Average SAT Scores: The Latest Data

Bonus Material: SAT score ranges at 499 schools

Every day, students and families ask us to help them understand SAT scores. 

In this post, we’ll do a deep dive into the data to answer all of your questions about average SAT scores. 

We’ll answer what’s the average SAT score in the US for this year—but also the average SAT score for the Ivy League, the average SAT score at the best universities and liberal arts colleges in the US, and average SAT score at the top public universities. 

We’ll find out which states have the highest average SAT scores, and how the SAT scores have changed over time.

Finally, we’ll show how to use this data to help navigate the college admissions process more successfully.

We did exhaustive original research to get the latest data that’s not easily available, from dozens of separate sources (including working directly with admissions offices at universities throughout the country). As Princeton grads who love data, we did all the hard work so you don’t have to!

In this post we’ll cover:

• How to use average SAT scores to improve your college admissions strategy
• What’s a good SAT score?
• What’s the average SAT score?
• Which schools have the highest SAT scores?
• What’s the average SAT score for the Ivy League?
• What’s the average SAT score for the top universities?
• What’s the average SAT score for the top liberal arts colleges?
• What’s the average SAT score for the top public universities?
• What’s the average SAT score for the Big Ten universities?
• What’s the average SAT score for the top 50 colleges and universities in the US?
• What’s the average SAT score in each state?
• How to improve your SAT score
• Bonus: SAT score ranges for 499 colleges

Bonus Material: SAT score ranges at 499 schools

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How to use average SAT scores to improve your college admissions strategy

Average SAT scores can be a powerful tool in crafting your admissions strategy.

For example, imagine you had a 1360 SAT. That’s a great score!

In fact, it’s in the 93rd percentile of all students who take the SAT! That means that you would have scored higher than 93% of students in the US.

BUT this core is in the bottom 10% of scores of students at the top schools in the US.

This graph shows how common different SAT scores are at six top US universities:

Almost all of the students had scores in the 700s for Math and for Reading & Writing! For example, we can calculate that only 67 freshmen at Harvard and 72 freshmen at Princeton had a SAT Math score in the 600s.

The graph shows that if you scored in the 500s for either section, there would be single-digit numbers of students at these top schools with a similar score to yours . . . and we can assume that those people had something REALLY amazing about them—they are probably Olympic athletes or published scientists or students who fought exceptional circumstances (refugees from war zones, etc). 

On the whole, we can see that at these top schools, roughly 90% of students scored in the 700s on each section, and 90% of students have total SAT scores in the 1400–1600 range.

What does this mean for students hoping to apply to the Ivy League and other top schools?

Uncovering the data for the distribution of SAT scores at colleges and universities throughout the US allows us to get a better sense of an applicant’s chances at a given school. A good general rule is that your SAT score should fall within the 25th and 75th percentile at your target schools (also called the “middle 50”). 

(Percentile means the percentage of students compared to whom your score would be higher. So 15th percentile means that your score would be higher than that of 15% of other students, but that 85% of students would have a higher score than yours. Or 80th percentile means that you scored higher than 80% of other students. We use percentiles to talk about where an individual student falls within a given distribution.)

It’s okay to apply to a few schools where your SAT score would be below the 25th percentile, but those are “reach” schools for you, and you should expect that your chances of admission are low at those schools, especially if you don’t have exceptional grades, extracurriculars, and essays.

On the other hand, schools where your SAT scores are above the 75th percentile—assuming your grades are okay—are probably “safe” schools with higher odds of acceptance.

We also like for “safety” schools to have an acceptance rate higher than about 30%, since even for an amazing applicant there’s a significant element of chance at the most competitive schools.

In this way, you can use your SAT scores to craft a balanced college application list, with at least two safety schools, two target schools, and two reach schools. 

(By the end of your junior year, it’s hard to change your GPA or your extracurriculars—but it’s definitely possible to improve your SAT scores and your college essays. Want to boost your SAT scores so that they’ll be within range for your dream school? Check out our SAT classes or one-on-one SAT tutoring.)

Test scores are obviously not the entirety of a college application—all the other elements matter, especially your high school academic record.

A note about test-optional: although many schools have temporarily implemented test-optional policies to adapt to the Covid-19 pandemic, we can see from the data that at the top schools the vast majority of admitted students did submit SAT or ACT scores. Looking at detailed information from the admissions offices, SAT and ACT scores will still be used for admissions purposes if they’re submitted, so good scores can still be part of a compelling application. It’s also unclear how long the test-optional policies will last, so we still advise students to take the SAT and/or ACT and try to get the best scores possible.

Download SAT score ranges for 499 schools

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What’s a good SAT score?

It depends!

We go into this in more detail in another post.

But generally speaking, a “good” SAT score for you will be in the range between the 25th and 75th percentiles for your target schools, and it should be above the 75th percentile for your safety schools.

Your score can be below the 25th percentile for your reach schools, but know that they’re exactly that—a reach—and your chances of admittance are low, especially if you don’t have some other aspect in which you’re exceptional (or at least above-average for that particular school).

