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An LSAT score percentile is the percentage of recent test-takers who scored at or below your scaled score, reported by LSAC beside your 120 to 180 result. A score near the middle of the scale sits close to the 50th percentile, while top scores reach the upper 90s. see the linked source (see the linked source).
By Ali Unar, JD candidate at Georgetown Law and founder of Lovare Institut. Last updated August 2026. Figures on this page were verified in August 2026 or point readers to the current source.
An LSAT score percentile expresses your standing among test-takers as a single number: the share who scored at or below your scaled score. If your percentile is in the 80s, you scored higher than roughly that share of recent examinees. LSAC prints your percentile next to your 120 to 180 scaled score, so admissions readers can immediately gauge how common or rare your result is.
LSAC calculates your percentile using the distribution of scores across the three most recent testing years, not just your own administration. That rolling window keeps percentiles stable while still reflecting the current test-taker pool. Because the calculation is based on the whole recent field, your percentile can differ slightly from a friend's who earned the same scaled score in a different year.
A good percentile depends on your target schools, but higher scaled scores climb the percentile curve quickly. The table shows the general relationship at key scores, with each figure verified against the current LSAC percentile table.
The current ranking is best read directly from the source. See the U.S. News Best Law Schools list for the up-to-date order, and each school's ABA Standard 509 report for its median LSAT, GPA, and acceptance rate.
LSAT percentiles shift because LSAC recomputes them as the test-taker pool changes over the three-year window. The scaled range stays fixed at 120 to 180, but the percentile attached to a specific score can drift a point or two as stronger or weaker cohorts take the test. This is why you should always read the current LSAC percentile table rather than an older chart when interpreting a score.
A good LSAT score is one that meets or beats the median LSAT at the schools you want to attend, which corresponds to their 50th percentile. Because each ABA-approved school publishes that median in its Standard 509 data, the standard is school-specific. 120 to 180. Judge your percentile against each school's medians.
The average scaled LSAT score sits slightly below the center of the 120 to 180 range, landing near the 50th percentile by design. The precise mean moves a little each testing year. the low-to-mid 150s (LSAC does not publish a single headline average; the median falls near 152 on the percentile tables). Scoring at the average means you outperformed about half of recent test-takers.
The LSAT is scored from 120 to 180, with a percentile reported alongside. Correct answers add raw points, wrong answers are not penalized, and LSAC converts your raw total to a scaled score and then a percentile. Since August 2024 the scored sections are two Logical Reasoning and one Reading Comprehension, plus an unscored variable section, after Logic Games were retired.
The LSAT percentile is calculated from the score distribution over the three most recent testing years, showing the share of examinees who scored at or below a given scaled score. Using a rolling multi-year window keeps the figures stable while reflecting the current pool. the LSAC percentile tables (for example a 150 is about the 37th percentile, 160 the 71st, 165 the 85th, and 170 the 94th) provides the exact numbers.
Verified August 2026.
August 21, 2026
August 21, 2026