IQ 195
Profoundly Gifted
Quick answer
Yes, and it is extremely rare. An IQ of 195 is higher than all but about 1 in 8.3 billion people.
On the standard scale that is 6.33 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 195 falls on the bell curve
This wider chart runs to 200 so 195 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 195: beyond what most tests can measure
A 195 is 35 points past the ceiling most major tests publish. The model rarity, about 1 in 8.3 billion, describes about 1 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.
Real populations may not follow the bell curve perfectly in the far tails, so rarity figures this extreme are illustrations, not head counts.
How claims like "195 IQ" arise
A 195 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 11.7-year-old got a ratio IQ of 195. Modern deviation IQs do not work this way.
- Different scales. Some tests use a standard deviation of 24, so a 195 there is about 159 on the usual SD 15 scale.
- 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.
Famous estimates: Newton, da Vinci and the 160+ club
Nobody in history has a measured IQ of 195. 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. 37 profiles here are estimated at 160 or more.
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 195 or higher?
Scoring 195 or higher is a 0.000000012% share of everyone. Scaled up to whole populations, that works out as:
| Where | Population | IQ 195 or higher |
|---|---|---|
| UK | about 68 million | fewer than one (effectively zero expected) |
| US | about 335 million | fewer than one (0.04 expected) |
| World | about 8.1 billion | about 1 |
You would need the whole world to expect about one person at 195 or higher.
Exactly 195, counting anyone between 194.5 and 195.5, is about 1 in 19 billion. In the US that is fewer than one person, and in the UK fewer than one person.
Treat these as orders of magnitude, not census data. They apply the standard model to everyone, and individual tests have their own norms.
How rare is an IQ of 195?
An IQ of 195 or higher is 8.2 times rarer than 190 or higher, and 200 or higher is 9.2 times rarer again. At this point on the curve, each extra point makes a score about 54% rarer.
What your 195 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 190 to 200 would span rarities from 1 in 1 billion to 1 in 76 billion.
Which scale was it on? A 195 reported on an SD 16 scale converts to about 189 on the usual SD 15 scale, and one from an SD 24 scale (seen in some Cattell-style results) to about 159. Check which scale your score report used.
Famous people with an estimated IQ near 195
Estimates this high are reserved for a small group of scientists, artists and thinkers. These are the closest to 195. None of these are test scores. They are estimates from biographical evidence, and each profile explains its basis.
Fictional characters near 195
For fun, not science: fan estimates for the characters nearest 195, based on how they reason in their stories.
195 compared with nearby scores
Nearby scores and the round-number landmarks, so you can see how quickly the percentile changes around 195. Every row links to that score's page.
| IQ | Classification | Percentile | Score higher |
|---|---|---|---|
| IQ 10095 lower | Average | 50th | 50% |
| IQ 11085 lower | High Average | 74.8th | 25% |
| IQ 12075 lower | Superior | 90.9th | 9.1% |
| IQ 13065 lower | Gifted | 97.7th | 2.3% |
| IQ 14055 lower | Gifted | 99.62nd | 0.38% |
| IQ 15045 lower | Genius | 99.96th | 0.043% |
| IQ 1905 lower | Profoundly Gifted | 99.9999999th | 0.000000099% |
| IQ 1941 lower | Profoundly Gifted | 99.999999981st | 0.000000019% |
| IQ 1961 higher | Profoundly Gifted | 99.9999999921st | 0.0000000078% |
| IQ 2005 higher | Profoundly Gifted | 99.9999999986th | 0.0000000013% |
Is 195 a good IQ?
It is about as high as the scale goes. The bell curve puts 195 at 1 in 8.3 billion, but major tests are only checked up to around 160, so the exact figure is uncertain. As a description of reasoning ability, "exceptional" fits better than any precise number.
What percentile is an IQ of 195?
An IQ of 195 is at about the 99.999999987th percentile. That means it is higher than 99.999999987% of people, while 0.000000012% score the same or higher, about 1 in 8.3 billion. The figure assumes the standard scale, with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15.
Is 195 genius level?
By most informal definitions, yes. There is no clinical genius category, but scores above 140 or 145 are often labelled that way, and 195 is well past both. Historically, though, genius is defined by achievement, and no test measures this high precisely.
What does an IQ of 195 mean?
A 195 means your result on a timed reasoning test was 95 points above the average of 100, which this site labels Profoundly Gifted. Most tests cannot measure this high precisely. It reflects one test on one day, and it does not measure knowledge or character.
How rare is an IQ of 195?
About 1 in 8.3 billion people score 195 or higher. In the UK that is fewer than one person, in the US fewer than one and worldwide about 1. About 1 in 19 billion score exactly 195. These are bell curve estimates, not census counts.
What is the mental age for an IQ of 195?
There is no real mental age for adults. The idea comes from early ratio tests for children: a 6-year-old with a ratio IQ of 195 would reason like a typical 11.7-year-old. Today's tests use deviation scores, which rank you against your own age group.