Visualizations : IQ by state, US

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Created by: crush41 Created on: Sunday March 25, 9:14 PM

Data file: IQ by state, US

Data source: NAEP, Richard Lynn, AE

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About the US State Map

Comments (24)

crush41 says:

Accompanying commentary found here.

Posted Sunday March 25, 9:16 PM
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almercer says:

Only problem, NAEP is kids, and adult in-migration to states like mine (California) has traditional been very different, still very cool.

Posted Wednesday April 04, 4:18 PM
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Anonymous says:

I've always wondered why Canadians seemed smarter Than Americans and why Nordics seemed brighter than southern Europeans. As intelligence seems to diminish the further south you go in both hemispheres someone needs to take a look at Eskimo IQ. Also apparently if there were ever people in Antarctica, they froze in place before they could have an intelligent thought.

Posted Thursday January 17, 4:18 PM

Anonymous says:

Hey, almercer, write a sentence that makes sense before blaming immigrants for the low IQ of your state.

Posted Friday May 16, 8:48 PM
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Anonymous says:

Not far off from expectations. The Deep South has historically been against education, dating all the way back to settlers from the 1600's, and the Southwestern states appear to follow this trend. In complete contrast, the Northeast has historically supported education for a myriad of reasons, such as the Puritans belief that literacy was an important part of understanding the Bible. Didn't see North Dakota coming in as having the highest education, though. Good for ND.

(and for the record, I be of Ohio :)

Posted Saturday May 17, 7:55 AM
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Anonymous says:

Wow. I'm sure that New Englanders are going to use this to try and prove that all their liberal policies are better- while the rest of the country ignores them and laughs at mississippi.

Posted Saturday May 17, 4:59 PM

Anonymous says:

I'm from california, though from the Silicon Valley which is an entirely different state in itself. Couldn't really believe the numbers when I saw them as all the school around here are ranked in the top 100 in the U.S.

Hate to be a racist but the only outlet I see is the immigration crisis here.

Posted Saturday May 17, 5:00 PM
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Anonymous says:

To the person above, Mass. is high than ND :)

Posted Saturday May 17, 5:06 PM
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Anonymous says:

Alabama's State Motto: Thank God for Mississippi.

Posted Saturday May 17, 5:43 PM
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Anonymous says:

Bullshit.

Posted Saturday May 17, 6:06 PM
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Anonymous says:

This map does not make sense. The average IQ is (supposed to be) 100. If you look at all the states, there are only a few (relatively low population) states above 100. The others are all below 100. If you'd factor in the population then the average IQ would be under 100. So either someone hasn't done their math correctly, or the IQ rating has a base year in the past - in which case the average has decreased throughout the years - which I would deem plausible. Strictly speaking though, it is still not correct.

Posted Saturday May 17, 6:31 PM
Last edited Saturday May 17, 6:32 PM
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Anonymous says:

The average IQ for the world population is supposed to be 100, not for the U.S. The statistics point to the U.S. population having a lower than average IQ globally (but all of us non U.S. residents knew that already).

Posted Saturday May 17, 8:13 PM
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Anonymous says:

This is crap! I'm from Mississippi, and my IQ is 132!

Posted Saturday May 17, 10:19 PM
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Anonymous says:

NAEP test results do NOT reflect I.Q.-not even close. NAEP are National Assessment of Educational Progress Exams given to representative samples of students in 4th, 8th & 12th grades. The results reflect achievement in mathematics, reading, science, writng, the arts, civics, economics, geography & U.S. history. NAEP is one of the few tests that are administered uniformly across the U.S. The results tell more about the acheivement and the values of specific populations regarding studying and knowledge acquired. That is not about I.Q. Some states have many students who speak little or no English. That is also NOT about I.Q.

Posted Sunday May 18, 1:18 AM

Anonymous says:

You're just pissed cuz your state's dumb.

Posted Sunday May 18, 6:39 PM
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Anonymous says:

I think it's a little ironic that, according to this, Texans are smarter than Californians. If only Nor*Cal could cut the cancer to the south off, California would fair much better. I love it when Texans tell Californians that their state is better for no damn reason. Now they can tell them that they're smarter too. I love it.

Posted Sunday May 18, 10:57 PM
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Anonymous says:

haha

Posted Monday May 19, 10:51 PM
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ekard says:

IQ tests have a standard deviation of 15 points. A five point difference really means nothing in terms of intelligence.

Posted Monday May 19, 11:05 PM
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Anonymous says:

north dakota is the smartest.. yeaaaa i live in north dakota and can tell u ppl here are pretty smart

Posted Saturday June 21, 4:53 AM
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crush41 says:

Interesting discussion guys. A few points:

The NAEP scores were used in a regression equation created by Richard Lynn from international scholastic scores in math and science only (no history, reading, etc that could conceivably lead to culture/liguistic barriers).

The estimated average IQ for the world is 90. The commenters asserting that 100 is the average are a bit off base--100 is the average for whites, specifically whites in Great Britain. Using this methodology, the white average IQ is actually a little over 100 for the US, which isn't surprising for reasons the person mentioning the NE's Puritan heritage and also the mid-Atlantic's Quaker background (also the aristocratic tidewater folk).

Of course remember that these are just averages. Obviously people will fall above and below, and the overlap between states is huge. But the average matters immensely for the way society functions as a whole. A five point difference is the difference between the US and Argentina. It's also the difference between Japan and China.

Posted Saturday June 28, 2:25 PM
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Anonymous says:

North Dakota is not the smartest. Massachusetts is the smartest. They built like one million (Dr. Evil pinky kiss) quality universities in Boston to help mask the true intelligence of the native population! You got to feel sorry for West Virgina as they have to be stupid alone. All the geographical southern states all have each other to be less intelligent with.

Posted Friday July 11, 2:20 PM
Last edited Friday July 11, 2:21 PM
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Anonymous says:

It's rather interesting how the IQ's range in states. I was very surprised when I saw New Yorks numbers. You'd think they'd be much higher there.

Posted Friday July 11, 3:29 PM
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Anonymous says:

I am confused by the person from Missouri. I would think that anybody with an IQ of 132 would understand what "average" means! Obviously if soemthing is average, than some are above and some are below.

Posted Tuesday July 15, 12:59 PM
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Anonymous says:

Dont blame imigrants, cuz u doubt there are many in Mississippi.

Posted Thursday August 07, 11:14 AM
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Visualizations : IQ by state, US

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