Average IQ by Education Level (2026 Update)
Official International IQ Test website (online since 2018)
Published by: International IQ Test
Last updated:
Below are the average IQ scores by education level, updated as of January 1, 2026.
This report is based on data from 77,974 people worldwide who took the same IQ test on this website in 2025 (mean = 100, SD = 15).
IQ scores appear to be strongly correlated with education level, showing a steady increase as education rises
(with the exception of the four-year degree, which shows a notably larger jump).
The results closely match the previous year (differences under 1.5 points) and follow the same overall pattern.
| Education level |
IQ |
Participants |
Previous year |
Change |
| No diploma |
97.3 |
16,977 |
97.24 |
+0.06 |
| High school diploma |
98.44 |
17,604 |
98.75 |
-0.31 |
| 2-year degree |
98.92 |
6,633 |
99.26 |
-0.34 |
| 3-year degree |
101.7 |
8,624 |
100.55 |
+1.15 |
| 4-year degree |
103.06 |
13,741 |
104.46 |
-1.4 |
| 5-year degree |
101.39 |
5,336 |
100.94 |
+0.45 |
| > 5-year degree |
101.82 |
9,059 |
102.07 |
-0.25 |
FAQ
Why does average IQ increase with education level?
This 2018 meta-analysis,
"How Much Does Education Improve Intelligence?", reports a similar pattern (IQ rising with additional years of education).
The authors suggest two closely related explanations:
- Students with higher IQs are more likely to pursue additional years of education.
-
Additional years of education may also raise IQ scores by continually strengthening cognitive skills such as
reasoning, memory, and general knowledge.
Why do people with a four-year degree have the highest average IQ?
One possible explanation is that four-year degree programs are more common in fields with higher average IQ scores
(such as mathematics or computer science) than in some other fields. See:
IQ by field of study.
How were participants selected?
All participants took the same IQ test on this website in 2025. Results were calibrated to a global scale using an
approach similar to the one described in this standardization report.
For example, we capped the number of test-takers per country based on each country’s population to better approximate the global population.
We also applied filters to remove likely repeat attempts, potential bots, and other suspicious entries (e.g., based on IP address, username, email address, etc.).
What is the official International IQ Test website?
international-iq-test.com
is the official website of the original "International IQ Test", online since 2018.
You can verify a website’s history using the Wayback Machine (archive.org).
This IQ test has been taken by over 16 million people
and has been standardized using psychometric methods.