What is Homer Simpson’s IQ?
Homer’s IQ is one 2001 episode’s gag: a crayon in his brain, taken out, then put back. No test is behind it.
Homer Simpson’s IQ is 105 without the crayon and 55 with it: in “HOMR” (Fox, January 7, 2001) he says an operation raised his IQ 50 points, then asks whether there is a place for “the man with the 105 IQ.” No test result exists for the cartoon character; this site’s estimated IQ range for Homer Simpson, 55–105, is simply the show’s own two numbers.
Homer Simpson’s estimated IQ
- In “HOMR” (season 12, episode 9, January 7, 2001), doctors find a crayon lodged in Homer’s brain and offer to remove it; once it is out, Homer says the procedure increased his IQ 50 points (transcript on Springfield! Springfield), and Wikipedia’s plot summary gives the result as 105.
- Later in the same episode he asks whether there is a place for “the man with the 105 IQ,” which fixes the crayon-out figure at 105. The number 55 is never spoken in that transcript; it is 105 minus the 50 points, the subtraction Wikipedia, the Simpsons Wiki and Riot IQ all make.
- He then asks to have the crayon put back and the unlicensed surgeon Moe Szyslak does it, so the show leaves Homer at the lower figure: the 55 end of the range is the state he returns to, and 105 is the ceiling the show allows.
- What the show shows at 105: Homer compiles a thorough safety report on the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and mails it to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, after which his colleagues blame him for putting them out of work.
- Across the series the writers have not held him to one level: Wikipedia records that they have portrayed him with increasingly declining intelligence over the years, so the range brackets the two canon figures instead of picking between them.
This is not a measurement: it is the show’s two numbers, one of them derived by subtraction, and a sitcom sets numbers by punchline, not by test. The range is deliberately wide because the show treats the crayon as a switch, and nothing in it says which state is the true Homer.
- First appearance
- “Good Night,” a short on The Tracey Ullman Show, April 19, 1987
- Series
- The Simpsons (Fox), from December 17, 1989
- Created by
- Matt Groening
- Voiced by
- Dan Castellaneta
- Occupation
- Nuclear safety inspector, Sector 7-G, Springfield Nuclear Power Plant
- IQ in canon
- 105 without the crayon; 55 with it (105 minus the 50 points Homer mentions)
- Key episode
- “HOMR,” season 12, episode 9, January 7, 2001; won the 2001 Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program
- Family
- Wife Marge; children Bart, Lisa and Maggie
What an IQ of 55–105 actually means
Set the claim aside for a moment. If someone genuinely scored in this range, here is what that would represent.
Average is 100 by construction, and about two-thirds of people fall between 85 and 115. Take the test to place your own score on this scale.
| Score range | Classification | Share of people | What it indicates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 85 – 114 | Average | ~68% | The range most people fall into. |
| 115 – 129 | Above average | ~13.6% | Roughly one person in seven. |
| 130 – 144 | Gifted | ~2% | The threshold most high-IQ societies use. |
| Above 144 | Highly gifted | ~0.1% | Figures above this range are extrapolated from the curve rather than measured. |
Percentages are approximate and describe a normal distribution. The same number means different things on tests with different standard deviations.
Thirty questions gives you a measured position on this exact scale — your score, your percentile and the ability breakdown behind it.
Find out in 30 minutes →Who Homer Simpson is
Homer Simpson is the father of the family in The Simpsons, created by Matt Groening, who per Wikipedia designed him while waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks’s office and named him after his own father. Homer first appeared in the short “Good Night” on The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987; the shorts were developed into a half-hour series that premiered on Fox on December 17, 1989 and, in Wikipedia’s count, has run 38 seasons and 811 episodes. Dan Castellaneta voices Homer. He is married to Marge, and the couple have three children, Bart, Lisa and Maggie, in the fictional town of Springfield.
Homer works as a nuclear safety inspector in Sector 7-G of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, a post that Wikipedia says he is unqualified for and in which he often neglects his duties or falls asleep. “HOMR” makes the job the hinge of its plot. With his IQ at 105, Homer compiles a thorough safety report on the plant and mails it to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission rather than giving it to Mr. Burns, and his coworkers turn on him when it costs them their jobs; Wikipedia describes the result as layoffs. Smarter, he is also left out, and a line in the episode puts the trade plainly: as intelligence goes up, happiness often goes down.
