Estimated IQ of US Presidents

Estimated IQ — Sorted Highest to Lowest

Estimated IQ — Sortable Table

Rank

President

Party

Estimated IQ

Data Sources & Notes

Primary: Simonton, D.K. (2006). "Presidential IQ, Openness, Intellectual Brilliance, and Leadership: Estimates and Correlations for 42 U.S. Chief Executives." Political Psychology, 27(4), 511–526.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2006.00524.x
Summary table: Wikipedia — "Historical rankings of presidents of the United States"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_presidents_of_the_United_States
Extended estimates for recent presidents: Various psychometric analyses and publicly available test records.
https://www.rd.com/list/president-iq/
Recent review (Feb 2025): 24/7 Wall St., "Who Was the Smartest American President?" — confirms Simonton (2006) remains the most recent comprehensive scholarly estimate set.
https://247wallst.com/politics/2025/02/14/who-was-the-smartest-american-president/

Estimates use Simonton's "corrected for reliability, ages 18–26" figures where available. These are historiometric estimates, not measured IQ scores. No formal IQ test results exist for most presidents. Modern presidents (Obama, Trump, Biden) are rough estimates based on academic records, career complexity, and linguistic analysis — not from Simonton's original study, which covers only Washington through George W. Bush (42 chief executives).

Roster status (as of September 2026): 45 individuals have served in 47 presidencies. Donald Trump, the incumbent 47th president (second term since January 20, 2025), is already included below; no new scholarly IQ estimate has been published for any post-Bush officeholder. Party codes: DR = Democratic-Republican, D = Democratic, R = Republican, W = Whig, F = Federalist, I = Independent.