— IQ score explained

IQ of 98 — meaning, percentile & profile

An IQ of 98 falls in the average range. The average IQ is defined as 100, and roughly 68% of people score between 85 and 115.

What does IQ 98 mean in practice?

An IQ of 98 means your raw performance on a standardised IQ test places you at the 45th percentile of the general adult population — lower than 55% of people. People in this range span a wide variety of outcomes — IQ is one of many factors in cognitive performance and life success.

IQ 98 and the normal distribution

IQ is defined with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. An IQ of 98 is 0.13 standard deviations below the mean. The normal distribution tells us that:

• About 68% of people score between 85 and 115
• About 95% of people score between 70 and 130
• About 99.7% of people score between 55 and 145
• An IQ of 98 is higher than 45% of the adult population

IQ 98 and career outcomes

An IQ of 98 is solidly in the range associated with the full breadth of careers — including management, skilled trades, healthcare, law enforcement, and creative work. Most occupations have a wide IQ range among successful practitioners.

Comparing IQ 98 to common benchmarks

How to accurately measure your IQ

A reliable IQ test uses Item Response Theory (IRT) scoring, which adapts the scoring based on item difficulty parameters rather than simply counting correct answers. Core Brain uses IRT 3PL (three-parameter logistic) scoring — the same statistical framework used by the WAIS and Stanford-Binet — and returns your score with a 95% confidence interval so you know the measurement uncertainty.

Related IQ scores

• IQ 85 — Low average, 16th percentile
• IQ 88 — Low average, 21th percentile
• IQ 90 — Average range, 25th percentile
• IQ 92 — Average range, 30th percentile
• IQ 95 — Average range, 37th percentile

Related reading

• Full IQ-to-percentile reference chart
• What is the average IQ?
• IQ test types compared
• Mensa IQ score requirement