IQ 188
An IQ of 188 is higher than almost everyone: about 1 in 450 million.
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- 99.999th
- Percentile, at least
- 1 in 450 million
- Score 188 or higher
- Profoundly Gifted
- Classification
That is 28 points beyond the ceiling most major tests publish, so the number itself is less certain than its rarity suggests.
An IQ of 188 falls in the profoundly gifted IQ range, which starts at 160. Find 188 on the IQ chart, or check how rare any score is with the IQ rarity calculator.
IQ 188: beyond what most tests can measure
A 188 is 28 points past the ceiling most major tests publish. The model rarity, about 1 in 450 million, describes about 18 people worldwide, which is far beyond anything a test has been checked against.
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.
No test has enough people in its norm sample to check its accuracy at 188. In a 2,200-person sample the bell curve expects effectively nobody at 188 or higher.
How claims like "188 IQ" arise
Most very high numbers you see online come from one of a few sources, and knowing which one produced a 188 tells you how much weight to put on it.
- Ratio IQ. Early childhood tests divided mental age by real age. A 6-year-old solving puzzles like a typical 11.3-year-old got a ratio IQ of 188. Modern deviation IQs do not work this way.
- Unnormed online quizzes. A test with no norm data can print any number. Very high outputs usually say more about the scoring than the person.
- Repetition without a source. Numbers attached to celebrities are often copied from site to site with no test report behind them.
Famous estimates: Newton, da Vinci and the 160+ club
42 of the historical profiles on this site carry an estimate of 160 or more, and 2 reach 188 or higher. Isaac Newton and Leonardo da Vinci are the classic examples. Their numbers are retrospective judgements based on their work, not test scores.
Estimates this high mostly reflect how extraordinary the achievement was. That is a different thing from how someone would perform on a timed reasoning test.
How many people have an IQ of 188 or higher?
On a bell curve with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, about 0.00000022% of people score 188 or higher. Applied to whole populations:
| Where | Population | IQ 188+ |
|---|---|---|
| UK | 68 million | fewer than one (0.15 expected) |
| US | 335 million | 1 |
| World | 8.1 billion | 18 |
You would need the whole US to expect about one person at 188 or higher.
About 1 in 1.1 billion people would score exactly 188, meaning between 187.5 and 188.5 on a continuous scale. In the UK that is fewer than one person.
The figures are bell curve estimates for whole populations, children included, and rounded. Real tests are normed separately and will differ a little.
How rare is an IQ of 188?
Going from 183 to 188 makes a score 7.1 times rarer, and going on to 193 multiplies the rarity by another 7.9. Near 188, each single point adds about 50% to the rarity.
What your 188 could really be. Even a good supervised test has a margin of error of roughly 5 points either side, and far more at this height. A true score from 183 to 193 would span rarities from 1 in 63 million to 1 in 3.5 billion.
Which scale was it on? A 188 reported on an SD 16 scale converts to about 183 on the usual SD 15 scale, and one from an SD 24 scale (seen in some Cattell-style results) to about 155. Check which scale your score report used.
Famous people with an estimated IQ near 188
Estimates this high are reserved for a small group of scientists, artists and thinkers. These sit near 188. Treat these as informed guesses from biographies rather than results. Each profile sets out what its estimate rests on.
- Bobby Fischer's IQ (estimated 187): Chess Grandmaster, 20th Century. 1 point below IQ 188.
See all historical IQ estimates or all fictional character IQs.
188 compared with nearby scores
The scores one and five points either side of 188, plus the round numbers from 100 to 150, side by side. Tap any score for its full 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 183 | Profoundly Gifted | >99.999th | 0.0000016% |
| IQ 187 | Profoundly Gifted | >99.999th | 0.00000033% |
| IQ 188 | Profoundly Gifted | >99.999th | 0.00000022% |
| IQ 189 | Profoundly Gifted | >99.999th | 0.00000015% |
| IQ 193 | Profoundly Gifted | >99.999th | 0.000000028% |
Questions about an IQ of 188
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Next in IQ scores
More in IQ scores
- IQ 140 percentileVery superior, rarer than 1 in 200
- SAT, ACT and GRE to IQConvert a test score to IQ
- IQ 110 percentileHigh average, the top quarter
Related tools
- IQ bell curvePlot a score on the distribution
- IQ rarity calculatorHow rare a score is, as 1 in N
- IQ chartEvery band and what it means
Is your IQ above 188?
See where you land next to 188 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