The short answer
- A good ACT score is above the national average of 19.2, and 24 or higher is a strong score. The Class of 2026 averaged a 19.2 Composite across 1,463,293 graduates (ACT National Profile Report 2026).
- ACT national ranks for 2026–27: a 21 beats or ties 68% of test takers, 24 is 80%, 26 is 86%, 28 is 91%, 30 is 94% and 33 is 98%.
- The enhanced ACT Composite is now the average of English, Math and Reading only. Science is optional and left out of the Composite for all tests from September 2025.
- SAT equivalents (2018 concordance): ACT 24 ≈ SAT 1180, 26 ≈ 1240, 30 ≈ 1370, 33 ≈ 1460.
- For a specific college, “good” means at or above the middle of its admitted range. ACT also builds a superscore automatically if you test more than once.
A good ACT score is anything above the national average of 19.2, and a Composite of 24 or higher is strong by national standards. ACT’s National Profile Report for the Class of 2026 puts the average Composite at 19.2 across 1,463,293 graduates. On ACT’s 2026–27 national ranks, a 24 sits at the 80th percentile and a 30 at the 94th. Whether a score is good for you depends on the colleges you apply to. This guide covers the national picture first, then how to judge your score against a college’s range.
Is my ACT score good? Every Composite from 36 to 12
ACT’s national ranks page gives, for each score, the percentage of test takers who earned that score or lower. The 2026–27 ranks are based on ACT-tested graduates from 2024 through 2026 and are used for tests taken from September 2026 to August 2027.
| ACT Composite | National rank (percentile) | SAT equivalent (range) |
|---|---|---|
| 36 | 100 | 1590 (1570–1600) |
| 35 | 99 | 1540 (1530–1560) |
| 34 | 99 | 1500 (1490–1520) |
| 33 | 98 | 1460 (1450–1480) |
| 32 | 97 | 1430 (1420–1440) |
| 31 | 96 | 1400 (1390–1410) |
| 30 | 94 | 1370 (1360–1380) |
| 29 | 93 | 1340 (1330–1350) |
| 28 | 91 | 1310 (1300–1320) |
| 27 | 89 | 1280 (1260–1290) |
| 26 | 86 | 1240 (1230–1250) |
| 25 | 83 | 1210 (1200–1220) |
| 24 | 80 | 1180 (1160–1190) |
| 23 | 77 | 1140 (1130–1150) |
| 22 | 72 | 1110 (1100–1120) |
| 21 | 68 | 1080 (1060–1090) |
| 20 | 63 | 1040 (1030–1050) |
| 19 | 58 | 1010 (990–1020) |
| 18 | 52 | 970 (960–980) |
| 17 | 47 | 930 (920–950) |
| 16 | 41 | 890 (880–910) |
| 15 | 34 | 850 (830–870) |
| 14 | 28 | 800 (780–820) |
| 13 | 20 | 760 (730–770) |
| 12 | 13 | 710 (690–720) |
Table 1. ACT Composite national ranks, 2026–27 (ACT), with SAT equivalents from the Guide to the 2018 ACT/SAT Concordance, Table A2. Scores of 9 and below rank at 1.
Read the rank as “this score or lower.” A 24 at rank 80 means 80% of recent test takers scored 24 or below, so about 20% scored higher.
The national average, in detail
The Class of 2026 report counts every 2026 graduate who earned a college-reportable Composite during the past three administration years, using each student’s most recent attempt.
| Class of 2026 statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| Graduates tested | 1,463,293 |
| Average Composite | 19.2 |
| 25th percentile / median / 75th percentile | 14 / 18 / 23 |
| Average English / Math / Reading | 18.2 / 19.0 / 19.8 |
| Students who retested | 448,462 |
| Average Composite among retested students | 23.1 |
| Took optional Science / Writing | 93% / 33% |
Table 2. ACT Class of 2026 national results. Source: ACT, The ACT Profile Report: National, Graduating Class 2026.
Two numbers look like they disagree but don’t. The national ranks page gives a Composite mean of 19.1 (standard deviation 6.1), while the Class of 2026 report says 19.2. The ranks cover three graduating classes (2024–2026); the report covers 2026 graduates only.
Honest caveat on retesting: retested students averaged 23.1, almost four points above the overall average. That does not mean retaking adds four points. Students who choose to retest tend to be the ones already aiming at score-conscious colleges. The gap shows who retests, not how much a retest adds.
How the enhanced ACT changed what your score means
The ACT you take in 2026–27 is scored differently from the one your older siblings took. From ACT’s score explanation page and test overview:
- Composite = average of English, Math and Reading, rounded to the nearest whole number (fractions under one-half round down, one-half and above round up).
- Science is optional and no longer in the Composite: dropped for national online testing in April 2025 and for all ACT tests (national, international, state and district) from September 2025. Science still gets a 1–36 score and feeds the STEM score (average of Math and Science).
- Core sections: English 50 questions in 35 minutes, Math 45 in 50 minutes, Reading 36 in 40 minutes. That is 125 minutes before optional Science (40 minutes) or Writing (40 minutes).
