Is 74 a Good IQ Score?

What an IQ of 74 means, where it ranks, and what it tells you about cognitive ability.

74

IQ Score

4th

Percentile

Below Average

Classification

What an IQ of 74 means

An IQ of 74 places you at approximately the 4th percentile. Formal cognitive tasks requiring abstract reasoning or complex verbal processing will likely feel consistently demanding, and professional assessment can help identify targeted support strategies. Early structured intervention and specialised learning approaches have a well-documented positive effect on scores and outcomes.

IQ 74 in context

IQ 74 sits 11 points below the one-standard-deviation mark of 85 and 4 points above the IQ 70 clinical threshold. At the 4th percentile, roughly 96% of the population scores above IQ 74. At IQ 74, adaptive functioning assessments are more informative than the cognitive score alone. Research on outcomes in this range consistently shows high variability: environment, support structures, and the specific demands of a person's daily context predict outcomes more reliably than the test number. Early structured intervention has documented positive effects on both scores and practical functioning for individuals in this range.

Frequently asked questions

Is 74 a good IQ score?

It is below average. Formal academic environments structured around abstract reasoning will likely feel consistently challenging. Targeted support, practical learning strategies, and early structured intervention have well-documented positive effects on both scores and outcomes.

What percentile is an IQ of 74?

The 4th percentile. That means 4% of the population scores at or below 74. 4% of people score at or below 74. The population mean is 100 with a standard deviation of 15.

What careers are associated with an IQ of 74?

Practical and hands-on careers are fully accessible here. Conscientious, hard-working people in this range regularly build capable careers in trades, services, and practical fields. Real-world outcomes depend on far more than a single number.

Can you improve an IQ of 74?

Yes. IQ is not fixed, especially before age 25. Scores in this range tend to respond more to environmental improvements than high-range scores do. Sleep quality, nutrition, working memory training, and structured learning all have documented positive effects. Gains of 5–15 points have been recorded with sustained effort.

Careers that commonly score in this range

LabourerManual, physically-intensive work without significant cognitive demand

Notable people reportedly in this range

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

Muhammad Ali

Three-time world heavyweight boxing champion — reportedly scored 78 on his US Army induction test in 1964, a score Ali discussed publicly, noting it reflected poor schooling rather than lack of ability. He went on to become one of the most strategically intelligent fighters in history.

Andy Warhol

Pioneering pop artist and filmmaker — school records cited in multiple biographies suggest a score in the upper-70s range. Warhol described difficulty in conventional academic settings and later credited his success to visual and associative thinking rather than verbal or abstract reasoning.

From the IQScore blog

Further reading selected for this score range.

Can You Improve Your IQ? →

What the evidence says about moving scores in this range.

The Role of Education in IQ →

How structured learning affects measured cognitive ability.

What Sleep Deprivation Does to Your IQ →

Sleep has a bigger short-term effect on scores than most interventions.

Nutrition and Brain Performance →

The dietary factors with the clearest cognitive evidence.