Let's talk about SAT scores! We're going to discuss the SAT score range, SAT percentiles and talk about what constitutes a good, bad and average SAT score. We'll also lay out the average test scores at colleges, helping you target schools that match your score. Let's go!
Table of Contents
1. What's a good SAT score?
2. SAT Percentiles for 2026
3. Median SAT score by college
4. Dealing with a low SAT score
Apologies in advance for totally
copping out on this answer, but a good score is a score that gets you into the college you want to go to and gets you
scholarship money if you need it.
That sounds like a non-answer, but it's really the only answer that is useful. Plenty of students would love to have a 1300, but if your
goal is to get into Harvard, that is probably not a good enough score. But if your goal is to get into a lot of state universities, that
same 1300 will do the trick.
Further, it's important to distinguish between "good score" and "good score for you." Students come at this thing from all sorts of different
abilities and opportunities. Like many things in life, you are going to be more successful if your standard for success is grounded in who you
are as a student and what you can personally do, not what the person next to you can do.
Okay, okay. So that is all good, but let's actually try to throw some scores out and see where they fit into the big picture. We are going to
talk about percentiles (What percentage of students are eating your dust?), average scores at various universities (Which colleges will roll out the red carpet for you?) and how much improvement most students can realistically expect from their baseline with a little hard work (Which stars are within reach?). We will even finish up with some advice on how to approach a weak score and prevent the impending homelessness your mom is worried about.
Let's jump in.
Before we lay out the exact percentile chart below, let's talk about a few cornerstone levels. For the class of 2026, the mean
SAT score was 1045. The average math score was 517, and the average reading and writing score was 528. The top 1%,
or the 99th percentile, starts at about 1530. The 90th percentile is 1360 and the 75th
percentile, which means you are doing better than three out of four students, is right around 1200.
Below you can find the percentiles for the full range of SAT scores. Note that there are technically two different ways of discussing
SAT percentiles. Because not all students actually take the test, and the group who takes the test tends to be more academically competitive
than the group that does not take the test (that's probably pretty intuitive), a simple comparison to other students who took the test is not
the same thing as a comparison to all high school students.
College Board, the maker of the SAT, describes the comparison to all high school
students as "nationally representative percentiles," and the comparison to only students who took the test as "user group percentiles."
For our percentiles below, we are giving user group percentiles, or the comparison only to students who took the test.
| SAT Total Score | Percentile |
|---|---|
| 1600 | 99+ |
| 1590 | 99+ |
| 1580 | 99+ |
| 1570 | 99+ |
| 1560 | 99+ |
| 1550 | 99 |
| 1540 | 99 |
| 1530 | 99 |
| 1520 | 98 |
| 1510 | 98 |
| 1500 | 97 |
| 1490 | 97 |
| 1480 | 97 |
| 1470 | 96 |
| 1460 | 96 |
| 1450 | 95 |
| 1440 | 95 |
| 1430 | 94 |
| 1420 | 94 |
| 1410 | 93 |
| 1400 | 93 |
| 1390 | 92 |
| 1380 | 91 |
| 1370 | 91 |
| 1360 | 90 |
| 1350 | 89 |
| 1340 | 88 |
| 1330 | 88 |
| 1320 | 87 |
| 1310 | 86 |
| 1300 | 85 |
| 1290 | 84 |
| 1280 | 83 |
| 1270 | 82 |
| 1260 | 81 |
| 1250 | 80 |
| 1240 | 79 |
| 1230 | 78 |
