Short answer: An IQ of 137 is very superior: higher than about 99.3 percent of people, roughly 1 in 147. It qualifies for Mensa and sits three points below 140, a number once labeled genius but absent from modern Wechsler classifications. With about five points of error on any single test, a measured 137 and a measured 140 overlap heavily.
Shaded: the share of people who score higher on a mean-100, SD-15 scale.
At a glance
| Percentile | 99.32nd (0.68% score higher) |
|---|---|
| Rarity | About 1 in 147 |
| Wechsler classification | Very Superior (WAIS-IV) / Extremely High (WAIS-5) |
| Stanford-Binet 5 classification | Gifted or very advanced |
| On an SD 16 scale | About 139 |
| On an SD 24 (Cattell) scale | About 159 |
| Mensa eligible? | Yes, on an approved, supervised test |
137 by the numbers
An IQ of 137 sits 2.47 standard deviations above the mean. It ranks at the 99.32nd percentile, with 0.68 percent of people scoring higher. Fill a 20,000-seat arena with a random crowd and about 136 people in it would reach 137 or more.
The WAIS-IV calls it Very Superior, the WAIS-5 Extremely High, and the Stanford-Binet 5 Gifted or very advanced. On an older SD 16 scale it converts to about 139. On the SD 24 Cattell scale it becomes about 159, a figure that sounds more dramatic than it is.
From 135 to 140
| IQ | Percentile | Share higher | Rarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 135 | 99.02 | 0.98% | 1 in 102 |
| 136 | 99.18 | 0.82% | 1 in 122 |
| 137 | 99.32 | 0.68% | 1 in 147 |
| 138 | 99.43 | 0.56% | 1 in 177 |
| 139 | 99.53 | 0.47% | 1 in 215 |
| 140 | 99.62 | 0.38% | 1 in 261 |
A 140 is about 1.8 times rarer than a 137. In rank terms, the two scores are separated by three-tenths of a percentile point. See IQ 138, IQ 139, IQ 140 and the IQ rarity chart.
Where the 140 mystique comes from
The number traces to Lewis Terman's 1916 Stanford-Binet, whose top category, above 140, read “near genius or genius.” Terman abandoned the word by the 1937 revision. Today the WAIS-IV draws no line at 140 at all: its Very Superior band runs from 130 to the top of the scale. The Stanford-Binet 5 does start a new band there, Very gifted or highly advanced, but calls nobody a genius.
A bare “140” is also ambiguous. On the Cattell scale, 140 corresponds to only about 125 on a Wechsler test. Any score quoted without its scale says little. The band definitions are in IQ scale classification, and the history of the genius label in what IQ counts as genius.
Is the gap between 137 and 140 real?
Across large groups, yes. For one person on one day, barely. A single score carries a 95 percent confidence interval of about five points either way. A measured 137 is consistent with a true score from about 132 to 142; a measured 140, with about 135 to 145. The ranges overlap across most of their width.
Two careful sittings can therefore reverse the order of two people separated by three points. A retest also inflates results through practice. The three-point gap is a statistical distinction, not a personal verdict.
Is 137 a good IQ, and is it genius?
It is a top-1-percent score. The American Psychological Association's 1996 task force called test scores the best single predictor of an individual's years of education, and a 137 predicts ease with advanced study.
Genius is another matter. When Catharine Cox published Early Mental Traits of Three Hundred Geniuses in 1926, she used biographical sources to assign Stanford-Binet-style IQ estimates to 301 eminent historical figures. The volume was the second in Terman's Genetic Studies of Genius series. The reputations came first; the numbers came afterward. Our explainer on historical IQ estimates shows how those figures were built and why they carry wide error.
Pinning down a 137
A credible 137 comes from a full standardized battery administered by a licensed psychologist, with the confidence band reported. It qualifies for Mensa, and how to join Mensa covers the paperwork. Our free IQ test is a practice screener, not a clinical instrument; are online IQ tests accurate? explains the difference.
Frequently asked questions
Is 137 considered a genius IQ?
No modern test defines genius, and the WAIS-IV places 137 in the same Very Superior band as every score from 130 up. The genius label attached to 140 dates from Terman's 1916 manual and was dropped by 1937. A 137 is a top-1-percent score; genius is judged by work.
How rare is an IQ of 137?
About 1 in 147 people score 137 or higher on a test with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. That is 0.68 percent of the population, or roughly 6,800 people in a city of one million.
What is the difference between an IQ of 137 and 140?
Statistically, 140 is about 1.8 times rarer: 1 in 261 against 1 in 147. In percentile terms the gap is only three-tenths of a point, 99.32 against 99.62. Because each score carries about five points of measurement error, a single test cannot reliably separate them.
Is 137 a Mensa-level IQ?
Yes. Mensa's bar is the 98th percentile on an approved test, and on Wechsler-type scales that means 130. A 137 ranks at the 99.32nd percentile, seven points clear. The result must come from a properly administered and supervised session; scores from online quizzes are not accepted.
Sources
- IQ classification (Wikipedia) — Terman's 1916 table; genius label dropped by 1937; WAIS-IV and SB5 bands
- Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns (Neisser et al., 1996) — Best single predictor of years of education
- Catharine Cox Miles (Wikipedia) — Cox's 1926 retrospective IQ estimates for 301 eminent people
- Mensa International: Getting your IQ tested FAQs — 98th percentile; supervised tests
- Intelligence quotient (Wikipedia) — Measurement error and confidence intervals
Editorial standard: IQ figures for historical figures are retrospective estimates and are labeled as such; scores for living people appear only when the person disclosed them or a reputable outlet reported them. Corrections: contact the editors.