Read on below to see if your score is above-average for the US or for your state!

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National average SAT score

What’s the average SAT score in the US for 2022? The short answer is 533 for Evidence-Based Reading & Writing, 528 for Math, and 1060 total.

But we have a lot more useful data than just this number! For starters, we learn a lot more when we look at a graph showing the distribution of scores on a national level:

We see roughly a bell-shaped curve—fewer students receive scores on the very low or very high end, and most students have scores around the middle.

Very few students score in the 200s. Roughly 60% of students score in the 400s or 500s for each section, or in the 800–1200 range for their total SAT score. 

Only 8% of students scored in the 1400–1600 range.

In 2021–2022 this was roughly 120,000 students across the entire US.

As we’ll see below, almost all of the students at the top-tier schools come from among these 120,000 students (and from among a roughly comparable number who were top scorers on the ACT).

One interesting thing to note is that even though the average score is a bit higher for Reading & Writing than it is for Math (533 vs 528), more students score very highly in Math than in Reading & Writing—in 2022, only 118,165 students across the US scored in the 700s for Reading & Writing, compared to 155,923 who scored in the 700s for Math. 

One guess is that this is because it’s easier to improve your Math scores with focused study and targeted practice than your Reading & Writing scores. 

For Math, the test is more content-based, and smart studying can help students review or learn the concepts that they might have forgotten or never mastered in their high school classes.

For Reading & Writing, there are still test strategies that you can learn and ways to improve your score, but it’s comparatively harder to get those gains within only a few months. 

If you’re looking for help building reading comprehension and grammar skills, check out our SAT classes, writing classes, and one-on-one tutoring.

The average scores for Reading & Writing haven’t always been higher than the average scores for Math! Looking at the historic SAT score data, we see that it’s shifted over the years:

From 1967 to 1989, average scores for Reading were higher. During this time, the average scores gradually decreased.

Then, from 1990 to 2016, average scores for Math were higher. In this period, scores rose a bit, then decreased again.

Between spring 2005 and spring 2016, the SAT had a third Writing section made up of multiple-choice and an essay. (During this time, students received three section scores and total SAT scores went up to 2400.)

In spring 2016, the SAT went back to two sections, with Reading and Writing combined into one section. (The College Board calls this “Evidence-Based Reading & Writing.) The average scores leapt up quite a bit with this change!

Since 2016, the difference between the average Math score and the average Reading & Writing score has been smaller. These averages have hovered around 530 for both sections.

Download SAT score ranges for 499 schools

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Which schools have the highest average SAT scores?

Wondering which schools in the US have the highest SAT scores? The answer may surprise you!

The schools at the top of the list aren’t in the Ivy League! Stanford isn’t on the list, either!

Since not all schools provide data for the total SAT scores, we looked at the individual scores for Math and for Evidence-Based Reading & Writing (EBRW).

We focused on the middle 50% of students at each school—the range between the 25th percentile and the 75th percentile—because that gives us a much clearer picture of the distribution of scores than a single number.

Using this 25/75 range, we get a good sense of the “average” student at one of these schools. 

Here’s a graph of the schools with the highest SAT Math scores:

The schools with the highest SAT Math scores aren’t in the Ivy League—they’re all STEM-focused schools!

CalTech (California Institute of Technology), for example, has the highest scores for SAT Math: 75% of students scored at least a 790 on the Math section.

That means that most students at CalTech have a near-perfect SAT Math score!

At the best schools for math, science, and engineering in the country, we can see that SAT Math scores are very consistently high. If you’re aiming for CalTech or MIT, you’ll need to have a perfect or near-perfect score!

The range of the middle 50 gets a little bit wider as we go down the list, but at all of these 15 schools, at least a quarter of the students scored a perfect 800 on the SAT Math section. That’s impressive!

At CalTech, MIT, University of Chicago, Harvey Mudd, Washington University in St. Louis, Carnegie Mellon, Duke, Vanderbilt, University of Pennsylvania, Rice, and Johns Hopkins, most students on campus (over 75%) scored a 750 or above for SAT Math.

The graph looks a little different when we look at the schools with the highest SAT Evidence-Based Reading & Writing scores:

Even at the top schools, the scores for Reading & Writing are a bit lower than the scores for Math.

In fact, we know that fewer than 25% of students at the top schools have a perfect 800 for Reading & Writing.

This makes sense, since we know that across the country, fewer students score in the super-high range for Reading & Writing.

A perfect 800 for Reading & Writing is just much more rare than a perfect 800 for Math.

Which school has the highest SAT scores for Reading & Writing?

Surprisingly, the top 3 are CalTech, MIT, and University of Chicago again!

More of the Ivies have crept up on the list, with Harvard and Yale now tying for fourth place. What percentage of students at these schools have a perfect 1600?

We can’t tell this exactly from the published data, but for some schools we know that at least 25% of the students have a perfect 800.

We also know that at the top schools roughly 90% of students have scores in the 1400–1600 range.

