IQ 101: what it means, percentile and how rare it is

An IQ score of 101 is higher than about 52.7% of people, which puts it in the 53rd percentile. Roughly 1 in 2.1 people score higher than 101. On the WISC-V it is classified as Average.

Percentile: 53rd
Higher than: 52.7%
People scoring higher: 1 in 2.1
WISC-V classification: Average

Where an IQ of 101 falls on the bell curve. The shaded area is the 47.3% of people who score higher. (+0.07 SD)

What does an IQ of 101 mean?

In a group of 100 people, about 47 would score higher than 101.

About half of all people score between 90 and 109, the Average range. 100 is the exact middle of the scale by design: tests are normed so that the average adult or child of a given age scores 100.

Within this range, differences of a few points mean very little. Once measurement error of about ±5 points is taken into account, a 96 and a 104 are effectively the same result.

An average score is not a limit. Most people in every career and walk of life score in or near this range, and knowledge, skills, effort and personality explain far more about day-to-day success than a few IQ points.

IQ 101 on other scales and tests

Different tests spread scores differently. The same rank as an IQ of 101 on an SD-15 test gives these numbers elsewhere:

Scale	Equivalent score	Classification
SD 15: WISC-V, WAIS, Stanford-Binet 5	101	Average
WAIS-IV (older label)	101	Average
Stanford-Binet 5	101	Average
SD 16: older Stanford-Binet, Cattell Culture Fair	101	–
SD 24: Cattell III B	102	–

How precise is an IQ score of 101?

No test measures IQ exactly. On individually administered tests such as the WAIS, the full-scale score comes with a 95% confidence interval of roughly ±5 points, so a result of 101 is best read as "probably somewhere between 96 and 106". Scores can also shift a few points between different tests or after a few years.

Online tests, including ours, are self-assessments. They are useful for curiosity and practice, but they are not a substitute for an assessment by a psychologist.

IQ scores near 101

IQ score	Percentile	Higher than	WISC-V classification
96	39th	39.5%	Average
97	42nd	42.1%	Average
98	45th	44.7%	Average
99	47th	47.3%	Average
100	50th	50%	Average
101	53rd	52.7%	Average
102	55th	55.3%	Average
103	58th	57.9%	Average
104	61st	60.5%	Average
105	63rd	63.1%	Average
106	66th	65.5%	Average

Check another IQ score

IQ score

Test scale (standard deviation)

Or start from a percentile

For example 98 for the top 2%.

Percentile: 53rd
Higher than: 52.7%
People scoring higher: 1 in 2.1
Classification (WISC-V): Average

IQ 101: frequently asked questions

Is an IQ of 101 good?+

An IQ of 101 is an average score: it is in the range where half of all people fall and it is higher than about 52.7% of people. It is a typical result, and it does not limit what you can learn or do.

What percentile is an IQ of 101?+

An IQ of 101 is in the 53rd percentile on a scale with mean 100 and standard deviation 15. It is higher than about 52.7% of people and lower than about 47.3%.

How rare is an IQ of 101?+

Roughly 1 in 2.1 people score higher than 101. In a group of 1,000 people you would expect about 473 to score higher.

Is 101 above average?+

Slightly, but not in a meaningful way. 101 is a little above the mean of 100, yet it is still inside the Average range (90 to 109), and the difference is smaller than the typical ±5-point measurement error.