IQ 190
Profoundly Gifted
Quick answer
Yes, and it is extremely rare. An IQ of 190 is higher than all but about 1 in 1 billion people.
On the standard scale that is 6.00 standard deviations above average. No test has been checked against enough people to confirm a score this high.
Not sure your number is right? Take the free IQ test and compare.
Where 190 falls on the bell curve
This wider chart runs to 200 so 190 can be shown in place. The curve is so thin out here that the share of people beyond the marker is invisible at this scale.
IQ 190: beyond what most tests can measure
Taken literally, the bell curve puts 190 at 1 in 1 billion: not even one person in the UK and about 8 people worldwide. Treat that as an illustration of the model rather than a head count.
Real populations may not follow the bell curve perfectly in the far tails, so rarity figures this extreme are illustrations, not head counts.
None of this means nobody is this able. It means a single number is not a reliable way to describe them.
How claims like "190 IQ" arise
A 190 almost never comes from a modern, supervised adult test. It usually comes from somewhere like this:
- Ratio IQ. Early childhood tests divided mental age by real age. A 6-year-old solving puzzles like a typical 11.4-year-old got a ratio IQ of 190. 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
Isaac Newton and Leonardo da Vinci are usually given estimates of 160 or more, and they are among 37 such profiles here. Only 1 goes as high as 190. All are judgements from biographies, not test results.
As far as anyone knows, Albert Einstein never took an IQ test. The 160 figure repeated online is an estimate. See the Einstein profile for what it rests on.
How many people have an IQ of 190 or higher?
On a bell curve with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, about 0.000000099% of people score 190 or higher. Applied to whole populations:
| Where | Population | IQ 190 or higher |
|---|---|---|
| UK | about 68 million | fewer than one (0.07 expected) |
| US | about 335 million | fewer than one (0.33 expected) |
| World | about 8.1 billion | about 8 |
You would need the whole world to expect about 8 people at 190 or higher.
The share scoring exactly 190, between 189.5 and 190.5, is about 1 in 2.4 billion. Across the world that would be about 3 people.
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 190?
Going from 185 to 190 makes a score 7.4 times rarer, and going on to 195 multiplies the rarity by another 8.2. Near 190, each single point adds about 51% to the rarity.
What your 190 could really be. At this height the margin of error is wide. Just 5 points either way, 185 or 195, changes the model rarity from 1 in 140 million to 1 in 8.3 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 190 came from a test using an SD of 16, it is about 184 on the SD 15 scale. From an SD 24 scale, used by some Cattell-style reports, it is about 156.
Famous people with an estimated IQ near 190
Estimates this high are reserved for a small group of scientists, artists and thinkers. These are the closest to 190. None of these are test scores. They are estimates from biographical evidence, and each profile explains its basis.
Fictional characters near 190
Fan analysis for fun, based on how each character solves problems on screen or on the page.
190 compared with nearby scores
The scores one and five points either side of 190, plus the round numbers from 100 to 150, side by side. Tap any score for its full page.
| IQ | Classification | Percentile | Score higher |
|---|---|---|---|
| IQ 10090 lower | Average | 50th | 50% |
| IQ 11080 lower | High Average | 74.8th | 25% |
| IQ 12070 lower | Superior | 90.9th | 9.1% |
| IQ 13060 lower | Gifted | 97.7th | 2.3% |
| IQ 14050 lower | Gifted | 99.62nd | 0.38% |
| IQ 15040 lower | Genius | 99.96th | 0.043% |
| IQ 1855 lower | Profoundly Gifted | 99.99999926th | 0.00000073% |
| IQ 1891 lower | Profoundly Gifted | 99.99999985th | 0.00000015% |
| IQ 1911 higher | Profoundly Gifted | 99.999999934th | 0.000000066% |
| IQ 1955 higher | Profoundly Gifted | 99.999999987th | 0.000000012% |
Is 190 a good IQ?
Yes, in the sense that it is extraordinarily high: about 1 in 1 billion on the bell curve, 30 points past the ceiling of most major tests. The catch is precision. A single 190 is better treated as "well above 150" than as an exact score.
What percentile is an IQ of 190?
The percentile for an IQ of 190 is about the 99.9999999th, which is 6.00 standard deviations above the mean. In a class of 30, that means about 30 people scoring 190 or lower. If your test used a standard deviation of 16 or 24, the percentile would be different.
Is 190 genius level?
The genius label is informal, but 190 sits far above the 140 to 145 range where it usually starts. Real-world genius is judged by achievement, and the famous examples, from Newton to da Vinci, have estimated rather than measured IQs. No test measures 190 precisely.
What does an IQ of 190 mean?
An IQ of 190 means that on this kind of timed reasoning test you outscored about 99.9999999% of people. The label for it on this site is Profoundly Gifted. Most tests cannot measure this high precisely. It says nothing about your knowledge, creativity or character.
How rare is an IQ of 190?
Roughly 1 in 1 billion people reach 190 or higher. Across the US that would be fewer than one person, and across the world about 8. Exactly 190 is about 1 in 2.4 billion. Real tests have their own norms, so treat these as estimates.
What is the mental age for an IQ of 190?
Mental age is a childhood measure. On the old ratio scale, a 12-year-old with an IQ of 190 performed like a typical 22.8-year-old. For adults the idea breaks down, because reasoning scores stop rising with age, so modern tests compare you with people of your own age.