What Is the Average IQ of a Teenager? Ages 13 to 17
What is the average IQ of a teenager? It's 100. That's true at 13, at 15 and at 17, because IQ tests compare you only with people your own age, and the scale is built so the middle of each age group lands on 100.
About half of all teens score between 90 and 110, and roughly two out of three fall between 85 and 115. If you want to know which parts of your own reasoning pull your number up or down, IQ Tester finds the exact spots in about two minutes: Find my weak spots.
The short answer: 100 at every age
People often expect the average teen IQ to be lower than an adult's and to climb each year. It doesn't work that way. The average IQ for a 13 year old is 100. The average IQ for a 14 year old is 100. The same goes for 15, 16 and 17.
Here's the average IQ score by age for the teen years:
| Age | Average IQ | Middle 50% range | Middle ~68% range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 100 | 90 to 110 | 85 to 115 |
| 14 | 100 | 90 to 110 | 85 to 115 |
| 15 | 100 | 90 to 110 | 85 to 115 |
| 16 | 100 | 90 to 110 | 85 to 115 |
| 17 | 100 | 90 to 110 | 85 to 115 |
That table looks boring on purpose. An IQ score chart by age is flat because the scoring already adjusts for age. Your 15-year-old brain is not being graded against a 30-year-old's.
Why IQ is scored against people your own age
A 17 year old can answer harder questions than a 13 year old. So if you scored everyone on one raw scale, older teens would always win. That would tell you about birthdays, not reasoning.
Test makers solve this with norms. They give the test to a big sample of people at each age, then record how that age group did. Your score shows where you sit inside your own age band.
How the number is built
- You answer questions and get a raw score (say, 38 correct).
- The test looks up how other 14 year olds did on the same questions.
- If 38 correct is right in the middle for 14 year olds, you get 100.
- Each 15 points above or below the middle is one "standard deviation," a step on the bell curve.
That's why the average teen IQ and the average adult IQ are both 100. They're each the middle of a different group. For the full story of how that middle gets set and reset, read why average IQ is 100.
Is the average IQ of a teenager in America different?
Big US tests are normed on US samples, so the average IQ of a teenager in America is also 100 on those tests. Comparing countries is messy, because different tests, samples and years all change the result. Treat any "IQ by country" chart you see online with care.
What counts as average, above and below for teens
So what is a normal IQ score for a teenager, and what is a good IQ for a 14 year old? Most tests use labels like these (exact wording varies by test):
- Below 85: below average
- 85 to 114: average range (90 to 109 is often called plain "average")
- 110 to 119: high average
- 120 to 129: superior, or well above average
- 130 and up: very superior; many gifted programs use about 130 as a cut-off
A "good" IQ score for a teenager is really any score in or above the average range, because that range covers most people. If you want the meaning of a specific number, we've broken down whether 110 is good for a 14 year old and what 115 means at 15.
Average IQ of a teenage girl vs a teenage boy
The average IQ of a teenage girl and the average IQ of a teenage boy are both around 100 on modern tests. Test makers check items for bias, and overall scores for boys and girls come out very close. Some studies find small differences on particular sub-skills, but they're small compared with the spread inside each group. Knowing someone's gender tells you almost nothing about their reasoning.
Does IQ change during the teen years?
Your raw ability grows a lot between 13 and 17. You hold more in your head, you read faster, you know more words and you get better at abstract logic. Your IQ score can stay about the same through all of that, because everyone your age is growing too.
Scores can still shift for individual teens. A few reasons:
- School and practice. More years of education are linked with higher scores in research.
- Sleep, stress and mood on test day.
- Growth spurts in skills. Some teens get much better at, say, verbal reasoning in a single year.
- Test error. No test is perfect, so a few points of wobble is normal.
So yes, IQ can change with age, but the average doesn't. The average stays pinned at 100 while individuals move around it.
Why online tests give teens odd numbers
If you took a quick quiz and got 142, or 88, you're not alone. Online numbers for teens are often strange, and the reasons are pretty simple.
- No real norms. Many free IQ tests for teenagers never tested a proper sample of 13 to 17 year olds. They guess.
- Too few questions. Ten questions can't measure much. One lucky guess moves the score a lot.
- Flattering scores. Some sites inflate results so you share them.
- Timing and focus. Taking a test on a phone in a noisy room is a different test.
Here's where it gets tricky. Even a decent number doesn't tell you why you got it. Was it memory? Rushing? Mental math? Guessing at that yourself is hard, because you can't watch your own thinking from the outside.
IQ Tester skips the flattering number and looks at how you think. Sixteen questions, about two minutes, and it tells you which of seven problems hold you back, like working memory, rushing then freezing, or scattered attention. Find my weak spots
What to do with your number
A score is a snapshot of one day. The useful part is what you do next. Try this:
- Write the number down, then set it aside. It's not your identity.
- Look at the question types that felt hard. Patterns? Numbers? Word problems? Long logic chains?
- Pick one skill. Not five. One.
- Practise it for 10 minutes a day. Short daily practice beats a long weekend cram.
- Retest in a few weeks to see if that skill moved.
Quick drills you can try tonight
- Chunk it: read a phone number as 3-3-4, not 10 separate digits. Then try it with longer strings.
- Name the rule out loud: in a number pattern like 3, 6, 12, 24, say "doubles each time" before you answer.
- Estimate first: before working out 19 × 21, guess "about 400." Then check.
Get a teen-sized plan in two minutes
Asking what the average IQ of a teenager is will only get you so far; the better question is where your own reasoning slips. IQ Tester asks 16 questions, gives you a reasoning tier, and names your weak spots. Then you get one tip and a 10-minute drill every day, aimed at those spots, with a streak and a history so you can see yourself improve.
FAQ
What is the average IQ for a 13 year old?
The average IQ for a 13 year old is 100, the same as every other age. Tests compare 13 year olds only with other 13 year olds, so the middle score is always 100. Most 13 year olds score between 85 and 115.
What is a good IQ for a 14 year old?
Anything from about 90 to 110 is average, 110 to 119 is high average, and 120 or more is well above average. A "good" score really means one in or above the average range. What matters more is which reasoning skills you can train next.
Is there an IQ score chart by age for teens?
Yes, and it's flat: 100 is average at every age from 13 to 17. The scale already accounts for age, so a 100 at 13 and a 100 at 17 mean the same thing, which is right in the middle of your age group.
Does IQ go up during the teenage years?
Your raw reasoning ability grows a lot, but your IQ score may stay about the same because it compares you with peers who are growing too. Individual scores can still move a few points with schooling, practice, sleep and plain test error.
Is a free IQ test for teenagers accurate?
Most free online tests are rough at best, because they have few questions and weak or no age norms. Use them for practice, not as a verdict. A short test that shows which skills to work on is more useful than a single number.