ACT composite calculator, and scores by state
The composite is the mean of your four section scores, rounded to the nearest whole number — an exact, public rule, unlike the SAT, where the adaptive design means no raw-score conversion exists. Enter four sections below and the rounding is shown, because a half point is what separates a 25 from a 26.
Underneath, every state’s mean for the class of 2025 with its participation rate. ACT prints the caveat in the header of its own table and everyone republishing the ranking drops it: compare only against states testing a similar share of their graduates.
Parsed from ACT's two published state tables for the class of 2025 · How we check
25
The four sections average 24.50, which rounds to 25. A half rounds up, which is what gained the point here. It beats the mean composite of 41 of the 51 states and DC, against a national mean of 19.4.
- English benchmark, 18
- met
- Math benchmark, 22
- met
- Reading benchmark, 22
- met
- Science benchmark, 23
- met
4 of four College Readiness Benchmarks met. Nationally 30% of the class of 2025 met three or four.
The ranking is mostly a participation table
The 15 states testing nine in ten graduates or more average 18.5. The 22 testing fewer than one in seven average 24.6. Across all 51 the correlation between participation and composite is -0.84. Nationally the mean was 19.4 on 36% participation, and 30% of the class met three or four readiness benchmarks.
All fifty states and DC
| State | Composite | Eng | Math | Read | Sci | Tested | Met 3+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| District of Columbia | 27.6 | 27.9 | 26.0 | 29.1 | 27.0 | 10% | 79% |
| Connecticut | 27.1 | 27.2 | 26.1 | 28.0 | 26.4 | 6% | 79% |
| California | 26.4 | 26.3 | 25.7 | 27.4 | 25.8 | 4% | 75% |
| Massachusetts | 26.4 | 26.0 | 25.7 | 27.3 | 26.0 | 7% | 75% |
| New Hampshire | 25.9 | 25.4 | 25.0 | 27.1 | 25.5 | 3% | 73% |
| New York | 25.9 | 25.3 | 25.4 | 26.7 | 25.7 | 8% | 73% |
| Maine | 25.4 | 25.2 | 23.8 | 27.0 | 25.2 | 1% | 70% |
| Rhode Island | 25.4 | 25.2 | 24.4 | 26.6 | 24.9 | 4% | 71% |
| Delaware | 25.2 | 24.8 | 24.0 | 26.8 | 24.7 | 3% | 69% |
| Virginia | 25.2 | 25.0 | 23.8 | 26.5 | 24.9 | 6% | 69% |
| Maryland | 24.9 | 24.7 | 23.6 | 26.2 | 24.5 | 6% | 66% |
| Washington | 24.8 | 24.4 | 24.0 | 26.0 | 24.4 | 5% | 64% |
| Colorado | 24.7 | 24.3 | 23.9 | 25.7 | 24.3 | 8% | 66% |
| Michigan | 24.6 | 24.4 | 23.9 | 25.4 | 24.3 | 5% | 65% |
| New Jersey | 24.6 | 24.5 | 24.1 | 25.3 | 24.2 | 9% | 65% |
| Pennsylvania | 24.5 | 24.0 | 23.8 | 25.4 | 24.2 | 5% | 65% |
| Vermont | 23.9 | 23.2 | 22.8 | 25.5 | 23.6 | 6% | 60% |
| Indiana | 23.5 | 22.6 | 23.3 | 24.5 | 23.3 | 6% | 60% |
| Idaho | 23.3 | 22.5 | 22.6 | 24.5 | 23.0 | 8% | 58% |
| Illinois | 23.1 | 22.8 | 22.6 | 23.7 | 22.8 | 16% | 55% |
| Georgia | 21.4 | 20.6 | 20.7 | 22.4 | 21.4 | 23% | 43% |
| Iowa | 21.0 | 19.9 | 20.3 | 22.1 | 21.3 | 41% | 40% |
| South Dakota | 21.0 | 19.8 | 20.7 | 21.8 | 21.2 | 60% | 41% |
| Oregon | 20.8 | 19.8 | 20.1 | 21.9 | 20.9 | 13% | 40% |
| Minnesota | 20.6 | 19.1 | 20.4 | 21.4 | 21.1 | 68% | 39% |
| New Mexico | 20.6 | 19.6 | 19.7 | 22.0 | 20.8 | 8% | 38% |
| West Virginia | 20.2 | 19.7 | 19.1 | 21.4 | 20.1 | 19% | 30% |
| Utah | 20.0 | 19.2 | 19.4 | 20.6 | 20.2 | 91% | 34% |
| Missouri | 19.8 | 18.7 | 19.2 | 20.7 | 20.0 | 70% | 32% |
| Alaska | 19.7 | 18.2 | 19.4 | 20.8 | 19.9 | 9% | 35% |
| Florida | 19.6 | 18.9 | 18.9 | 20.7 | 19.5 | 39% | 32% |
| Montana | 19.4 | 18.4 | 19.1 | 19.9 | 19.7 | 98% | 31% |
| North Dakota | 19.4 | 18.1 | 19.4 | 19.9 | 19.9 | 82% | 30% |
| Wisconsin | 19.4 | 18.4 | 19.2 | 19.6 | 19.8 | 95% | 31% |
