Do we know Elon Musk’s IQ?

With Donald Trump’s January inauguration, Elon Musk successfully became one of the most important people in the United States. 

The influence he will wield over American politics, policy, and even foreign policy over the next four years is massive, and he’s already ditching any illusion of impartiality. The man threw out a Nazi salute in the immediate wake of Trump’s inauguration, for God’s sake — emboldened isn’t a strong enough word.

As Musk revels in the nearly-unchecked power he’s been handed, despite the fact that he’s completely unelected, his supporters are foaming at the mouth. They don’t care about the salute — it was just an “awkward gesture,” guys — they don’t care about the clear bias toward billionaires, and they don’t care that Musk is already using Donald as a stepping stool on his way up the ladder. Like everyone else Trump surrounds himself with, Musk has his own interests — and only his own — at heart, and he won’t be distracted by the silly complaints of desperate Americans. 

That’s not how the rich stay rich, and Musk is nothing if not dedicated to the goal of staying impossibly, sickeningly wealthy. He’s the richest man in the world, his net worth is only set to swell over the coming years, and it’s largely due to some very wise business decisions on his part. Musk has been well-known, for years, for being a distinctly clever entrepreneur, but is he actually a genius like his followers claim?

Elon Musk’s much-debated IQ

What’s this @DOGE thing people keep talking about? Personally, I’ve never heard of it 🤷‍♂️

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 14, 2025

Subscribers to Elon Musk’s mini-cult believe him to be among the smartest humans to ever walk this earth. His success speaks for itself, after all: He owns multiple businesses, many of which deliver innovations across sectors, and he’s the richest man on the planet. It’s hard not to be impressed.

But there are caveats to many of Musk’s successes. There’s no denying that he’s a capable businessman and a wise investor, but he often gets credit for things he didn’t actually do. 

So many of the feathers in Musk’s cap came about due to money, not personal innovation. He used those billions he’s built over the years to buy up various companies, invest in technologies, and generally spread his brand far and wide. Were some of those innovations genuinely impressive and helpful to the furtherment of technology? Absolutely. But did he single-handedly make them happen? Absolutely not.

Then Musk does things that only a completely brainless worm would engage in. He throws up the Nazi salute, names his government agency after a meme, and boosts his own misunderstanding of anatomy for the world to see on his toxic cesspit of a social media site. None of which seem like something a smart (or sane) person would do, yet they’re perpetrated by supposedly among the smartest men on the planet?

In reality, we don’t truly know Musk’s IQ. It’s not public knowledge — which, for an egoist like Musk, makes one ponder — but plenty of estimates have been made. And those estimates assume that Musk really is a fair bit smarter than the rest of us, with an IQ falling somewhere between 150 and 155, which makes him above average in the brains department.

An IQ of 145 or more is considered genius level, so those estimates are proclaiming Musk a genius. They could even be right, given Musk’s clear talent where business is concerned, but he’s certainly not wielding those smarts for good. Instead, he’s using them to worm his way into an unelected political position, further enrich himself, and aid Trump in America’s slow descent into fascism.