“HOMR” is the 257th episode of the series and carries the production code BABF22. Wikipedia lists it as winning the 2001 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (one hour or less) at the 53rd Primetime Emmy Awards, over nominees from Futurama, King of the Hill, The Powerpuff Girls and As Told by Ginger. The season it belongs to began on November 1, 2000, and the episode itself aired on January 7, 2001. The unlicensed surgeon who puts the crayon back is Moe Szyslak, the bartender, and the episode closes with Lisa finding Homer’s note.
Placed against this site’s other fictional profiles, 55–105 is the lowest range of all: Naruto Uzumaki is rated 100–125, Sherlock Holmes 180–200 and Rick Sanchez 195–215. Those characters are written as intellects; Homer is written as a comic foil, and the one place the show prices his mind in numbers, a surgery that adds 50 points and a plot that reverses it, treats the number as the joke. Where a show states the figure, as this one does, the range follows the canon and is not inflated to flatter the character. This page rates the fictional character only; Dan Castellaneta’s IQ, or any actor’s, is not rated here.
By Elora Mercer, Celebrity Research WriterFigures checked by Leon Falkner, Data & Research AnalystReviewed by Aarav Vardhan, Editor-in-Chief · Last reviewed August 2026
Homer Simpson: the documented record
The estimate above rests on this record. Every entry here is a matter of public fact, which is more than can be said for the number itself.
- April 19, 1987Homer debuts in the short “Good Night” on The Tracey Ullman Show.
- December 17, 1989The Simpsons premieres on Fox as a half-hour series.
- January 14, 1990“Bart the Genius” (season 1, episode 2) airs: the school psychologist reports an IQ of 216 after Bart cheats on a test.
- March 8, 1998“Lisa the Simpson” (season 9, episode 17) airs, with the hereditary “Simpson gene” gag.
- November 1, 2000Season 12, the season of “HOMR,” begins.
- January 7, 2001“HOMR” airs: the crayon is removed, Homer’s IQ goes up 50 points to 105, and Moe later puts the crayon back.
- 2001“HOMR” wins the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program (one hour or less) at the 53rd awards.
- February 22, 2004“Smart & Smarter” (season 15, episode 13) airs: Maggie’s IQ is 167 and Lisa’s 159.
- August 18, 2026Riot IQ publishes “What is Homer Simpson’s IQ?”, repeating 55 and 105 and calling both jokes.
Where the 55 figure came from
Following a claim back to its first appearance is the part almost nobody does — and it is what most people are actually asking.
Homer Simpson’s IQ comes from one episode, and the episode says it in two pieces. In “HOMR” (The Simpsons season 12, episode 9, Fox, January 7, 2001; written by Al Jean and directed by Mike B. Anderson, per Wikipedia) Homer loses his savings in the Animotion investment and signs up as a human guinea pig, and a doctor finds a crayon lodged in his brain. In the transcript on Springfield! Springfield Homer says it may have happened when he was six, and the scene that follows counts crayons up to sixteen before a sneeze; the doctor says the crayon could account for his below-average intelligence and offers to remove it. Back home, Homer says the procedure increased his IQ 50 points, and a quick quiz on the capital of North Dakota follows; later he asks whether there is a place for “the man with the 105 IQ.”
The Homer Simpson 105 IQ is stated; the Homer Simpson 55 IQ is subtracted. We searched the whole “HOMR” transcript and 55 does not appear in it, so every page that gives 55 is subtracting the 50 points from the 105. Wikipedia’s Homer Simpson article gives “a low intelligence quotient (IQ) of 55” and cites page 55 of a 2019 book by Moritz Fink, while its own plot summary of “HOMR” gives only the rise “fifty points to 105.” Riot IQ (Dr. Russell T. Warne, August 18, 2026) and the Simpsons Wiki repeat both numbers, and Riot IQ calls them jokes with no test behind them. For how a figure like this passes from one page to the next, see where celebrity IQ numbers come from.