This is perhaps a good reminder that a great SAT score alone doesn’t guarantee admission to the most competitive schools, since (unfortunately) it’s not particularly exceptional at those schools.

Wondering how your dream school compares? Check out this list of SAT score ranges at 499 schools across the US.

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What is the average SAT score for the Ivy League?

What is the Ivy League, and what is the average SAT score for the Ivy League schools? 

Technically the Ivy League is actually an athletic league! The term was coined in the 1930s and made official in 1954, when Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Brown, Dartmouth, and Cornell formed an agreement to balance competition in football with high academic standards. From the 1950s, these eight schools organized athletic competitions in many sports, and they gradually also added committees to develop intercollegiate policies for admissions and financial aid. 

The Ivy League represents some of the oldest and most prestigious schools in the country. Here’s the complete list:

• Harvard University, founded 1636, in Cambridge, MA
• Yale University, founded 1701, in New Haven, CT
• University of Pennsylvania, founded 1740, in Philadelphia, PA
• Princeton University, founded 1746, in Princeton, NJ
• Columbia University, founded 1754, in New York City, NY
• Brown University, founded 1764, in Providence, RI
• Dartmouth College, founded 1769, in Hanover, NH
• Cornell University, founded 1865, in Ithaca, NY

Here is the range between the 25th percentile and the 75th percentile at the eight Ivy League schools:

These are very high SAT scores!

Most students scored in the 700s at all of the Ivy-League schools.

Perfect scores are pretty common at the Ivy League.

At Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, and Penn, at least a quarter of students had a perfect score on the SAT Math section.

At Harvard and Yale, at least a quarter of students had a 780 or higher for the SAT Reading & Writing section.

As we can see, all of the schools in the Ivy League have quite similar ranges. If we take an average of the entire Ivy League, the ranges would be 736–796 for SAT Math, 710–770 for SAT Evidence-Based Reading & Writing, and 1446–1566 total SAT.

That means that if your dream is to attend an Ivy-League school, you should work to get your SAT section scores into the 700s. 

We can take a look at the numbers here:

College Name	Admit %	Reading 25th	Reading 75th	Math 25th	Math 75th	Total 25th	Total 75th
Harvard University	5.0%	720	780	740	800	1460	1580
Princeton University	5.6%	710	770	740	800	1450	1570
Yale University	6.5%	720	780	740	800	1460	1580
Columbia University	6.7%	720	770	740	800	1460	1570
Brown University	7.7%	710	770	730	790	1440	1560
University of Pennsylvania	9.0%	710	770	750	800	1460	1570
Dartmouth College	9.2%	710	770	730	790	1440	1560
Cornell University	10.7%	680	750	720	790	1400	1540

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Average SAT scores for the top research universities in the US (Ivies+)

The Ivies are certainly some of the best universities in the US, but not all of the top universities are in the Ivy League, since the Ivy League schools are only on the East Coast.

There are a few other top universities that rank among the Ivies—or, in some cases, higher than some of the less-competitive Ivies (like Cornell and Dartmouth).

This list of top-tier universities is sometimes known as the “Ivies Plus,” or “Ivies+.” This isn’t a fixed list, but typically it includes at least Stanford, MIT, and UChicago, and sometimes up to the top twenty or so universities in the US, adding Caltech, Northwestern, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, Rice, WashU, UCLA, and Notre Dame.

Here, we show the range between the 25th percentile and the 75th percentile at the top-tier (Ivies Plus) schools:

Looking at the graph, we can see that average SAT scores are consistently very high at all of these schools. The middle 50% of students scored in the 700s for both sections at all of these top-tier schools.

For example, at Stanford, a 720 Reading would be in the 25th percentile, so 75% of students have above a 720 Reading. A 750 Math would be in the 25th percentile, so 75% of students have above a 750 Math. The 75th percentile for Math is 800, so actually more than 25% of students at Stanford have a perfect 800 for Math! 

Interestingly, the Math score ranges are higher than Reading & Writing score ranges at all of these top-tier schools.

One guess is that this is because the dedicated students who were admitted to these top schools worked hard to raise their SAT scores, and it’s generally easier to raise your Math SAT score than your Reading & Writing SAT score.

As a whole, the average SAT scores for the top 20 universities in the US are 711–768 for Evidence-Based Reading & Writing, 740–797 for Math, and 1450–1564 for total SAT scores.

That means that if you hope to apply to the top-tier universities in the US, you should aim for SAT scores in the 700s, and in the upper 700s for Math.

We can dig into the data a little more to see the distribution of scores at each of these top-tier schools. Generally speaking, about 90% of students scored in the 700s for each section of the SAT. (This drops to about 80% of students for Notre Dame and 60% of students at UCLA.)

The graphs show us that there were only a handful of students in each class year with Math or Reading & Writing scores lower than 600.

The graph for the total scores also shows us that if a student does have a particularly low score for Math or for Reading, then they had a higher score in the other section. Very, very few students have lower scores on both sections.

