What Is a Good ACT Score in 2026? Percentiles, Averages, and How to Set Your Target
Search "what is a good ACT score" and you will find answers ranging from "anything above 20" to "34 or bust." Neither helps, because the question cannot be answered without knowing where your teen is applying.
Two facts sit underneath every useful version of the answer. The national average Composite is 19.4, so anything above that is literally above average. And a 30 that delights one family falls below the admitted-student range at the most selective colleges. Good is not a number. It is a percentile fact plus a target that belongs to your teen specifically.
Where Does Each Score Actually Rank?
These anchors come from ACT's official 2025-2026 national ranks, which are based on ACT-tested graduates from the classes of 2023, 2024, and 2025, and which apply to tests taken from September 2025 through August 2026.
| Composite score | Approximate national rank | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 34-36 | 99th percentile | Top 1%, in range anywhere scores are considered |
| 30 | ~94th percentile | Top ~6%, strong for most selective universities |
| 26 | 86th percentile | Top ~14%, competitive at many strong state flagships |
| 22 | 72nd percentile | Solidly above average, in range at many public universities |
| 19-20 | Near the middle | Right around the national average of 19.4 |
A couple of other anchors are worth knowing. A 24 beats roughly four out of five test-takers, and a 28 puts a student around the top 10%.
Notice how compressed the top of the scale is. The jump from 30 to 34 covers only about five percentile points, and yet those five points contain a large share of the applicant pool at the most selective schools. That compression is why the last few points are so much harder to win than the first few.
Why National Percentiles Can Mislead You
Because the average test-taker and the average admitted student are two very different people.
National percentiles tell you where your teen stands among everyone who takes the ACT, and that pool includes students who sat for it once in a state that requires it and never prepared. College score ranges tell you where your teen stands among students who were actually admitted. You want both numbers, but the second one should drive your planning.
There is a second reason to be careful with percentile charts you find online. The test changed in 2025, and the Enhanced ACT Composite now averages English, Math, and Reading, with Science moved to an optional section scored separately. A chart built on the old four-section Composite is describing a different distribution. We cover the format change in full in The Enhanced ACT, Explained.
ACT also refreshes its national ranks each year using the three most recent graduating classes. Before trusting any chart, check that it cites the current 2025-2026 ranks.
What Does "Good" Mean for Your Teen's List?
Colleges publish the middle 50% of scores for their admitted or enrolled students, meaning the range from the 25th percentile to the 75th. You will find it in each school's Common Data Set and usually on the admissions page. Read those ranges like this:
- At or above the 75th percentile figure: the score is an asset. It strengthens the application and often opens the door to merit aid.
- Inside the middle 50%: the score is in range. It will not get your teen in on its own, and it will not keep them out. Everything else in the application decides.
- Below the 25th percentile figure: the score is a liability that the rest of the application has to offset. Possible, but the other pieces need to be genuinely exceptional.
In practice the tiers sort out roughly this way. The most selective colleges in the country commonly report middle-50% ranges around 33-36. Strong flagships and selective private universities tend to sit in the high 20s to low 30s. Many solid public universities admit plenty of students scoring in the low-to-mid 20s. And a large number of colleges are test-optional, where submitting a score only helps if it lands at or above their reported range.
So the question is never "is a 27 good?" It is "is a 27 at, above, or below the ranges at the schools my teen actually wants?" On one family's list a 27 is a scholarship-caliber score. On another's it sits two points below the 25th percentile everywhere they are applying.
How Do You Set the Target? A 20-Minute Exercise
- List five to eight colleges your teen is genuinely interested in. The real list, including likely and match schools, not a fantasy version.
- Look up each school's middle-50% ACT range. Admissions pages and Common Data Sets carry current figures. Make sure you are reading admitted-student data rather than national percentiles.
- Set the target at the 75th percentile of the schools your teen most wants. Aiming at the top of the range instead of the middle is what turns a score into an asset, and it builds in a cushion for a test day that goes imperfectly.
- Have your teen take a realistic baseline practice test. Full length, properly timed, current Enhanced ACT format.
- Let the gap set the timeline. A 2-point gap and a 6-point gap are different projects, and we have mapped the hours each tends to take in How Long Does It Take to Raise Your ACT Score?
Step five is where most self-guided prep goes wrong, because a Composite target hides what is happening underneath it. A student aiming for a 27 who is sitting at English 29, Math 21, Reading 27 does not need ACT prep. They need math prep. The Composite alone would never tell you that.
Vantage exists for exactly that problem: it identifies which skills inside each section are costing points and keeps practice aimed at the gap between your teen's baseline and their target, rather than spreading hours evenly across material they have already mastered.
When Is the Score Good Enough to Stop?
Chasing points past the 75th percentile of your teen's list has sharply diminishing returns. Once a score sits above the range at every school on the list, another retake buys very little. That time is worth more spent on grades, essays, and the activities that actually differentiate an application.
Two more reasons not to over-grind the test. Many colleges superscore the ACT, combining the best section scores across test dates, so two good-but-imperfect sittings may already add up to the target. And admissions readers treat the score as one input among many. The difference between a 33 and a 34 is far smaller in a committee room than it feels on a score report at your kitchen table.
The goal is to pick the target your teen's college list actually requires, close the gap efficiently, and then stop. A good ACT score is not the highest one theoretically reachable. It is the one that makes the rest of the application easy to say yes to.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good ACT score?
Anything above the national average Composite of 19.4 is above average, but good is relative to your teen's college list. As anchors from ACT's 2025-2026 national ranks, a 22 beats about 72% of test-takers, a 26 lands at the 86th percentile, a 30 is roughly the top 6%, and a 34 or above is the top 1%. A good score is one at or above the middle of the admitted-student range at the colleges your teen is targeting.
What is the average ACT score?
The national average ACT Composite for the graduating class of 2025 was 19.4, according to ACT's official data. On the Enhanced ACT, the Composite is the average of the English, Math, and Reading section scores on the 1-36 scale, since Science is now optional and scored separately.
Is 22 a good ACT score?
Yes, a 22 is solidly above average. On ACT's official 2025-2026 national ranks, a Composite of 22 has a national rank of 72, meaning 72% of recent ACT-tested graduates scored 22 or lower. It is competitive at many public universities, though selective schools typically look higher.
Is 30 a good ACT score?
A 30 is an excellent score, roughly the 94th percentile, which puts a student in about the top 6% of test-takers nationally. It is competitive at most selective universities and often clears the threshold where merit scholarship consideration begins, though the most selective colleges report admitted-student ranges higher still.
What ACT score do the most selective colleges expect?
The most selective U.S. colleges commonly report middle-50% ACT ranges around 33-36 for admitted students, which means a 33 sits at the bottom of the typical admitted range rather than above it. Scores are only one factor at these schools, but below the 25th percentile of a college's range, the rest of the application has to work considerably harder.
How do we choose a target ACT score?
Work backward from the college list. Look up each school's middle-50% ACT range for admitted students and aim at or above the 75th percentile figure for the schools your teen most wants. Then have them take a realistic full-length practice test to establish a baseline, and let the gap between baseline and target set the prep timeline.