| 1220 | 77 |
| 1210 | 76 |
| 1200 | 75 |
| 1190 | 74 |
| 1180 | 72 |
| 1170 | 71 |
| 1160 | 70 |
| 1150 | 69 |
| 1140 | 67 |
| 1130 | 66 |
| 1120 | 65 |
| 1110 | 63 |
| 1100 | 62 |
| 1090 | 60 |
| 1080 | 59 |
| 1070 | 58 |
| 1060 | 56 |
| 1050 | 55 |
| 1040 | 53 |
| 1030 | 52 |
| 1020 | 50 |
| 1010 | 48 |
| 1000 | 47 |
| 990 | 45 |
| 980 | 44 |
| 970 | 42 |
| 960 | 41 |
| 950 | 39 |
| 940 | 38 |
| 930 | 36 |
| 920 | 35 |
| 910 | 33 |
| 900 | 32 |
| 890 | 30 |
| 880 | 29 |
| 870 | 27 |
| 860 | 26 |
| 850 | 24 |
| 840 | 23 |
| 830 | 21 |
| 820 | 20 |
| 810 | 18 |
| 800 | 17 |
| 790 | 16 |
| 780 | 14 |
| 770 | 13 |
| 760 | 12 |
| 750 | 11 |
| 740 | 10 |
| 730 | 9 |
| 720 | 8 |
| 710 | 7 |
| 700 | 6 |
| 690 | 5 |
| 680 | 5 |
| 670 | 4 |
| 660 | 4 |
| 650 | 3 |
| 640 | 3 |
| 630 | 3 |
| 620 | 2 |
| 610 | 2 |
| 600 | 2 |
| 590 | 2 |
| 580 | 2 |
| 570 | 1 |
| 560 | 1 |
| 550 | 1 |
| 540 | 1 |
| 530 | 1 |
| 520 | 1 |
| 510 | 1 |
| 500 | 1 |
| 490 | 1- |
| 480 | 1- |
| 470 | 1- |
| 460 | 1- |
| 450 | 1- |
| 440 | 1- |
| 430 | 1- |
| 420 | 1- |
| 410 | 1- |
| 400 | 1- |
Before we jump into SAT scores by college, it's important to point out that the median accepted score represents
roughly the middle student that got into a university. That means about half
of students did not reach that number yet still got into that university! Think about that for a second: at your target university, about half of
students did worse than the
median number you see. That should give you some hope if your score is falling short of the numbers you see.
A metric that can often be more useful is the 25th to 75th percentile score range, so we have also included that figure below. Think
of this as the middle 50% of students at a given university. If you are in that group, you are certainly competitive. Parents and students
often ask what kind of score makes a student competitive for a given university, and the short answer to this question is the 25th-percentile number
you see below.
If you can get to that number, you are competitive at a given university.
| University | Median SAT Score | 25th–75th Percentile SAT Score |
|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | 1550 | 1520–1570 |
| Stanford University | 1550 | 1520–1570 |
| Duke University | 1550 | 1510–1570 |
| University of Virginia | 1470 | 1410–1520 |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | 1470 | 1400–1530 |
| University of Michigan–Ann Arbor | 1470 | 1370–1530 |
| Georgia Institute of Technology | 1460 | 1370–1530 |
| University of Florida | 1410 | 1330–1490 |
| University of Minnesota–Twin Cities | 1390 | 1310–1460 |
| The Ohio State University | 1360 | 1290–1440 |
| Penn State University (University Park) | 1340 | 1280–1410 |
| University of Colorado Boulder | 1300 | 1180–1390 |
| Texas A&M University | 1280 | 1160–1390 |
| University of Arizona | 1240 | 1140–1360 |
| Michigan State University | 1210 | 1100–1310 |
Source: each university's most recent Common Data Set, based on enrolled first-year students who submitted scores. Many of these schools are test-optional, so their numbers reflect only students who chose to send scores.
Wouldn't it be great if every student got the score they needed to go to their dream school and get a full ride?
Unfortunately, this is not always a world built for dreamers, and some of you may not end up at the score you have in your
head. But don't despair! You can still end up as a smashing success in life, and we will give you some tips on how to deal
with that low SAT score.
There are four ways you can up your chances of getting into a great college despite a low SAT score:
Prefer to talk on the phone? Just give us a call at (866) 210-4335.
