What was Paul Allen’s IQ?
A reported perfect SAT, a Microsoft partnership with Bill Gates, and no IQ test on record.
No IQ test result has been published for Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder. The nearest number is a reported SAT score of 1600, a perfect score on the pre-1995 scale, which supports a Paul Allen IQ estimate of 135–150, not a score. The 1600 comes from Wikipedia and a magazine list, not from a score report.
Paul Allen’s estimated IQ
- A reported perfect SAT score of 1600 before he entered Washington State University in 1971 (Wikipedia); no score report has been published.
- Lakeside School in Seattle from 1965, at age 12, a school that had a computer lab by 1968, and early programming and Traf-O-Data with Bill Gates (HistoryLink; Wikipedia).
- A programming job at Honeywell in Massachusetts in 1974 and the move to Albuquerque in April 1975 as director of software development at MITS, where Microsoft was formed (HistoryLink).
- This site’s SAT conversion: the SAT is not an IQ test, studies report correlations of 0.77 to 0.86 with general cognitive ability, and even the 99.9th percentile predicts only about 137, with about 12 points of error either side.
A converted SAT score is not an IQ test, the score is reported rather than documented, and a near-ceiling result cannot separate 1590 from 1600. The range is a band read from one reported number, which makes it wider than a measured score would be.
- Born
- January 21, 1953, Seattle, Washington
- Died
- October 15, 2018
- Known for
- Co-founder of Microsoft (1975); founder of Vulcan Inc. (1986)
- School
- Lakeside School, Seattle, from 1965
- University
- Washington State University from fall 1971; left before graduating
- SAT
- 1600 of 1600, as reported (no score report published)
- Memoir
- Idea Man: A Memoir by the Co-founder of Microsoft (2011)
- Circulating figure
- No IQ figure found; a reported 1600 SAT score circulates
What an IQ of 135–150 actually means
Set the claim aside for a moment. If someone genuinely scored in this range, here is what that would represent.
| 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 Paul Allen was
Who was Paul Allen? Paul Gardner Allen was born on January 21, 1953, in Seattle and died on October 15, 2018, according to Wikipedia and HistoryLink. He co-founded Microsoft with his Lakeside School friend Bill Gates in 1975, and with his sister Jody Allen he founded Vulcan Inc. in 1986 (Wikipedia). His memoir, Idea Man, was published in 2011.
What did Lakeside School and the early Gates years show? His parents sent him to Lakeside, a private school in Seattle, in 1965, when he was 12; by 1968 it had a computer lab, which HistoryLink calls nearly unique among secondary schools. There he and Gates taught themselves programming on time-sharing computers and formed Traf-O-Data to make traffic counters based on the Intel 8008 processor (Wikipedia). That is evidence of early skill and drive, not a test result.
What did he study after school, and is Paul Allen a genius? “Genius” is a label, not a score. He entered Washington State University in the fall of 1971, took a leave in 1974 for a programming job at Honeywell in Massachusetts (HistoryLink) and, by Wikipedia’s account, dropped out after two years. In April 1975 he moved to Albuquerque to work at MITS, and Microsoft was formed there that year. See other business leaders we have checked, or compare your own result on the same scale with the IQ Metrics test.
By Elora Mercer, Celebrity Research WriterFigures checked by Leon Falkner, Data & Research AnalystReviewed by Aarav Vardhan, Editor-in-Chief · Last reviewed November 2026
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Paul Allen: 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.
- 1953Born January 21 in Seattle.
- 1965Starts at Lakeside School at age 12.
- 1968Lakeside has a computer lab by this year, where he and Bill Gates begin programming.
- 1971Enters Washington State University in the fall.
- 1974Takes a leave from the university for a programming job at Honeywell in Massachusetts.
- 1975Moves to Albuquerque in April to work at MITS; Microsoft is formed that year.
- 1986Founds Vulcan Inc. with his sister Jody Allen.
- 2011Publishes his memoir, Idea Man.
- 2018Dies October 15.
Why no figure circulates
Following a claim back to its first appearance is the part almost nobody does — and it is what most people are actually asking.
Paul Allen IQ searches lead to a test score that is not an IQ score: the SAT. Wikipedia says he “achieved a perfect SAT score of 1600,” and no IQ test result has been published. Our Bill Gates profile traces both friends’ SAT scores to a 2006 Week magazine list of well-known Americans’ scores. We did not find the 1600 in HistoryLink’s biography, which quotes his memoir, or in a Philanthropy Roundtable profile, and no score report has been published, so the Paul Allen SAT score is reported, not documented.
What IQ range does a reported 1600 support? A perfect score sits at the ceiling of the pre-1995 400–1600 scale, and this site’s SAT score to IQ conversion finds that even the 99.9th percentile predicts only about 137, with about 12 points of error either side. This page rates him 135–150, which is about the 99th to the 99.96th percentile on the usual scale (mean 100, SD 15); our IQ percentile calculator shows where other scores fall. For today’s average, see the 2026 average SAT score.
