Average SAT scores: Class of 2026

A percentile is the share of test takers who scored at or below you. On College Board's current table for SAT takers, a 1050 is about the 55th percentile, a 1200 about the 75th and a 1350 about the 89th. That table pools the past three graduating classes, so it won't line up exactly with the counts above. To turn a practice test into a score and percentile, use the SAT score calculator.

Compare states with similar participation. A state on the statewide list and a state where 3% of graduates test aren't measuring the same students. Some states that aren't on the statewide list still test most graduates: Florida (86%) and Texas (75%).

We checked the test policy at 148 colleges on November 9, 2026: 25 require SAT or ACT scores, 90 are test-optional and 33 are test-blind. Optional means a college still looks at scores you choose to send, and the ranges below only include students who sent them. To see where your own score lands, try the college chances calculator or browse SAT scores by college.

Related: SAT score calculator · SAT scores at 400+ colleges · College chances calculator · AP score distributions

Who's counted

Students in the high school Class of 2026 who took the SAT at any point in high school. Each student counts once, with their most recent score. This is College Board's "Total Group" of 1,954,833 students, which includes test takers outside the 50 states and DC; the 51 state rows add up to 1,737,671.

Section names

College Board's 2026 report calls the reading section Reading and Writing (RW). Earlier reports call it Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (ERW). We show them in the same column.

Readiness benchmarks

College Board's college and career readiness benchmarks are 480 in Reading and Writing and 530 in Math. "Met both" percentages are as published.

Percentages

Score-band percentages are our calculation: the number of test takers in a band divided by all test takers in that class. All other percentages are College Board's figures, rounded to whole numbers.

Participation

College Board's estimate of the share of a state's 2026 graduates who took the SAT, using WICHE's December 2024 projection of high school graduates. We report it as published.

School-day states

The 9 states on the statewide grade 11 SAT list on page 3 of the 2026 report. Districts and schools in other states can also give the SAT during the school day; those aren't marked.

Year-over-year changes

Simple differences between two graduating classes. Who takes the test, the test format and how background information is collected can change between years.

College data

Colleges in Ashore's college database that publish an SAT range: 387 of the 1,805 colleges we track. This is not every US college. Each college counts once regardless of size, so the medians describe colleges, not students. Score ranges come from each college's Common Data Set and describe enrolled first-year students who submitted SAT scores. They span several Common Data Set years (188 from 2024–25, 198 from 2025–26, 1 from 2026–27). Admit rates come from the Common Data Set or IPEDS.

Admit-rate groups

Under 10%, 10% to 25%, 25% to 50%, 50% to 75%, Over 75%. A college exactly on a boundary goes into the higher group, except 75%, which counts in 50% to 75%. Group medians: sort the values and take the middle one, or the average of the two middle ones.

Test policies

We checked 148 colleges' policies on November 9, 2026 against each college's own admissions page: 25 require scores, 90 are test-optional and 33 are test-blind. A dash in the table means we haven't checked that college yet.

Percentiles

Percentiles come from College Board's current table for SAT takers, which pools the past three graduating classes. They are separate from the Class of 2026 counts above, so the two won't match exactly.