	Below average	Low
55–69	Extremely Low	Mildly impaired or delayed	Very low	Significantly below average	Lower extreme	Well below average	Very low
40–54	Extremely Low	Moderately impaired or delayed	Very low	Significantly below average	Lower extreme	Well below average	Very low

* Doesn’t conform to the same range; more information contained in subsequent tables.

Woodcock-Johnson R (WJ III NU 2007)

Score Range	WJ III NU 2007 Classification
131 and above	Very superior
121 to 130	Superior
111 to 120	High average
90 to 110	Average
80 to 89	Low average
70 to 79	Low
69 and below	Very low

Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC-II 2004)

Score Range	KABC-II 2004 Categories
131–160	Upper extreme
116–130	Above average
85–115	Average range
70–84	Below average
40–69	Lower extreme

Many studies today estimate the average person’s IQ score to range between 85 and 115, with only about 2% of the world’s population having a score of 130 or higher.