How does Paul Allen’s reported score compare with Bill Gates’? Gates is credited with 1590 and Allen with 1600, both near the ceiling, and a 10-point gap cannot separate them. This site rates Bill Gates at 150–160 and Allen at 135–150: Gates’s band also rests on a National Merit Scholar award and a Harvard place, while Allen’s rests on the score and a Washington State place. For other technology founders, see Steve Wozniak (150–165) and Peter Thiel (135–150).
How we read a number →Birth and death dates, Lakeside School 1965–71, Traf-O-Data, the reported perfect SAT score of 1600, Washington State University and Honeywell, the 1975 Microsoft partnership, Vulcan Inc. (1986) and the 2011 memoir Idea Man. The article gives no IQ.
Read at source: Lakeside from 1965 at age 12, a computer lab by 1968, Washington State University from fall 1971, a leave in 1974 for Honeywell in Massachusetts, the move to Albuquerque in April 1975 and his death on October 15, 2018. It quotes Idea Man and does not mention the SAT.
Read at source: Lakeside, the class-scheduling software written with Gates after his freshman year, and the move to Boston. It does not mention the SAT or an IQ.
States that neither test is an IQ test, that studies report correlations of 0.77 to 0.86 with general cognitive ability, that even the 99.9th percentile predicts only about 137 and that a single conversion carries about 12 points of error either side.
Ranges used for comparison: Bill Gates 150–160, Steve Wozniak 150–165, Peter Thiel 135–150. The Gates profile cites the 2006 Week list that prints Allen at 1600; the list itself was not opened for this page.
Confirms the identifier Q162005 is the American businessman and philanthropist, co-founder of Microsoft.
Photograph by Miles Harris at the Flying Heritage Collection, April 2, 2013, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.
No IQ test result appears in Wikipedia, HistoryLink or the Philanthropy Roundtable profile, and no SAT score report has been published.
The sources behind our estimate
The figures that circulate for Paul Allen, what we were able to confirm, and where the two diverge.
Wikipedia says Allen “achieved a perfect SAT score of 1600,” and our Bill Gates profile cites a 2006 Week magazine list of well-known Americans’ SAT scores that also prints it. No IQ figure for Paul Allen was found.
The 1600 is a result on a college-admissions test, reported without a score report. HistoryLink’s biography, which quotes his memoir Idea Man, and the Philanthropy Roundtable profile do not mention it, and neither gives an IQ.
The ceiling this site’s SAT page gives for the 99.9th percentile (about 137) sits inside the 135–150 range, so the range leans high for a reported score and is a band, not a reading.
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.
Paul Allen — frequently asked
What was Paul Allen’s IQ?
No IQ test result for Paul Allen has been published. This site’s estimated range, read from a reported SAT score of 1600 and his early record, is 135–150 on a scale with mean 100 and SD 15. It is a band inferred from a college-admissions test, not a measured IQ.
What was Paul Allen’s SAT score?
Paul Allen is reported to have scored a perfect 1600 on the SAT. Wikipedia states it, and our Bill Gates profile cites a 2006 Week magazine list that prints it. We did not find it in HistoryLink’s biography or a score report, so it is reported, not documented.
What was Paul Allen’s IQ score?
Paul Allen’s IQ score is not documented. The only number linked to him is the reported SAT score of 1600, which is not an IQ. A perfect SAT supports an estimate of 135–150 at most, and this site’s conversion page warns of about 12 points of error either side.
What IQ does a perfect SAT score of 1600 mean?
No exact IQ. The SAT correlates with general cognitive ability at 0.77 to 0.86 in the studies this site cites, and even the 99.9th percentile predicts only about 137, with about 12 points of error either side. A ceiling score cannot separate 1590 from 1600.
Why do SAT results and IQ only partly overlap?
Both reward reasoning under time pressure, but the SAT also tests schooling in reading and math and was built to predict first-year college grades, not intelligence. Correlations of 0.77 to 0.86 leave real room for error on any single score.
Did Paul Allen finish college?
No. Wikipedia says he dropped out of Washington State University after two years. HistoryLink says he entered in fall 1971 and took a leave in 1974 for a programming job at Honeywell in Massachusetts, then moved to Albuquerque in April 1975.
How does Paul Allen’s estimated IQ compare with Bill Gates’?
This site rates Paul Allen at 135–150 and Bill Gates at 150–160. Their reported SAT scores, 1600 and 1590, are both near the ceiling and cannot be ranked. Gates’s band also rests on a National Merit Scholar award and a Harvard place; neither band is a test result.
How does my IQ compare with Paul Allen?
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 business & tech profiles, starting with Steve Jobs.
- 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 business & tech profiles — same field, same method
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Portrait by Christopher Smith, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — a work of the U.S. federal government, public domain. Background removed for the portrait above. · Photograph by Gage Skidmore (2017), CC BY-SA 2.0. Background removed for the portrait above. · Photograph by Gage Skidmore (Scottsdale, Arizona, 2022), CC BY-SA 3.0. Background removed for the portrait above.
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