For example, the data tells us that just 5 students in the freshman class at Yale had SAT scores in the 1000–1190 range. Only 74 students at Yale had SAT scores in the 1200–1390 range. And 886 students (92% of the students who submitted SAT scores) had scores in the 1400–1600 range!

The distribution of scores is similar at all of these top universities. To summarize: at the best schools in the country, about 90% of students have total SAT scores in the 1400–1600 range.

Check out the numbers here: 

College Name	Admit %	Reading 25th	Reading 75th	Math 25th	Math 75th	Total 25th	Total 75th
Harvard University	5.0%	720	780	740	800	1460	1580
Stanford University	5.2%	700	770	720	800	1420	1570
Princeton University	5.6%	710	770	740	800	1450	1570
Yale University	6.5%	720	780	740	800	1460	1580
Columbia University	6.7%	720	770	740	800	1460	1570
California Institute of Technology	6.7%	740	780	790	800	1530	1580
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	7.3%	730	780	780	800	1510	1580
University of Chicago	7.3%	730	770	770	800	1500	1570
Brown University	7.7%	710	770	730	790	1440	1560
Duke University	7.7%	720	770	750	800	1470	1570
University of Pennsylvania	9.0%	710	770	750	800	1460	1570
Dartmouth College	9.2%	710	770	730	790	1440	1560
Northwestern University	9.3%	700	760	730	790	1430	1550
Cornell University	10.7%	680	750	720	790	1400	1540
Rice University	10.9%	710	770	750	800	1460	1570
Johns Hopkins University	11.1%	720	760	750	800	1470	1560
Vanderbilt University	11.6%	720	770	750	800	1470	1570
University of California-Los Angeles	14.3%	650	740	640	780	1290	1520
Washington University in St Louis	16.0%	720	760	760	800	1480	1560
University of Notre Dame	19.0%	690	760	710	790	1400	1550

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Average SAT scores for top-ranked liberal arts colleges

You’re probably heard the phrase “liberal arts college” before, but what is it exactly and how is it different from a university?

In a nutshell, liberal arts colleges are smaller and more focused on undergraduate students compared to research universities. In fact, many liberal arts colleges do not offer any graduate degree programs.

Liberal arts colleges are also more likely to be focused on broader multi-disciplinary studies, and less likely to be focused on preparing students for specific vocations. That doesn’t mean that they don’t support students’ career goals, but they tend to offer more flexibility to explore different areas of study.

These schools may be smaller, but their academics aren’t any less stellar. Here we can see the SAT score ranges at the top 30 schools on the US News and World Report ranking, ordered by admissions rates:

As we can see, the average SAT scores at the top liberal arts colleges in the US are quite high!

In the case of Pomona, Swarthmore, Amherst, Williams, and Harvey Mudd, these scores are comparable to the scores at the Ivy League and other top-tier universities.

In fact, the Math scores at Harvey Mudd—one of the best schools in the country for STEM studies—are actually higher than any of the Ivy-League schools! 

As a whole, the average SAT scores for the top 30 liberal arts colleges in the US are 658–735 for Evidence-Based Reading & Writing, 660–759 for Math, and 1318–1494 for total SAT scores.

Broadly speaking, if you’re hoping to attend a top-tier liberals arts college, you want your total SAT score to be in the 1300s or 1400s.

Check out the numbers here: 

College Name	Admit %	Reading 25th	Reading 75th	Math 25th	Math 75th	Total 25th	Total 75th
Pomona College	8.6%	690	750	700	790	1390	1540
United States Military Academy	8.6%	610	700	600	740	1210	1440
Swarthmore College	9.1%	690	750	705	790	1395	1540
United States Naval Academy	9.1%	610	710	620	740	1230	1450
Bowdoin College	9.2%	660	740	670	770	1330	1510
Colby College	10.3%	680	740	700	780	1380	1520
Amherst College	11.8%	710	770	720	790	1430	1560
Claremont McKenna College	13.3%	660	730	670	770	1330	1500
United States Air Force Academy	13.4%	600	700	620	730	1220	1430
Colorado College	13.6%	630	720	610	740	1240	1460
Barnard College	13.6%	680	748	670	770	1350	1518
Bates College	14.1%	620	710	590	710	1210	1420
Williams College	15.1%	700	770	710	790	1410	1560
Harvey Mudd College	18.0%	720	770	770	800	1490	1570
Haverford College	18.2%	670	750	690	770	1360	1520
Hamilton College	18.4%	680	750	700	760	1380	1510
Grinnell College	19.2%	670	750	683	788	1353	1538
Davidson College	20.0%	650	720	650	740	1300	1460
Wellesley College	20.4%	680	750	670	770	1350	1520
Wesleyan University	20.9%	670	750	670	770	1340	1520
Carleton College	21.2%	660	750	670	770	1330	1520
Middlebury College	22.0%	670	750	670	770	1340	1520
Washington and Lee University	24.5%	670	740	680	760	1350	1500
Vassar College	24.5%	680	750	680	770	1360	1520
Colgate University	27.5%	650	720	650	750	1300	1470
Berea College	33.0%	540	640	540	640	1080	1280
Scripps College	35.1%	670	730	650	750	1320	1480
Smith College	36.5%	670	740	655	770	1325	1510
Kenyon College	36.9%	660	730	620	730	1280	1460
Bryn Mawr College	38.4%	630	740	610	760	1240	1500
Macalester College	38.7%	640	720	640	730	1280	1450
Mount Holyoke College	52.5%	630	730	640	770	1270	1500

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Average SAT scores for top-ranked public universities

Of course, there are some fantastic public universities throughout the US, many of which are nearly as competitive as the Ivy League and other top-tier private schools. (In recent years, one public university, UCLA, has even broken into the ranks of the top 20 schools in the US.)

