IQ 187
An IQ of 187 is higher than almost everyone: about 1 in 300 million.
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- 99.999th
- Percentile, at least
- 1 in 300 million
- Score 187 or higher
- Profoundly Gifted
- Classification
On the standard scale that is 5.80 standard deviations above average. No test has been checked against enough people to confirm a score this high.
An IQ of 187 falls in the profoundly gifted IQ range, which starts at 160. Find 187 on the IQ chart, or check how rare any score is with the IQ rarity calculator.
IQ 187: beyond what most tests can measure
Taken literally, the bell curve puts 187 at 1 in 300 million: not even one person in the UK and about 27 people worldwide. Treat that as an illustration of the model rather than a head count.
Major individually administered adult tests typically report full-scale scores up to about 160. A reported number above that usually comes from extended norms, a different scale or extrapolation.
None of this means nobody is this able. It means a single number is not a reliable way to describe them.
How claims like "187 IQ" arise
If someone tells you they have a 187, the first question is where the number came from. The usual answers:
- Ratio IQ. Early childhood tests divided mental age by real age. A 6-year-old solving puzzles like a typical 11.2-year-old got a ratio IQ of 187. Modern deviation IQs do not work this way.
- Different scales. Some tests use a standard deviation of 24, so a 187 there is about 154 on the usual SD 15 scale.
- Historiometric estimates. Researchers such as Catharine Cox (1926) estimated IQs for famous people from biographies. Some of her adjusted estimates went above 200. They are educated guesses, not test results.
Famous estimates: Newton, da Vinci and the 160+ club
Nobody in history has a measured IQ of 187. The highest estimates on this site, for figures such as Isaac Newton and Leonardo da Vinci, come from reading their work and lives, not from tests. 42 profiles here are estimated at 160 or more.
Two people with identical estimates can have very different evidence behind them. Each profile explains what its estimate is based on and how confident anyone can be.
How many people have an IQ of 187 or higher?
Scoring 187 or higher is a 0.00000033% share of everyone. Scaled up to whole populations, that works out as:
| Where | Population | IQ 187+ |
|---|---|---|
| UK | 68 million | fewer than one (0.23 expected) |
| US | 335 million | 1 |
| World | 8.1 billion | 27 |
You would need the whole US to expect about one person at 187 or higher.
Exactly 187, counting anyone between 186.5 and 187.5, is about 1 in 750 million. In the US that is fewer than one person, and in the UK fewer than one person.
These are model estimates: a bell curve applied to whole populations, including children, rounded. They are not census counts, and real test norms differ a little from one test to another.
How rare is an IQ of 187?
Compare the neighbours: 182 or higher is about 1 in 44 million, 187 or higher is 1 in 300 million, and 192 or higher is 1 in 2.3 billion. Each point up here adds roughly 49% to the rarity.
What your 187 could really be. At this height the margin of error is wide. Just 5 points either way, 182 or 192, changes the model rarity from 1 in 44 million to 1 in 2.3 billion, which shows how fragile such numbers are.
Which scale was it on? Most modern tests use a standard deviation of 15, which is what this page assumes. If your 187 came from a test using an SD of 16, it is about 182 on the SD 15 scale. From an SD 24 scale, used by some Cattell-style reports, it is about 154.
Famous people with an estimated IQ near 187
Estimates this high are reserved for a small group of scientists, artists and thinkers. These sit near 187. None of these are test scores. They are estimates from biographical evidence, and each profile explains its basis.
- Bobby Fischer's IQ (estimated 187): Chess Grandmaster, 20th Century.
See all historical IQ estimates or all fictional character IQs.
187 compared with nearby scores
How 187 stacks up against the scores just around it and the round numbers people usually ask about. Each score links to its own page.
| IQ | Classification | Percentile | Score higher |
|---|---|---|---|
| IQ 100 | Average | 50th | 50% |
| IQ 110 | High Average | 74.8th | 25% |
| IQ 120 | Superior | 90.9th | 9.1% |
| IQ 130 | Gifted | 97.7th | 2.3% |
| IQ 140 | Gifted | 99.62nd | 0.38% |
| IQ 150 | Genius | 99.96th | 0.043% |
| IQ 182 | Profoundly Gifted | >99.999th | 0.0000023% |
| IQ 186 | Profoundly Gifted | >99.999th | 0.00000049% |
| IQ 187 | Profoundly Gifted | >99.999th | 0.00000033% |
| IQ 188 | Profoundly Gifted | >99.999th | 0.00000022% |
| IQ 192 | Profoundly Gifted | >99.999th | 0.000000043% |
Questions about an IQ of 187
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What percentile is an IQ of 187?
Is 187 genius level?
What does an IQ of 187 mean?
How rare is an IQ of 187?
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Next in IQ scores
More in IQ scores
- IQ 110 percentileHigh average, the top quarter
- IQ 115 percentileOne step above average
- IQ 120 percentileSuperior range, top 10%
Related tools
- IQ rarity calculatorHow rare a score is, as 1 in N
- IQ chartEvery band and what it means
- IQ bell curvePlot a score on the distribution
Is your IQ above 187?
See where you land next to 187 with 25 visual reasoning questions.
25 questions · about 12 minutes
Percentiles and counts use a normal distribution with mean 100 and standard deviation 15. Real tests have their own norms, confidence intervals and ceilings, so treat every figure here as an approximation, not a diagnosis. Two tests often give different numbers for the same person: here is why.
By the LifeScore Editorial Team. Reviewed October 2026. Editorial policy