| Texas | 19.3 | 18.1 | 19.0 | 20.0 | 19.6 | 22% | 30% |
| Nebraska | 19.2 | 18.2 | 18.9 | 19.6 | 19.4 | 100% | 29% |
| Kansas | 19.1 | 17.9 | 18.7 | 20.0 | 19.4 | 73% | 27% |
| Wyoming | 19.1 | 18.0 | 18.6 | 19.8 | 19.4 | 100% | 28% |
| Ohio | 18.8 | 17.4 | 18.7 | 19.5 | 19.2 | 72% | 27% |
| Tennessee | 18.8 | 18.3 | 18.2 | 19.2 | 18.8 | 100% | 26% |
| South Carolina | 18.7 | 17.4 | 18.1 | 19.6 | 19.0 | 35% | 26% |
| Arkansas | 18.5 | 17.9 | 17.7 | 19.1 | 19.0 | 92% | 23% |
| Kentucky | 18.4 | 17.7 | 17.8 | 19.0 | 18.6 | 100% | 23% |
| Louisiana | 18.3 | 17.7 | 17.5 | 18.7 | 18.6 | 100% | 22% |
| North Carolina | 18.3 | 16.8 | 18.2 | 19.1 | 18.7 | 91% | 25% |
| Alabama | 18.0 | 17.3 | 17.3 | 18.4 | 18.3 | 100% | 20% |
| Arizona | 17.7 | 16.8 | 17.7 | 17.9 | 18.0 | 99% | 21% |
| Mississippi | 17.7 | 17.0 | 17.3 | 18.3 | 17.8 | 100% | 17% |
| Hawaii | 17.5 | 16.1 | 17.3 | 18.3 | 17.9 | 68% | 19% |
| Oklahoma | 17.5 | 16.7 | 16.8 | 18.0 | 17.9 | 100% | 17% |
| Nevada | 17.2 | 16.0 | 16.8 | 17.8 | 17.6 | 100% | 17% |
| United States | 19.4 | 18.4 | 18.9 | 20.0 | 19.6 | 36% | 30% |
“Met 3+” is the share meeting three or four of ACT’s College Readiness Benchmarks — 18 English, 22 Math, 22 Reading, 23 Science. It moves far less with participation than the composite does, which makes it the fairer column to compare states on.
Questions people actually ask
- How is the ACT composite calculated?
- Add the four section scores — English, Math, Reading and Science — divide by four, and round to the nearest whole number. A half rounds up, so 25.5 becomes 26. Nothing is weighted, and the Writing test does not enter the composite at all.
- What is a good ACT score?
- The national mean for the class of 2025 was 19.4, so anything above 20 beats most test takers. ACT's own bar is its College Readiness Benchmarks: 18 in English, 22 in Math, 22 in Reading and 23 in Science. Only 30% of the class met three or four of them.
- Which state has the highest ACT scores?
- The District of Columbia, at 27.6 — on 10% of its graduates. Connecticut and California follow, both testing under a tenth of their cohorts. These are rankings of who chooses to sit the test, which is why ACT's own table tells you to compare against states with a similar participation rate.
- Why do the states testing everyone score lowest?
- Because the average then includes every graduate rather than the ones applying to college. Across the 51 jurisdictions the correlation between participation and composite is -0.84. The nine states testing 100% of graduates average close to 18; that is not a statement about their schools.
- Does the Writing test count?
- No. Writing is optional, scored 2 to 12, and reported separately. It never enters the composite. A handful of programmes still ask for it, so check before deciding to skip it, but it cannot raise or lower the number on the front of the report.
- What is superscoring?
- Taking the best section score across several sittings and computing a composite from those. ACT reports a superscore automatically for students who tested more than once from September 2020 onwards. Whether a college uses it is the college's choice, and many now do.
- How does an ACT score compare to an SAT score?
- Through the official ACT/College Board concordance, which maps a composite to a total out of 1600. Roughly, a 19 sits near 1000 and a 30 near 1360, but the tables are not linear and the two organisations publish the authoritative mapping jointly. Report whichever score places you better; almost every US college accepts both.
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