For specific programs or majors, these schools might even offer more opportunities than private colleges and universities.

In fact, back in 1985 a Yale Admissions officer coined the phrase “public Ivies” to describe the best of the public universities, in his book Public Ivies: A Guide to America’s Best Public Undergraduate Colleges and Universities.

A more recent list was published by Howard and Matthew Greene’s 2001 book The Public Ivies: America’s Flagship Public Universities. According to this book, the top 30 public universities in the US the following:

Northeastern

• Pennsylvania State University (University Park)
• Rutgers University (New Brunswick)
• State University of New York at Binghamton 
• University of Connecticut (Storrs)

Mid-Atlantic

• College of William & Mary (Williamsburg, Virginia)
• University of Delaware (Newark)
• University of Maryland (College Park)
• University of Virginia (Charlottesville)

Southern

• University of Florida (Gainesville)
• University of Georgia (Athens)
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• University of Texas at Austin

Great Lakes & Midwest

• Indiana University Bloomington
• Miami University (Oxford, Ohio)
• Michigan State University (East Lansing)
• Ohio State University (Columbus)
• University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
• University of Iowa (Iowa City)
• University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
• University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
• University of Wisconsin–Madison

Western

• University of Arizona (Tucson)
• University of California, Berkeley
• University of California, Davis
• University of California, Irvine
• University of California, Los Angeles
• University of California, San Diego
• University of California, Santa Barbara
• University of Colorado Boulder
• University of Washington (Seattle)

We expanded this list to show you the average SAT scores at the top 50 public universities in the US, ordered according to the US News and World Report rankings. A dot indicates schools on the list of “public Ivies”:

We can notice that, as with the top-tier universities and liberal arts colleges, the average SAT scores at most top public universities are higher for Math than for Evidence-Based Reading & Writing, likely because the top students study hard to raise their SAT Math scores, but it’s harder to raise SAT Reading & Writing scores.

We can also notice a few schools with especially high SAT Math scores compared to their SAT Reading & Writing, like the University of Illinois, the University of Wisconsin (Madison), and Purdue. These happen to be universities with particularly strong programs in math and engineering.

At Indiana University and University of Iowa, on the other hand, the average SAT Reading & Writing scores are higher than the average SAT Math scores.

This might reflect the fact that Indiana University is one of the top schools in the country for music, while the University of Iowa is well-known for its writing programs.

As a whole, the average SAT scores for the 50 best public universities in the US are 595–685 for Evidence-Based Reading & Writing, 600–713 for Math, and 1198–1397 for total SAT scores.

Roughly speaking, this means that if you hope to attend one of the top large public universities, you should aim for a total SAT score in the 1200s or 1300s.

*Note that through 2025, the University of California schools aren’t accepting SAT or ACT scores. (They’re not just test-optional, they’re test-blind, so they won’t look at scores if submitted.) However, as we discussed above, looking at historic SAT data can still give a good idea about the competitiveness of the schools and your general chances of admission.

Check out the numbers here: 

