ACT Percentile Calculator
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An ACT percentile, or national rank, is the percentage of test takers who scored at or below your score. A composite of 24 is the 80th percentile and a 30 is the 94th. ACT publishes the official table yearly; the current one is based on 2024–2026 graduates and applies to tests taken through August 2027.
National rank
80th
A Composite score of 24 is at or above 80% of recent test takers — about 20% scored higher.
The published Composite average is 19.1, so this is above average.
4 more points moves you from the 80th to the 91st percentile — clearing another 11% of the field.
To reach the top 10% you would need a Composite score of 28.
A 24 is the 80th percentile. It is also worth money.
Percentiles rank you. Published merit grids pay you, and they pay on the composite and your GPA rather than on where you place. Four questions, about forty-five seconds.
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What is an ACT percentile?
Your percentile — ACT calls it your national rank — is the percentage of test takers who earned your score or lower. A composite at the 80th percentile means 80% of students scored 24 or below and about 20% scored above it.
It is a different question from “what did I get”. A score of 24 is fixed; what a 24 is worth depends on everyone else, which is why ACT recalculates the table every year.
One thing the table is not: an admissions threshold. Colleges publish their own admitted ranges, and those are usually far above the national figures, because the applicant pool at a selective school is nothing like the national pool.
Which percentile table is the current one?
The one on this page is ACT’s 2026-2027 reference. In ACT’s own words it is based on ACT-tested high school graduates from 2024-2026 and is used for tests taken September 2026 through August 2027.
That date range matters more than it looks. Percentile tables circulate for years after they expire, so a chart saying a 30 is the 93rd percentile is not wrong — it is just from a different cohort. If you are comparing a score you earned this year, use this table.
The caveat nobody states. This is the correct official table for a score earned today, and we use it unchanged. But the students behind it took a test whose composite averaged four sections, including Science. The Enhanced ACT composite averages three. Section percentiles are unaffected by that change. Composite percentiles are ACT’s official current reference rather than a strict like-for-like comparison against students who sat the same test you did.
Source: ACT, “ACT Test Score Percentiles and National Ranks”. Parsed from ACT’s published table, not retyped, and checked for completeness and monotonicity on every build.
What percentile is a 20, 24, 27, 30 or 34?
The composite scores people actually search for:
| Composite | Percentile | Scored higher |
|---|---|---|
| 36 | 100th | 0% |
| 34 | 99th | 1% |
| 32 | 97th | 3% |
| 30 | 94th | 6% |
| 28 | 91th | 9% |
| 27 | 89th | 11% |
| 24 | 80th | 20% |
| 21 | 68th | 32% |
| 20 | 63th | 37% |
| 18 | 52th | 48% |
| 15 | 34th | 66% |
Note how unevenly the scale is spaced. Going from 18 to 21 is worth 16 percentile points. Going from 32 to 35 is worth 2. Three points is three points on the report, but near the ceiling almost nobody is left to pass.
The practical consequence: if you are in the high teens or low twenties, a few points of targeted work moves you past a large slice of the field. That is the cheapest percentile movement available anywhere on the scale.
The full ACT national ranks table
Every scale score from 36 down to 1, for each section and the composite, plus the published mean and standard deviation. This is ACT’s table reproduced in full, not a selection.
