IQ 80: what it means, percentile and how rare it is

An IQ score of 80 is higher than about 9.1% of people, which puts it in the 9th percentile. Roughly 1 in 11 people score lower than 80. On the WISC-V it is classified as Low Average.

Percentile: 9th
Higher than: 9.1%
People scoring lower: 1 in 11
WISC-V classification: Low Average

Where an IQ of 80 falls on the bell curve. The shaded area is the 9.1% of people who score lower. (-1.33 SD)

What does an IQ of 80 mean?

80 is the lowest score in the Low Average range (80–89).
In a group of 100 people, about 9 would score lower than 80.

Scores from 80 to 89 are Low Average. About 16% of people score here, so it is a common range just below the middle of the bell curve.

Most people with low-average scores manage school, work and everyday life without any special support. They may need a bit more time or practice with abstract, unfamiliar or fast-paced material, and they often do best with clear, practical explanations.

This is not a clinical category. Measurement error, tiredness, test anxiety or unfamiliarity with the question types can easily move a score by several points, especially on an online test.

IQ 80 on other scales and tests

Different tests spread scores differently. The same rank as an IQ of 80 on an SD-15 test gives these numbers elsewhere:

Scale	Equivalent score	Classification
SD 15: WISC-V, WAIS, Stanford-Binet 5	80	Low Average
WAIS-IV (older label)	80	Low Average
Stanford-Binet 5	80	Low average
SD 16: older Stanford-Binet, Cattell Culture Fair	79	–
SD 24: Cattell III B	68	–

How precise is an IQ score of 80?

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 80 is best read as "probably somewhere between 75 and 85". 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 80

IQ score	Percentile	Higher than	WISC-V classification
75	5th	4.8%	Very Low
76	5th	5.5%	Very Low
77	6th	6.3%	Very Low
78	7th	7.1%	Very Low
79	8th	8.1%	Very Low
80	9th	9.1%	Low Average
81	10th	10.3%	Low Average
82	12th	11.5%	Low Average
83	13th	12.9%	Low Average
84	14th	14.3%	Low Average
85	16th	15.9%	Low Average

Check another IQ score

IQ score

Test scale (standard deviation)

Or start from a percentile

For example 98 for the top 2%.

Percentile: 9th
Higher than: 9.1%
People scoring lower: 1 in 11
Classification (WISC-V): Low Average

IQ 80: frequently asked questions

Is an IQ of 80 good?+

It is a little below the average of 100, but it is not low in any clinical sense. An IQ of 80 is higher than about 9.1% of people and falls in the Low Average range, where about 16% of people score.

What percentile is an IQ of 80?+

An IQ of 80 is in the 9th percentile on a scale with mean 100 and standard deviation 15. It is higher than about 9.1% of people and lower than about 90.9%.

How rare is an IQ of 80?+

Roughly 1 in 11 people score lower than 80. In a group of 1,000 people you would expect about 91 to score lower.

Is an IQ of 80 low?+

It is below the average of 100, but it is not considered low in a clinical sense. 80 is in the Low Average range, one step below Average, and it is higher than about 9.1% of people. Most people with this score live, study and work without any special support.