College Name	Admit %	25th	75th	25th	75th	25th	75th
University of California-Los Angeles	14.3%	650	740	640	780	1290	1520
University of California-Berkeley	17.5%	650	740	660	790	1310	1530
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	21.3%	670	740	700	790	1370	1530
University of Virginia-Main Campus	22.6%	660	740	660	770	1320	1510
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	25.0%	640	730	640	760	1280	1490
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	26.1%	660	740	680	780	1340	1520
University of California-Irvine	29.9%	600	680	630	750	1230	1430
University of Florida	31.1%	650	720	640	740	1290	1460
The University of Texas at Austin	32.0%	610	720	600	750	1210	1470
Florida State University	32.5%	620	680	600	670	1220	1350
University of Miami	33.1%	620	700	630	720	1250	1420
University of California-San Diego	36.6%	620	710	650	770	1270	1480
University of California-Santa Barbara	36.7%	620	710	610	750	1230	1460
William & Mary	42.2%	660	740	640	750	1300	1490
Binghamton University	43.0%	640	710	650	740	1290	1450
North Carolina State University at Raleigh	46.2%	610	690	620	720	1230	1410
University of California-Davis	46.4%	570	670	590	730	1160	1400
University of Georgia	48.4%	630	720	620	740	1250	1460
Stony Brook University	48.9%	600	690	630	750	1230	1440
University of South Florida	49.2%	590	660	570	660	1160	1320
University of Maryland-College Park	51.0%	630	720	640	760	1270	1480
Colorado School of Mines	55.0%	620	700	650	740	1270	1440
University of Washington-Seattle Campus	55.9%	590	700	610	753	1200	1453
University of Connecticut	56.1%	580	680	590	710	1170	1390
University of Wisconsin-Madison	57.2%	610	690	650	770	1260	1460
Pennsylvania State-University Park	57.6%	600	690	600	710	1200	1400
Clemson University	61.9%	610	690	600	700	1210	1390
Texas A & M University-College Station	63.3%	580	680	580	700	1160	1380
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	63.3%	590	690	610	770	1200	1460
University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus	63.9%	623	700	620	720	1243	1420
University of Minnesota-Morris	64.7%	510	620	530	630	1040	1250
University of Massachusetts-Amherst	65.3%	600	680	600	710	1200	1390
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	65.8%	590	680	580	690	1170	1370
University of California-Riverside	65.8%	540	630	540	650	1080	1280
University of Delaware	66.0%	580	660	570	670	1150	1330
New Jersey Institute of Technology	66.0%	590	670	610	720	1200	1390
Rutgers University-New Brunswick	66.9%	580	680	600	730	1180	1410
University at Buffalo	67.0%	560	640	580	670	1140	1310
Purdue University-Main Campus	67.2%	580	680	590	740	1170	1420
Indiana University-East	67.3%	470	570	450	550	920	1120
Ohio State University-Main Campus	68.5%	590	690	620	740	1210	1430
Auburn University	71.2%	590	650	580	680	1180	1330
Temple University	72.3%	560	670	550	670	1120	1320
University of Tennessee Knoxville	74.9%	590	670	580	670	1180	1340
University of Illinois Chicago	78.8%	540	650	540	660	1090	1300
Michigan State University	83.3%	550	650	550	670	1110	1310
University of Utah	84.0%	590	690	590	700	1190	1380
University of Colorado-Boulder	84.2%	590	690	580	700	1180	1380
University of California-Merced	84.8%	470	570	470	570	950	1140
University of Iowa	86.2%	570	680	560	670	1140	1330
University of Arizona-Tucson	87.1%	560	680	560	690	1140	1360
University of Oregon	93.4%	560	670	550	660	1120	1330

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Average SAT scores for Big Ten universities

What is the Big Ten? Like the Ivy League, it’s also an athletic league first and foremost. But in the Midwest, it’s a shorthand for many of the top large universities: the Universities of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin, along with Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, and Rutgers.

(For many decades, the conference had ten schools, hence the name, though currently it has fourteen.)

The schools of the Big Ten conference are known for combining academic achievement with athletic success. Most are public universities, but Northwestern is a top-tier private university. 

We can see that the average SAT scores at the Big Ten universities are high:

As a whole, the average SAT scores for the Big Ten conference are 576–674 for Evidence-Based Reading & Writing, 586–706 for Math, and 1162–1375 for total SAT scores.

That means that, broadly speaking, if you want to go to a Big Ten university, you’ll want your total SAT score to be in the 1200s or 1300s.

Check out the numbers here:

College Name	Admit %	25th	75th	25th	75th	25th	75th
Northwestern University	9.3%	700	760	730	790	1430	1550
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	26.1%	660	740	680	780	1340	1520
University of Maryland-College Park	51.0%	630	720	640	760	1270	1480
University of Wisconsin-Madison	57.2%	610	690	650	770	1260	1460
Pennsylvania State-University Park	57.6%	600	690	600	710	1200	1400
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	63.3%	590	690	610	770	1200	1460
University of Minnesota-Morris	64.7%	510	620	530	630	1040	1250
Rutgers University-New Brunswick	66.9%	580	680	600	730	1180	1410
Purdue University-Main Campus	67.2%	580	680	590	740	1170	1420
Indiana University-East	67.3%	470	570	450	550	920	1120
Ohio State University-Main Campus	68.5%	590	690	620	740	1210	1430
Michigan State University	83.3%	550	650	550	670	1110	1310
University of Iowa	86.2%	570	680	560	670	1140	1330
University of Nebraska	88.3%	550	660	540	660	1100	1310

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Average SAT scores for the top 50 colleges and universities in the US

So far we’ve been looking at specific types of schools. Wondering what the average SAT scores are for all of the top 50 schools in the US? Here are the ranges of the middle 50% of students at the top 50 schools (by admissions rate) in the US:

As a whole, the average SAT scores for the top 50 colleges and universities in the US are 684–751 for Evidence-Based Reading & Writing, 703–782 for Math, and 1387–1533 for total SAT scores. 

A good rule of thumb for anyone who wants to apply to a top-50 school is to aim for SAT section scores in the 700s, with a total score in the 1400s or 1500s.

