Emotional intelligence (EQ) is often measured as a percentile — meaning your score reflects how your emotional skills compare to others. Instead of just seeing a number, you learn what percentage of people you score higher than, giving you a clearer picture of where you stand.
EQ Scores Are Based on 5 Core Components
Your overall EQ isn’t based on just one thing — it’s a combination of five key emotional skills. These are often referred to as the five pillars of EQ:
- Self-Awareness: Your ability to recognize and understand your own emotions as they happen.
- Self-Regulation: How well you manage emotions, impulses, and stress — especially under pressure.
- Motivation: Your drive to pursue goals for internal reasons (not just rewards), and how well you bounce back after setbacks.
- Empathy: Your ability to sense and understand the emotions of others, and respond with care.
- Social Skills: How well you communicate, build trust, resolve conflict, and maintain healthy relationships.
Each of these areas is assessed separately, and your final EQ score is a weighted combination of all five. This gives you a more complete picture of your emotional strengths — and where you might want to grow.
What Is a Normal EQ Score (by Percentile)?
Most EQ assessments report your results as a percentile, showing how you compare to others. Here’s a general breakdown:
- 0–25th percentile: Below average EQ — emotional skills may be underdeveloped or uneven.
- 25th–50th percentile: Developing EQ — some strengths, but likely challenges in key areas.
- 50th–75th percentile: Average to above average — emotionally functional and self-aware in most situations.
- 75th–90th percentile: High EQ — well-rounded across most or all components.
- 90th–100th percentile: Exceptional EQ — a rare combination of insight, regulation, empathy, and connection.
For example, you might be in the 65th percentile for overall EQ — meaning your emotional skills are stronger than 65% of people who took the test. But you might also discover you’re in the 80th percentile for empathy and only the 40th for self-regulation. That kind of breakdown helps you see what’s working — and what to improve.
EQ Can Always Be Improved
One of the biggest differences between EQ and IQ is that EQ is flexible. Your percentile today isn’t fixed. With intention, reflection, and consistent practice, your scores across all five pillars can improve — sometimes dramatically.