IQ Score Guide / 118
Is 118 a Good IQ Score?
What an IQ of 118 means, where it ranks, and what it reveals about cognitive ability.
Where IQ 118 sits on the scale
An IQ of 118 is higher than 89% of people
In a room of 100 people, about 11 would score 118 or higher.
What an IQ of 118 means
An IQ of 118 is clearly above average, higher than about 89 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 118 actually do
We looked at the 3,376 people who have scored exactly 118 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 3,376 IQScore test-takers. Section figures are the average percentage answered correctly in each area. Updated October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Is 118 a good IQ score?
Yes. An IQ of 118 is above average, higher than about 89% 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 118?
An IQ of 118 is at about the 89th percentile. In plain terms, you score higher than around 89 out of every 100 people. The average score is 100.
What jobs suit an IQ of 118?
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 118?
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 118
Reported or estimated figures from third-party sources, none are clinically verified.
John F. Kennedy
Estimated around 119, 1 point above 118
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.
Richard Nixon
Estimated around 113, 5 points below 118
37th US President, IQ estimates vary widely in published sources (107 to 143). The most widely cited mid-range published estimates place him at approximately 110–115.
Lyndon B. Johnson
Estimated around 123, 5 points above 118
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.
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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.