Average ACT Score by State: How do Your Scores Compare?

There are a lot of ways to compare ACT scores: to your classmates, by your declared major, or by the average ACT score by state. It’s a compelling urge, to see how your ACT scores stack up, that you might make some sort of prediction based on that. For instance, The Princeton Review’s College Search tool allows you to find the median ACT scores of students for individual colleges.

How to Read the Data

The first thing to determine is whether you’re comparing your scores to a median or a mean. If it’s been a while since your last statistics-based math class:

• Median – This is the middle number in an ordered list of numbers. In the case of the College Search tool, this is presented as a range from the median of the 25th percentile to the median of the 75th percentile. This means that one-quarter of incoming students had a score below the lowest number and one-quarter had a score above the highest number.
• Mean – This is the average of all the numbers added together and divided by however many numbers you added. In the case of the ACT Score by State, this is referred to as the average.

Average ACT Score by State

The table below shows data that ACT Inc. puts out for each graduating class. It lists the estimated percentage of 2023 graduates taking the ACT and their average score, by state. Note that the averages have been rounded to the nearest whole number.

Your state’s average score is not necessarily a good score for you. A good score is the score that gets you into your dream college. The ACT is a college admissions test, and you need to use it as a tool to get into college. Retaking the ACT to improve your score may not be as worthwhile as focusing your time and energy on writing stronger application essays, building an impressive activity list, or interviewing with admissions officers.

Getting A Full Picture

On the national level, the average ACT composite score lies between a 19 and a 20. While that means that a 21 is technically “above average,” that doesn’t mean that’s a good enough score to set yourself apart from the pack, especially at the most selective colleges.

That said, your score is only part of the picture. Your background also plays a big part in the selection process.

If you’re a student in a state where the SAT is a state requirement, like Indiana or Michigan , the average ACT tends to be higher, because those students have self-selected and gone above and beyond to stand out, get ahead, or find a place to shine by also taking the ACT. If you find yourself in this situation, consider taking a free practice test with The Princeton Review.