IQ Score Guide / 117
Is 117 a Good IQ Score?
What an IQ of 117 means, where it ranks, and what it reveals about cognitive ability.
Where IQ 117 sits on the scale
An IQ of 117 is higher than 87% of people
In a room of 100 people, about 13 would score 117 or higher.
What an IQ of 117 means
An IQ of 117 is clearly above average, higher than about 87 out of every 100 people. Scores at this level usually go hand in hand with doing well at school and in jobs that involve analysis or leading others.
How people who score 117 actually do
We looked at the 6,651 people who have scored exactly 117 on the IQScore test. On average, their strongest area was spatial reasoning and their weakest was numerical reasoning. Here is the typical breakdown by section.
Real data from 6,651 IQScore test-takers. Section figures are the average percentage answered correctly in each area. Updated October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Is 117 a good IQ score?
Yes. An IQ of 117 is above average, higher than about 87% of people. The average university graduate scores around 113 to 115, so this is right in that range. Most jobs and courses are well within reach.
What percentile is an IQ of 117?
An IQ of 117 is at about the 87th percentile. In plain terms, you score higher than around 87 out of every 100 people. The average score is 100.
What jobs suit an IQ of 117?
This range lines up with a lot of graduate-level work: medicine, law, engineering, teaching and management. People here tend to do well in roles that involve analysis or leading others.
Can you improve an IQ of 117?
Somewhat. The clearest short-term factor is sleep, with diet, exercise and stress also playing a part. Realistic gains are a handful of points, mostly from removing things that drag a score down rather than adding raw ability.
Careers that commonly score in this range
Occupational averages from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. An average, not a requirement.
Famous people near IQ 117
Reported or estimated figures from third-party sources, none are clinically verified.
Kanye West
Estimated around 115, 2 points below 117
Rapper and producer with 24 Grammy Awards, among the most decorated artists in the ceremony's history. He left Chicago State University to pursue music and named his first three albums after that decision.
Lyndon B. Johnson
Estimated around 123, 6 points above 117
36th US President, Southwest Texas State University graduate and skilled legislative strategist. Published historiometric estimates put his IQ at approximately 120–126, placing him solidly in the high-average range.
John F. Kennedy
Estimated around 119, 2 points above 117
35th US President, reportedly scored approximately 119 on Navy Officer Candidate School aptitude tests during WWII, a figure independently cited in multiple presidential biographies as the closest approximation to his IQ.
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Further reading selected for this score range.
What Is a Good IQ Score? →
Where every score lands, and what counts as good, average, or gifted.
IQ Score Ranges Explained →
Every band from below average to genius, and what each one means.
IQ Score by Age →
How scores shift with age, and what stays fixed over a lifetime.
Average IQ by Profession →
How this range maps to career outcomes in the published data.
Working Memory and Intelligence →
The most trainable component of measured cognitive ability.
Fluid vs Crystallised Intelligence →
Two types of intelligence and what each one predicts.