Research · Test scores · October 2026
The average SAT score is 1029, and a 1020 is the 50th percentile
As of October 2026: The average SAT total score was 1029 out of 1600 for students who graduated high school in spring 2025. A 1020 sits at the 50th percentile among recent SAT takers, a 1200 at the 75th, and a 1360 at the 90th.
The table holds a percentile for every SAT score from 400 to 1600, in both of the columns College Board publishes. It does not say what score any one college is looking for.
Analysis: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach, highschoolreach.com), October 2026. Figures and the table may be quoted with attribution to Test Prep Gurus.
The findings, in plain English
The average score and the middle of the pack sit a few points apart. The mean total was 1029. A 1020 is the 50th percentile among recent SAT takers, so half of them scored under it. The mean reading and writing score was 521, and the mean math score was 508. Each of the two sections runs from 200 to 800.
College Board prints two percentiles, and they part ways at the top. A 1200 is the 81st percentile in the first column and the 75th in the second. At 1450 the two columns read 99 and 95. The first column compares a student to all juniors and seniors in the country. The second compares them only to students who took the SAT.
A hundred points moves a student further in the middle than at the top. From 1000 to 1100, the SAT taker percentile climbs from 47 to 62. From 1500 to 1600 it climbs from 97 to 99. A gain near the middle of the range lifts a student past far more people than the same gain near the ceiling.
SAT total score and percentile, every step College Board prints
Read down to your student's score, then across to the two percentiles.
| SAT total score | Percentile of all juniors and seniors | Percentile of SAT takers |
|---|---|---|
| 1,600 | 99 | 99 |
| 1,550 | 99 | 99 |
| 1,500 | 99 | 97 |
| 1,450 | 99 | 95 |
| 1,400 | 97 | 93 |
| 1,350 | 94 | 89 |
| 1,300 | 91 | 85 |
| 1,250 | 86 | 80 |
| 1,200 | 81 | 75 |
| 1,150 | 74 | 69 |
| 1,100 | 67 | 62 |
| 1,050 | 58 | 55 |
| 1,000 | 48 | 47 |
| 950 | 38 | 39 |
| 900 | 29 | 32 |
| 850 | 21 | 24 |
| 800 | 14 | 17 |
| 750 | 8 | 11 |
| 700 | 4 | 6 |
| 650 | 1 | 3 |
| 600 | 1 | 2 |
| 550 | 1 | 1 |
| 500 | 1 | 1 |
| 450 | 1 | 1 |
| 400 | 1 | 1 |
College Board's own percentile table, read in October 2026, in 50-point steps from 400 to 1600. The first column comes from a research study of U.S. students in 11th and 12th grade, weighted to stand for all students in those grades, whether or not they would ever take the SAT. The second rests on the real scores of students who graduated in the past three school years. Some cells are printed as 99+ or 1-; they are stored here as 99 and 1.
The two percentiles, and which one to use
College Board prints two percentiles beside each score. The first comes from a research study of juniors and seniors across the country, weighted to stand for all of them. It counts students who would never sign up for the SAT at all.
The SAT taker column is the one to use when you are comparing your student to the people they apply alongside. It rests on the real scores of students who graduated in the past three school years. That group chose to test, so it scores higher. This is why the same 1450 reads as 99 in the first column and 95 in the second.
What the average does not tell you
The mean of 1029 comes from 2,004,965 students in one graduating class. A score near the mean is ordinary, not weak. It is not a passing mark and it is not a goal, and it says nothing about one school or one student.
The table also has a gap in it. The column for all juniors and seniors never lands on exactly 75, so the 75th percentile score above is read off the SAT taker column, where 1200 is an exact match. Numbers between two printed rows are not published, so a score that falls between two rows has no percentile of its own here.
What a family should do with this
Start from the colleges on your student's list rather than from the national middle. Each college publishes the score range its enrolled first-year students landed in, and at selective colleges that range sits far above 1029. That range is the target.
Then use the SAT taker column to see what a realistic gain would move. A student who goes from 1000 to 1100 climbs from the 47th percentile to the 62nd. A student who goes from 1500 to 1600 climbs from the 97th to the 99th. The same work pays off very differently depending on where a student starts.
Questions parents ask
What is the average SAT score?
The average SAT total score was 1029 out of 1600 for students who graduated high school in spring 2025.
What percentile is a 1200 SAT score?
A 1200 is the 81st percentile in the first column and the 75th in the second.
Which SAT percentile should I look at?
The SAT taker column is the one to use when you are comparing your student to the people they apply alongside.
Is an average SAT score a bad score?
A score near the mean is ordinary, not weak.
Method & sources: The source is College Board. The mean total of 1029, the section means and the count of 2,004,965 test takers come from its 2025 SAT Suite of Assessments Annual Report, Total Group, which covers students who graduated high school in spring 2025 and took the SAT at least once. The percentile table comes from College Board's research site and is printed in 50-point steps, so scores in between have no published percentile; the first column is a weighted research study of 11th and 12th graders, the second the real scores of the past three graduating classes. Rows run from the highest score to the lowest.
- College Board, SAT nationally representative and user percentiles
- College Board, 2025 SAT Suite of Assessments Annual Report, Total Group
This brief as data: /research/average-sat-score-and-percentiles.json. Free for editorial use with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach).
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