Visualizations : IQ by state, US : IQ tests have a standard deviation...

Accompanying commentary found here.

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

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.

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

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 :)

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.

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.

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

Alabama’s State Motto: Thank God for Mississippi.

Bullshit.

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.

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).

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

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.

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

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.

haha

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

People from Mississippi aren’t stupid. This chart is stupid.

on an individual scale, an IQ test can have a +/- 15 point difference, but not in a national scale. A 5 point difference is over one standard deviation apart (between states, accounting population).
Whoever said they have a high IQ over 130, sorry, but there is someone just opposite in your state that makes you look smart( for an skewed Gaussian), and an individual test taken on some stupid web site is just trying to make money out of you by saying you’re smarter than Obama. If I am wrong and you really have IQ over 130, please join the Mensa, if they allow you in.

Everyone who is either sticking up for this map or dissing it are stupid. Seriously people, go take a stats class on experimental methodology. Nowhere on this page that I have seen what tests they are basing this on; is this from the Stanford-Binet, the Wechsler scales (WISCIII or WAISIV)? Who were the tests normed on? Was this based on an internet test? And to the dude who said they had a 130, you know as well as all of us that you are exaggerating your internet administered IQ score which is completely useless. In that case I’m a friggin 210 and and set for world domination.
I am watching a show right now about southern beauty pageants, and couldnt believe people in the US are really that stupid, so I looked it up and sure enough, the Southerners are pretty stupid. The highest rates of racism, the worst public education in the US, and beauty pageants. It makes me want to stick those people who epitomize those stereotypes on an island and let them slowly die off. The south makes a great argument for Eugenics.
Eat that all you smarty farty wannabes.