Is 135 a Good IQ Score?

What an IQ of 135 means, where it ranks, and what it tells you about cognitive ability.

135

IQ Score

99th

Percentile

Very Superior

Classification

1 in 100

Rarity

What an IQ of 135 means

An IQ of 135 puts you at the 99th percentile, in the top 1% of the population. Roughly 1 in 100 people reach this level. This is where cognitive ability begins to correlate with genuinely original contributions — not just mastery of existing knowledge, but identifying problems others have not yet seen. Senior research roles, elite advisory positions, and advanced academic institutions draw heavily from this range.

IQ 135 in context

IQ 135 sits 5 points above the Mensa threshold of 130, placing it at the 99th percentile. Roughly 1 in 100 people score at this level. The two-standard-deviation mark sits at IQ 130; IQ 135 is 5 points into that upper tail. Studies of high-ability adults consistently show that individuals in the IQ 135 range enter selective universities, advanced research positions, and cognitively demanding careers at substantially higher rates than the general population. The 35-point distance from the mean translates to a measurable difference in processing speed, working memory capacity, and the ability to manage complex multi-step reasoning tasks — the kinds of demands that separate elite professional performance from competent performance.

Frequently asked questions

Is 135 a good IQ score?

Yes. IQ 135 is in the top 1% — Very Superior range, 99th percentile. Roughly 1 in 100 people score here. Most people at this level find standard academic and professional environments understimulating rather than challenging.

What percentile is an IQ of 135?

The 99th percentile. That means 99% of the population scores at or below 135. Fewer than 1 in 100 people score at this level. The population mean is 100 with a standard deviation of 15.

What careers are associated with an IQ of 135?

Research, medicine, law, mathematics, and senior academic roles draw heavily from this range. Roughly 1 in 100 people score at this level — the cognitive demands of most professional fields feel tractable rather than effortful here.

Can you improve an IQ of 135?

Scores at this level have high genetic loading — heritability runs 50–80% in adults. Sleep, nutrition, and working memory training have documented effects on fluid intelligence, but the honest expectation is modest gains. Large jumps are not supported by the evidence.

Careers that commonly score in this range

Research ScientistMean ~130–140 in published occupational studies

SurgeonCognitive demands of surgical decision-making correlate with 130+ range

Senior Academic / ProfessorParticularly in mathematics, physics, philosophy

Top-tier Software EngineerFAANG engineers cluster near this range in self-reported data

Notable people reportedly in this range

All figures are estimates or reported by third-party sources — none are clinically verified.

Barack Obama

Harvard Law Review president and 44th US President — graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. Simonton's updated historiometric analysis estimates his IQ at approximately 130–140, with most published assessments clustering around 132–137.

Garry Kasparov

World Chess Champion for 15 years, widely regarded as the greatest chess player in history — IQ estimated at 135 by chess psychologists and sports scientists. Kasparov describes his thinking as combining deep pattern recognition with systematic long-range planning.

Al Gore

Former US Vice President, Harvard graduate, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate — IQ estimated at approximately 134 in published presidential and vice-presidential cognitive assessments.

J.K. Rowling

Author of the Harry Potter series — University of Exeter graduate in French and Classics. Published assessments estimate her IQ at approximately 128–136, consistent with the internal consistency and narrative complexity of a seven-volume fictional universe.

From the IQScore blog

Further reading selected for this score range.

What IQ Score Is Needed for Mensa? →

The threshold, the test, and what membership actually means.

The Dark Side of High Intelligence →

What the research says about the less-discussed costs of scoring at this level.

How Much of IQ Is Genetic? →

Twin studies and what the heritability data actually shows.

Fluid vs Crystallised Intelligence →

The two cognitive systems, and why the distinction matters at high scores.