| Score | English | Math | Reading | Science | Composite | STEM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 35 | 99 | 99 | 98 | 99 | 99 | 99 |
| 34 | 97 | 99 | 97 | 99 | 99 | 99 |
| 33 | 96 | 98 | 95 | 98 | 98 | 98 |
| 32 | 95 | 97 | 93 | 97 | 97 | 97 |
| 31 | 94 | 96 | 91 | 96 | 96 | 96 |
| 30 | 93 | 95 | 89 | 95 | 94 | 95 |
| 29 | 92 | 94 | 87 | 93 | 93 | 94 |
| 28 | 90 | 93 | 85 | 92 | 91 | 92 |
| 27 | 88 | 91 | 83 | 91 | 89 | 90 |
| 26 | 87 | 88 | 81 | 89 | 86 | 88 |
| 25 | 84 | 84 | 78 | 86 | 83 | 85 |
| 24 | 81 | 81 | 75 | 82 | 80 | 81 |
| 23 | 77 | 77 | 71 | 77 | 77 | 77 |
| 22 | 74 | 74 | 66 | 70 | 72 | 73 |
| 21 | 70 | 71 | 61 | 65 | 68 | 69 |
| 20 | 64 | 68 | 56 | 60 | 63 | 64 |
| 19 | 58 | 64 | 51 | 54 | 58 | 58 |
| 18 | 54 | 60 | 47 | 48 | 52 | 52 |
| 17 | 50 | 53 | 42 | 41 | 47 | 45 |
| 16 | 46 | 45 | 37 | 34 | 41 | 36 |
| 15 | 41 | 33 | 33 | 27 | 34 | 27 |
| 14 | 34 | 21 | 28 | 19 | 28 | 17 |
| 13 | 28 | 11 | 22 | 14 | 20 | 10 |
| 12 | 23 | 6 | 16 | 10 | 13 | 5 |
| 11 | 18 | 3 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 2 |
| 10 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Mean | 18.4 | 19 | 20 | 19.5 | 19.1 | 19.5 |
| SD | 7 | 5.7 | 7.1 | 5.8 | 6.1 | 5.5 |
Read a row across: the number under a column is the percentage of test takers who earned that score or lower on that section. STEM combines Math and Science; it is reported alongside the composite and is not part of it.
Should you aim at a percentile or a score?
A score, almost always. Percentiles are a good way to understand where you stand and a poor way to set a target, for one concrete reason: nothing is awarded in percentiles. Admissions ranges are published in scores. Merit aid grids are written in scores, usually crossed with GPA. Scholarship cutoffs are scores.
Use the percentile to decide whether moving is worth the effort, then set the target as a number. If you are at a 23 and the grid at your top school steps up at 26, the useful goal is 26 — and the percentile table tells you that is 9 percentile points of movement, which is a lot of company to leave behind for three points of work.
Frequently asked questions
What percentile is a 30 on the ACT?
A composite of 30 is the 94th percentile on ACT's official 2026-2027 national ranks, meaning 94% of recent test takers scored 30 or lower and about 6% scored higher. By section, a 30 is the 93rd percentile in English, the 95th in Math and the 89th in Reading — Reading runs a few points behind the others at the top of the scale.
What is a good ACT percentile?
Above the 50th puts you in the upper half, which a composite of 18 reaches. The 75th percentile is a 23, the 90th is a 28 and the 95th is a 31. What counts as good depends entirely on your list: for most merit scholarship grids the useful threshold is the 75th percentile of the schools you are applying to, not a national figure.
Is the ACT percentile table different for the Enhanced ACT?
ACT publishes one national ranks table and it is the correct reference for a score earned today. But the cohort behind it, 2024-2026 graduates, sat a test whose composite averaged four sections including Science. The Enhanced ACT composite averages three. Section percentiles are unaffected; composite percentiles are the official reference rather than a like-for-like comparison.
What percentile is the average ACT score?
The published composite mean is 19.1, which sits at roughly the 58th percentile. The mean lands above the 50th percentile because the distribution is not symmetrical — scores bunch in the high teens and thin out slowly toward 36, so the average is pulled above the midpoint.
How many points do I need to move up a percentile?
It depends entirely where you are. In the middle of the scale the curve is steep: going from 18 to 21 moves you 16 percentile points. Near the top it flattens hard — 34 to 36 is worth one percentile point. This is why the same three-point gain is far more valuable from a 20 than from a 32.
Does a higher ACT percentile help with scholarships?
Indirectly. Almost no merit grid is written in percentiles; they are written in scores, usually alongside GPA. Percentiles are useful for judging whether a score is competitive and for comparing yourself to a school's admitted range, but the money is awarded on the raw number.
A score is a number. Knowing why is the useful part.
This calculator tells you where you stand. The free diagnostic tells you which concepts are costing you the points — and explains every question you miss.
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