Is an IQ of 126 good?

How rare is an IQ of 126?

Only about 4.2% of people score higher than 126. Here is what that looks like in groups of different sizes:

What an IQ of 126 means

An IQ of 126 is 26 points above the average of 100, or 1.73 standard deviations above the mean. It falls in the superior band.

Scores from 120 to 129 are well above average, higher than roughly 91–97% of people. People in this range usually find abstract reasoning, new material and complex problems come quickly.

How a 126 does on our test

On our free 30-question test, an IQ of 126 takes about 26 correct answers out of 30. Here is how 26 correct answers usually split across the four areas:

• Pattern reasoning 9 of 10
• Numerical reasoning 6 of 7
• Verbal reasoning 5 of 6
• Logical reasoning 6 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

No job group’s typical worker scored 126

126 is above the median of all 56 job groups in a study that followed Wisconsin men from high school into their 50s. The highest group, physicians, had a median of 120.5. Even among physicians, only about 29% scored 126 or higher.

IQ 126

1. Social scientists 111

   Median 111. Middle half of workers 98 to 120. Middle 80% 93 to 127.

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 126

Published test results and estimates within 5 points of 126. 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 126

  James Buchanan

  15th US president (1857–61)

  Four estimates from 111.9 to 139.6, imputed from experts’ ratings, so more tentative.

• Estimated: about 126

  Andrew Jackson

  7th US president (1829–37)

  Four estimates from 110 to 145, based on records of his childhood and youth.

• Estimated: about 126

  Zachary Taylor

  12th US president (1849–50)

  Four estimates from 110.8 to 139.8, imputed from experts’ ratings, so more tentative.

• Estimated: about 126

  Andrew Johnson

  17th US president (1865–69)

  Four estimates from 110.8 to 139.8, imputed from experts’ ratings, so more tentative.

Sources: Simonton (2006), Political Psychology .

IQ 126 on other scales

Not every test uses the same scale. The same performance that earns 126 on a modern test with a standard deviation of 15 produces a different number on tests with a wider spread:

Scores near 126

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

IQ 126: common questions

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