IQ 85: what it means, percentile and how rare it is

An IQ score of 85 is higher than about 15.9% of people, which puts it in the 16th percentile. Roughly 1 in 6.3 people score lower than 85. On the WISC-V it is classified as Low Average.

Percentile: 16th
Higher than: 15.9%
People scoring lower: 1 in 6.3
WISC-V classification: Low Average

Where an IQ of 85 falls on the bell curve. The shaded area is the 15.9% of people who score lower. (-1.00 SD)

What does an IQ of 85 mean?

85 is exactly 1 standard deviation below the average of 100.
In a group of 100 people, about 16 would score lower than 85.

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 85 on other scales and tests

Different tests spread scores differently. The same rank as an IQ of 85 on an SD-15 test gives these numbers elsewhere:

Scale	Equivalent score	Classification
SD 15: WISC-V, WAIS, Stanford-Binet 5	85	Low Average
WAIS-IV (older label)	85	Low Average
Stanford-Binet 5	85	Low average
SD 16: older Stanford-Binet, Cattell Culture Fair	84	–
SD 24: Cattell III B	76	–

How precise is an IQ score of 85?

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 85 is best read as "probably somewhere between 80 and 90". 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 85

IQ score	Percentile	Higher than	WISC-V classification
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
86	18th	17.5%	Low Average
87	19th	19.3%	Low Average
88	21st	21.2%	Low Average
89	23rd	23.2%	Low Average
90	25th	25.2%	Average

Check another IQ score

IQ score

Test scale (standard deviation)

Or start from a percentile

For example 98 for the top 2%.

Percentile: 16th
Higher than: 15.9%
People scoring lower: 1 in 6.3
Classification (WISC-V): Low Average

IQ 85: frequently asked questions

Is an IQ of 85 good?+

It is a little below the average of 100, but it is not low in any clinical sense. An IQ of 85 is higher than about 15.9% of people and falls in the Low Average range, where about 16% of people score.

What percentile is an IQ of 85?+

An IQ of 85 is in the 16th percentile on a scale with mean 100 and standard deviation 15. It is higher than about 15.9% of people and lower than about 84.1%.

How rare is an IQ of 85?+

Roughly 1 in 6.3 people score lower than 85. In a group of 1,000 people you would expect about 159 to score lower.

Is an IQ of 85 low?+

It is below the average of 100, but it is not considered low in a clinical sense. 85 is in the Low Average range, one step below Average, and it is higher than about 15.9% of people. Most people with this score live, study and work without any special support.