Check out the numbers here: 

College Name	Admit %	Reading 25th	Reading 75th	Math 25th	Math 75th	Total 25th	Total 75th
Harvard University	5.0%	720	780	740	800	1460	1580
Stanford University	5.2%	700	770	720	800	1420	1570
Princeton University	5.6%	710	770	740	800	1450	1570
Yale University	6.5%	720	780	740	800	1460	1580
Columbia University in the City of New York	6.7%	720	770	740	800	1460	1570
California Institute of Technology	6.7%	740	780	790	800	1530	1580
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	7.3%	730	780	780	800	1510	1580
University of Chicago	7.3%	730	770	770	800	1500	1570
Brown University	7.7%	710	770	730	790	1440	1560
Duke University	7.7%	720	770	750	800	1470	1570
Pomona College	8.6%	690	750	700	790	1390	1540
United States Military Academy	8.6%	610	700	600	740	1210	1440
University of Pennsylvania	9.0%	710	770	750	800	1460	1570
Swarthmore College	9.1%	690	750	705	790	1395	1540
United States Naval Academy	9.1%	610	710	620	740	1230	1450
Bowdoin College	9.2%	660	740	670	770	1330	1510
Dartmouth College	9.2%	710	770	730	790	1440	1560
Northwestern University	9.3%	700	760	730	790	1430	1550
Colby College	10.3%	680	740	700	780	1380	1520
Cornell University	10.7%	680	750	720	790	1400	1540
Rice University	10.9%	710	770	750	800	1460	1570
Johns Hopkins University	11.1%	720	760	750	800	1470	1560
Tulane University of Louisiana	11.1%	650	730	690	770	1340	1500
Vanderbilt University	11.6%	720	770	750	800	1470	1570
Amherst College	11.8%	710	770	720	790	1430	1560
Claremont McKenna College	13.3%	660	730	670	770	1330	1500
United States Air Force Academy	13.4%	600	700	620	730	1220	1430
Colorado College	13.6%	630	720	610	740	1240	1460
Barnard College	13.6%	680	748	670	770	1350	1518
Bates College	14.1%	620	710	590	710	1210	1420
University of California-Los Angeles	14.3%	650	740	640	780	1290	1520
Williams College	15.1%	700	770	710	790	1410	1560
Washington University in St Louis	16.0%	720	760	760	800	1480	1560
University of Southern California	16.1%	660	740	680	790	1340	1530
Tufts University	16.3%	680	750	700	780	1380	1530
Pitzer College	16.6%	655	740	670	770	1325	1510
Georgetown University	16.8%	690	760	690	790	1380	1550
Carnegie Mellon University	17.3%	700	760	760	800	1460	1560
University of California-Berkeley	17.5%	650	740	660	790	1310	1530
Harvey Mudd College	18.0%	720	770	770	800	1490	1570
Haverford College	18.2%	670	750	690	770	1360	1520
Hamilton College	18.4%	680	750	700	760	1380	1510
University of Notre Dame	19.0%	690	760	710	790	1400	1550
Emory University	19.2%	680	740	700	790	1380	1530
Grinnell College	19.2%	670	750	683	788	1353	1538
Davidson College	20.0%	650	720	650	740	1300	1460
Boston University	20.1%	640	720	670	780	1310	1500
Wellesley College	20.4%	680	750	670	770	1350	1520
Northeastern University	20.5%	690	750	720	790	1410	1540
Wesleyan University	20.9%	670	750	670	770	1340	1520

Don’t see your dream school on this list? Wondering what the average SAT scores are for the rest of the colleges and universities? Check out this list of SAT score ranges at 499 colleges and universities across the country.

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Average SAT scores by state

Wondering which state has the highest SAT score?

One answer might be Minnesota, where the average SAT score in 2021 was 626 for Evidence-Based Reading and Writing, 636 for Math, and 1263 total. This is over 200 points higher than the national average of 1060! Go Minnesota! 

This map shows the average total SAT scores by state. At first glance, it looks like the upper Midwest is really rocking their SATs:

But before we celebrate Minnesota too much. . . it’s actually a bit more complicated!

Some states have very low participation rates for the SAT—hardly any students take the tests. (Note that participation rates have been affected in recent years by the Covid-19 pandemic, and some states that normally have nearly 100% participation are down quite a bit.)

In fact, in Minnesota only 2% of students took the SAT. As we can imagine, this skews the data a lot, because the only students taking the SAT are probably very driven and prepared. 

If we map the participation rates across the US, it looks like this:

We can see that the SAT is most commonly on the East Coast of the US, as well as Illinois, Texas, Colorado, and Idaho, and a bit on the West Coast. This makes sense, since the SAT was first used primarily by selective colleges on the East Coast, while the ACT was traditionally used more by public universities and other regions of the US.

The states with the highest participation rates are those where all high school students are required to take the SAT, like Illinois.

If we look again at the average SAT scores in each states, but only states with a participation rate greater than 10%, then the map looks more like this:

If we include only the states where more than 10% of students took the SAT, then the state with the highest scores is Massachusetts, where the average SAT score in 2021 was 591 for Evidence-Based Reading and Writing, 593 for Math, and 1184 total.