A Homer Simpson IQ test is never shown. No scene in “HOMR” gives or scores one, so the figures are Homer’s own lines. The IQ test scene we did read is Bart’s: in “Bart the Genius” (season 1, episode 2, January 14, 1990), after Bart cheats on a school intelligence test, the school psychologist Dr. Pryor reports an IQ of 216. In “Smart & Smarter” (season 15, episode 13, February 22, 2004) Maggie’s IQ is 167 and Lisa’s 159, and the 1998 episode “Lisa the Simpson” jokes about a hereditary “Simpson gene” that, in Wikipedia’s summary, makes the family’s men lose intelligence over time. Like Sheldon Cooper and Forrest Gump, Homer is a character whose IQ the writers put on screen, but unlike them the show ties his to a surgery that can be undone.
Homer Simpson’s low IQ is a running gag, and the show builds a whole episode on it. Wikipedia says “HOMR” takes its plot from Flowers for Algernon and its title from the film Charly, stories about intelligence gained and lost, and Homer’s version ends with him choosing the crayon: a note found by Lisa says being smart made him appreciate how amazing she is. The number is a story device, not a clinical description, and this page reports it only as written; it says nothing about real people, for which see low IQ versus learning disability. For scale, 105 sits close to the average test score, which is the point of the joke: the smart Homer is only a little above ordinary.
How we read a number →Label “Homer Simpson,” description “character from The Simpsons franchise”; creator Matt Groening (Q43994); English Wikipedia article “Homer Simpson.” Confirms the entity is the character, not one of the episodes or books with “Homer Simpson” in the title.
Homer says a procedure increased his IQ 50 points; later asks whether there is a place for “the man with the 105 IQ.” Crayon found, Moe reinserts it, the note to Lisa. The transcript does not label speakers; the number 55 does not appear in it, and no scene scores a test. We read the transcript, not the episode.
Bart the Genius: Dr. Pryor says the test result is 216 and Bart later confesses he cheated. Smart & Smarter: Maggie’s IQ is 167, Lisa’s 159. Neither gives a number for Homer.
Season 12, episode 9, 257th overall, aired January 7, 2001; code BABF22; written by Al Jean, directed by Mike B. Anderson; plot summary “his IQ goes up fifty points to 105”; inspired by Flowers for Algernon and Charly; winner at the 53rd Primetime Emmy Awards. Season 12 began November 1, 2000.
Creator, lobby anecdote, named for Groening’s father; debut April 19, 1987 and December 17, 1989; Dan Castellaneta; safety inspector in Sector 7-G; “a low intelligence quotient (IQ) of 55,” cited to Fink 2019, p. 55; Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie; 38 seasons and 811 episodes.
Air dates January 14, 1990; February 22, 2004; March 8, 1998. Bart cheats on an intelligence test and is declared a genius; Maggie 167 and Lisa 159; the Simpson gene gag. No Homer figure in any.
States 55 for HOMR and 105 after the crayon is removed; no method; says both figures are jokes written for a cartoon and that no test produced them.
Fan wiki that repeats the figures: the HOMR page has Homer’s IQ going “from 55 to 105 points,” and the Homer Simpson page gives 55 and 105 as well.
Checked: the HOMR, Bart the Genius and Smart & Smarter transcripts; Wikipedia’s pages on the character and the episodes; Riot IQ; the Simpsons Wiki. No page shows a test scored for Homer, and 55 is stated in none of the transcripts.
The sources behind our estimate
The figures that circulate for Homer Simpson, what we were able to confirm, and where the two diverge.
55 is the figure that circulates: Wikipedia’s Homer Simpson article gives “a low intelligence quotient (IQ) of 55,” and Riot IQ (Dr. Russell T. Warne, August 18, 2026) and the Simpsons Wiki say Homer’s IQ rises from 55 to 105 in “HOMR.”
The show says two things aloud, and one of them is a difference, not a score. In the “HOMR” transcript on Springfield! Springfield, Homer says he underwent a procedure to increase his IQ 50 points and, later, asks whether there is a place for “the man with the 105 IQ.” We searched the whole transcript and 55 does not appear in it; no scene shows a test being given or scored. Wikipedia cites page 55 of Moritz Fink’s 2019 book on the show for the 55. Riot IQ says outright that both figures are jokes written for a cartoon.
55 with the crayon and 105 without it sit 50 points apart, and both come from one episode. On the usual scale (mean 100, standard deviation 15), 55 is three standard deviations below the mean and 105 a third of one above it. The spread is the show’s own gap between its two states, not a disagreement between sources.
Want a number that does hold up? Every figure on this page is somebody’s claim. Take the 30-question test and get a percentile you can check rather than a figure you have to trust.