- Superscores are built automatically from your best section scores if you have tested more than once since September 2016, and from 2025 they use English, Math and Reading.
Worked example. English 25, Math 22, Reading 27. Sum 74, divided by 3 = 24.67, which rounds up to a 25 Composite (83rd percentile). If Math rises to 23 on a second test and the other two stay, the new average is 75 ÷ 3 = exactly 25.0. A 24 Math would give 76 ÷ 3 = 25.33, still a 25. Moving one section score by a point does not always move the Composite. Our ACT composite calculator does the rounding for you.
A practical scale for ACT scores
ACT does not label Composites as good or average on its ranks page. The scale below is ours, read straight from Table 1, so every cut can be checked.
| Label (our scale) | Composite | National rank | Roughly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below average | 17 and under | 47 or lower | Below the middle of test takers |
| Average | 18–20 | 52–63 | Around the 19.2 average |
| Good | 21–23 | 68–77 | Better than about 2 in 3 |
| Strong | 24–27 | 80–89 | Top fifth |
| Very strong | 28–31 | 91–96 | Roughly top 10% |
| Top tier | 32–36 | 97–100 | Top 3% |
Table 3. Our ACT score labels, built from ACT’s 2026–27 national ranks. Not an official ACT scale.
ACT college readiness benchmarks
ACT’s own readiness yardstick is the College Readiness Benchmark for each section. The Class of 2026 report lists them as English 18, Math 22, Reading 22, Science 23 and STEM 26. In the Class of 2026, 29% of Science takers met the Science benchmark, 15% of those with a STEM score met the STEM benchmark, and 35% of those with an ELA score met the ELA benchmark.
The benchmarks explain why a Composite alone can mislead. A student with English 24, Math 19, Reading 24 has a 22 Composite (72nd percentile) but misses the Math benchmark by three points. If you are planning to major in a math-heavy field, the Math section score matters more than the Composite.
Section ranks: English, Math and Reading
The same national ranks page lists each section separately. The three Composite sections do not rank the same way, so a 24 in Reading is a weaker relative result than a 24 in Math.
| Section score | English rank | Math rank | Reading rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 93 | 95 | 89 |
| 28 | 90 | 93 | 85 |
| 26 | 87 | 88 | 81 |
| 24 | 81 | 81 | 75 |
| 22 | 74 | 74 | 66 |
| 20 | 64 | 68 | 56 |
| 18 | 54 | 60 | 47 |
Table 4. ACT section national ranks, 2026–27. Source: ACT national ranks page.
Reading ranks run lowest because Reading scores run highest: the Class of 2026 averaged 19.8 in Reading against 18.2 in English. When you compare your sections to decide what to prep, compare the ranks, not the raw 1–36 numbers.
Where the national ranks fall short
National ranks are the official yardstick, but they have limits:
- They mix old and new Composites. The 2026–27 ranks are based on graduates from 2024 through 2026. Many of them tested before September 2025, when the Composite still included Science. The ranks page does not explain how, or whether, it adjusted for that.
- They rank single scores, not superscores. A superscore of 27 is compared as if it came from one test day.
- They describe test takers, not applicants to a given college. A rank of 91 says nothing about a college that admits mostly 30-plus students.
- Practice-test scores are estimates. Conversion tables vary by test form, so a practice 25 is a range, not a promise.
ACT or SAT: comparing scores across tests
ACT and College Board’s joint 2018 concordance remains the only official bridge between the two tests. It was built before the digital SAT and before Science left the ACT Composite, and its SAT-to-ACT estimates carry a standard error of about 2 ACT points. Use it to compare, not to decide to the point.
If your ACT 24 matches an SAT 1180 and your practice SAT is 1260, the SAT is your stronger test, because 1260 concords to an ACT 27. Our SAT score calculator estimates a digital SAT score from practice-test answers, and our guide to what a good SAT score is shows SAT percentiles side by side. If you took the PSAT in October, the PSAT score calculator converts it to the same kind of scale before you choose.
Should you retake? If-then rules
Start with your colleges’ middle-50% ACT ranges from their admissions pages or Common Data Sets, then:
- If your Composite is above a college’s 75th percentile: stop testing for that college and put the time into applications or grades.
- If it is inside the range but near the 25th percentile: a retake can help, especially at colleges that accept the ACT superscore.
- If it is below the 25th percentile: check whether the college is test-optional before deciding to retest or to apply without scores.
- If one section is far below the others: prep that section. The superscore uses your best English, Math and Reading from any date.
ACT national test dates still ahead in 2026–27 are December 12, 2026, and February 27, April 10, June 12 and July 10, 2027, per ACT’s test dates page. Juniors with AP courses should check the AP exam schedule before picking a spring date (AP scores then arrive in July; see when AP scores come out). Keep an eye on grades with the high school GPA calculator and the cumulative GPA calculator, since colleges read scores alongside your transcript. For prep, our AI test prep guide shows how to build practice sets without letting AI do the thinking.