Video from a political rally authentically shows U.S. President Donald Trump saying he has an IQ of 1,775.
The clip as presented in some social media posts lacked context that made it clear Trump was not referring to his IQ when he mentioned the number 1,775 during a campaign rally speech. Rather, he was speaking about the “warrior dividend” his administration promised U.S. service members.
In early October, a claim (archived) circulated online that U.S. President Donald Trump said his IQ was 1,775.
IQ, or intelligence quotient, is a measure of a person’s relative intelligence. There are many different tests for IQ that usually assign the taker a number score. An IQ score of 1,775 would be remarkable, given that the Guinness World Records holder for highest IQ held a score of 228 before Guinness retired the record in 1990.
One Facebook user who shared the claim included a clip of Trump saying:
I’m a high-IQ person, unlike some other people I can tell you about. Very, the, among the highest IQs anywhere in the world, 1,775. And I said, you know, if we can scrap up $1 more we’ll be at 1,776, and that’s what we did.
The Facebook user captioned the video “Trump thinks his IQ is 1775.”
The clip of Trump speaking and his purported claim about his intelligence also circulated on X (archived) and Instagram (archived). Snopes readers contacted us, asking whether Trump really claimed his IQ was 1,775.
Trump did not claim to have an IQ of 1,775. Social media users appeared to misrepresent a portion of the president’s campaign rally appearance in Vandalia, Ohio, on Oct. 3, where he talked about the $1,776 “warrior dividend” his administration promised U.S. service members in December 2025.
The clip was authentic, meaning not generated with artificially intelligence or otherwise edited; Trump did say he had a “very high” IQ and that it was “among the highest IQ’s anywhere in the world,” immediately followed by saying “1,775.” However, the number referred to the amount federal officials initially suggested for the warrior dividend, not Trump’s IQ. This was clear when watching that section of Trump’s speech in full.
Therefore, we find social media users miscaptioned authentic footage.
Speaking in Vandalia on Oct. 3, Trump said (at 2:17:38, emphasis ours, archived)
And remember just recently, I, just to give you an example, just recently, I gave all members of the military $1,776. And everyone said that couldn’t be done and I did it. And you know, Bernie, that, when they put the number I said, “What would be the right amount? What would be something we can afford for our great military?” They came back with 1,775 and they put it on my desk. “Sir, we can do 1,7—” Can you believe this? “We can do 1,775.” they said. I said, “Wow.” Nobody saw it but me, I’m very proud of this, very intelligent. I’m a high-IQ person, unlike some other people I can tell you about. Very, the, among the highest IQ’s anywhere in the world, 1,775. And I said, you know, if we can scrap up $1 more we’ll be at 1,776, and that’s what we did, 1,776.
Considering the full context of Trump’s speech, it was obvious he was not referring to his IQ when he said the number 1,775.
Though Trump often calls himself a “high-IQ individual” (in fact, he did so while telling the same story at a rally on Sept. 16) his actual IQ is unconfirmed. Snopes has previously debunked rumors that he scored 73 on an IQ test during his time at the New York Military Academy as well as an article claiming the president’s IQ was 156.