The differences between states is actually most important for the PSAT, because the cutoffs for National Merit scholarships are determined separately for each state.

Check out the average score for your state here:

US State	Participation %	Reading mean	Math mean	Total mean
Alabama	3%	591	568	1159
Alaska	23%	567	553	1119
Arizona	11%	592	589	1181
Arkansas	2%	610	584	1194
California	24%	527	530	1057
Colorado	56%	544	528	1072
Connecticut	69%	545	527	1072
Delaware	96%	499	485	984
District of Columbia	90%	500	487	987
Florida	81%	513	480	993
Georgia	41%	551	534	1086
Hawaii	26%	572	572	1144
Idaho	90%	502	483	985
Illinois	80%	508	498	1007
Indiana	43%	551	544	1095
Iowa	2%	623	620	1243
Kansas	2%	616	623	1219
Kentucky	4%	609	603	1207
Louisiana	3%	605	583	1188
Maine	29%	558	541	1099
Maryland	47%	542	531	1073
Massachusetts	34%	591	593	1184
Michigan	68%	523	508	1031
Minnesota	2%	626	636	1263
Mississippi	1%	612	589	1202
Missouri	2%	614	606	1219
Montana	5%	618	607	1225
Nebraska	2%	625	620	1246
Nevada	4%	596	598	1195
New Hampshire	71%	540	526	1065
New Jersey	48%	562	563	1125
New Mexico	30%	508	488	996
New York	55%	526	531	1057
North Carolina	23%	578	571	1150
North Dakota	1%	631	628	1258
Ohio	15%	525	523	1048
Oklahoma	6%	535	507	1042
Oregon	17%	565	554	1119
Pennsylvania	39%	566	557	1123
Rhode Island	68%	514	497	1011
South Carolina	48%	529	507	1036
South Dakota	1%	605	610	1215
Tennessee	4%	618	602	1220
Texas	59%	505	498	1003
Utah	1%	621	617	1238
Vermont	41%	571	553	1124
Virginia	41%	584	567	1151
Washington	27%	537	535	1072
West Virginia	45%	520	487	1007
Wisconsin	1%	604	611	1215
Wyoming	2%	626	607	1233
Puerto Rico	not provided	511	483	994
Virgin Islands, US	not provided	484	435	920

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How to improve your SAT score

Wondering what to do next?

If you’ve never taken the SAT before, try doing a full official SAT practice test at home to get an idea of your score. This tells you where your starting place is.

You can then use our formula to estimate how much you can reasonably expect to increase your SAT scores.

If your scores are lower, it’s easier to increase your score by a bigger amount. If your scores are already in the 700s, then it’s harder to get those final gains.

With your estimated scores, you can already get a sense of where you’d be a competitive candidate—these are schools where your SAT score would be more or less “average,” falling within the middle 50% of students. Taking into account the other aspects of your application, like GPA and extracurriculars, you can start to build your college list.

Next . . . it’s time to raise those SAT scores! Boosting your test scores is one of the easiest ways to increase your admissions chances. Smart, targeted practice can make a big difference. 

In some cases, you might also want to learn or review math or grammar concepts that you either didn’t cover in high school or have forgotten. (Since the SAT covers material that some students will have covered in their middle school math classes, it’s not uncommon for students to have forgotten how to graph a polynomial function or find the measure of an angle inscribed in a circle.) 

It’s also a good idea to familiarize yourself with the format of the test overall, and there are many test-taking strategies that one can use to take the test more efficiently and avoid trick answers.

Finally, consider whether there are any other factors that affect your test-taking abilities. Do you get nervous on test days? Do you tend to run out of time on a particular section? Do you tend to lose focus after too long trying to read long passages? There are techniques for mitigating all of these and more.

Not sure how to study more effectively, struggling with certain concepts, or just generally want some help?

We’ve helped thousands of students boost their SAT scores with our SAT classes and one-on-one SAT tutoring. We’re happy to chat about your particular challenges.

You also might want to check out the ACT and see which test is a better fit for your strengths. You can read our comparison of the two tests and take a look at our deep dive into average ACT score data.

Once you’ve studied, it’s time to take the test!

Ideally, be strategic about when you schedule your tests.

Many students take the SAT multiple times, with between two to four times being the most common. In between each test date, learn from your experience with the previous test to study more effectively and target problem areas.

Once you know your final SAT score, revise your college list to make sure you have at least two “target” schools (where you’re in the middle 50%) and two “safety” schools (where you’re in the top 25%).

Make sure to pay attention to the other components of your college applications, too—your GPA, college essays, extracurriculars, letters of recommendation, and interview. Read more about how admissions officers read your application here.

Submit your applications your senior year of high school and relax!

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Download SAT score ranges for 499 US colleges and universities

Here’s what you’ll get with this handy resource:

• Middle 50 SAT total scores for the top 499 U.S. colleges and universities
• Middle 50 SAT sectional scores for Reading & Writing and Math
• Admit rate for each college
• All based on the most recent available data (2020)

Bonus Material: SAT score ranges at 499 schools

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