Homer Simpson — frequently asked
What is Homer Simpson’s IQ?
Homer Simpson’s IQ is 55 with the crayon in his brain and 105 with it removed, according to the episode “HOMR” (January 7, 2001). The show states the 50-point rise and the 105 aloud; the 55 is 105 minus 50. No test result exists for the cartoon character, and this site’s estimated range is 55–105.
What is Homer Simpson’s IQ without the crayon?
Homer Simpson’s IQ without the crayon is 105. In “HOMR” the operation raises it by 50 points, and he later asks whether there is a place for “the man with the 105 IQ.” On the usual scale (mean 100, standard deviation 15) that is a third of a standard deviation above average, around the 63rd percentile.
What is Homer Simpson’s IQ with the crayon?
With the crayon, Homer Simpson’s IQ is 55, but that number is never spoken in the episode: it is the 105 he has afterward minus the 50 points he says the operation added. The crayon goes back in at the end of “HOMR,” so 55 is the figure the show returns him to.
Is there a Homer Simpson IQ test?
Not on screen. No scene in “HOMR” gives or scores an IQ test; the numbers are Homer’s own lines. The IQ test scene we read is Bart’s in “Bart the Genius” (January 14, 1990), where the school psychologist Dr. Pryor reports 216 after Bart cheats. Homer has no equivalent scene in “HOMR.”
What is Homer Simpson’s real IQ?
Homer Simpson is a cartoon character, so he has no real IQ: the show’s numbers are 55 with the crayon and 105 without it, both written for one episode, “HOMR.” The 105 is spoken on screen, and the 55 is that figure minus the 50 points Homer says the operation added. No test is behind either number.
Why does Homer Simpson have a low IQ?
The show gives two jokes, not a diagnosis: a crayon lodged in his brain since childhood (“HOMR,” 2001) and a hereditary “Simpson gene” (“Lisa the Simpson,” 1998) that Wikipedia says makes the family’s men lose intelligence over time. His low IQ is a running gag, and this page reports it only as written.
How does Homer Simpson’s IQ compare with Lisa’s and Maggie’s?
Lower, by the show’s own numbers. In “Smart & Smarter” (February 22, 2004) Maggie’s IQ is 167 and Lisa’s 159, against Homer’s 55, or 105 at best. All of these are numbers the writers chose for jokes, not test results.
How does Homer Simpson’s IQ compare with Rick Sanchez’s?
Far lower. This site estimates Homer Simpson at 55–105, the show’s own two numbers, and Rick Sanchez at 195–215, a range inferred from how his show writes him because it never states a number. Homer’s show states one; Rick’s does not.
How does my IQ compare with Homer Simpson?
You can find out in about fifteen minutes. The IQ Metrics assessment is 30 questions, scored on the same 100-mean scale used throughout this page, so your result and the estimate above are at least expressed in the same units — one measured, one inferred. Once you have a number, the leaderboard shows where it would sit, and how we score and norm it explains the benchmarking.
Where does this estimate come from?
From the documented record rather than a test — the method is named above and set out in full under how we read a number. Compare it against the other fictional profiles, starting with Sherlock Holmes.
- Take the 30-question IQ test — get a measured score and percentile of your own
- Average IQ by country — how the scale behaves across populations
- How IQ Metrics scores its assessment — the method behind our own number
- More on how IQ testing works — reliability, error and what a score can and cannot say
- More fictional profiles — same field, same method
More fictional
Photograph of a cosplayer as Rick Sanchez by Nicholas Moreau, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped from a wider photograph; background removed for the portrait above. The character is the creation of Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon. · Photograph of actor Jim Parsons by Philip Romano (Broadway opening night of Good Night, and Good Luck, April 3, 2025), CC BY 4.0. Sheldon Cooper is a character created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady for The Big Bang Theory, played by Parsons from 2007 to 2019; this is a photograph of the actor who played the role, not of the character. Background removed for the portrait above. · Photograph of a cosplayer dressed as Naruto Uzumaki by Johnson Wen (Taichung, Taiwan, August 2, 2015), CC BY-SA 2.0. Naruto Uzumaki is a character created by Masashi Kishimoto and published by Shueisha; this is a photograph of a cosplayer, not an image of the character. Background removed for the portrait above.
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