What Is a Good Credit Score? Ranges, Averages, and How to Get There

What Is the Average Credit Score in America?

The average FICO score in the US is about 713 according to Experian's most recent consumer data, with FICO's own 2026 reading a point or two higher at around 714. Either way it sits comfortably in the "good" range  and the small recent dip, the first in over a decade, is largely down to the return of student loan payments and general affordability pressure.

What Credit Score Do You Need to Buy a House?

For a conventional mortgage, most lenders want a score of at least 620, though you'll get better rates meaningfully at 700 and above. Government-backed FHA loans can go lower - sometimes down to 580 (or even 500 with a larger down payment) - which is why they're popular with first-time buyers still building credit. Here's the part people underestimate: on a mortgage, even a small rate difference tied to your score can cost or save you tens of thousands of dollars over the life of the loan. Raising your score from "fair" to "good" before you apply is one of the highest-value financial moves you can make. Once you're shopping, our Mortgage Calculator lets you see how different rates change your monthly payment.

What Credit Score Do You Need to Buy a Car?

There's no hard minimum for an auto loan - people finance cars across the whole score range - but the rate you're offered swings dramatically with your number. A borrower in the "exceptional" range might get a rate several percentage points lower than someone in "fair," which on a typical car loan means a real difference in the monthly payment and total interest.If your score is on the lower end and the purchase can wait a few months, spending that time raising your score often saves more than any dealer discount. If it can't wait, a larger down payment and a co-signer can help offset a lower score.

What Affects Your Credit Score the Most?

Your FICO score is built from five factors, and they're not weighted equally. Knowing the order tells you where to focus:

The two big ones, payment history and utilization, make up 65% of your score together. That's good news, because they're also the two you can change fastest: pay every bill on time, and keep your card balances well below their limits.

How to Improve Your Credit Score

You don't need tricks or paid "repair" services. The score responds to a handful of consistent habits:

1. Pay every bill on time, every time. This is 35% of your score and the single most important thing. Set up autopay for at least the minimums so a late payment never sneaks through.
2. Keep your credit utilization under 30%. Using less than 30% of your total credit limit helps; under 10% is even better. Paying your card down before the statement closes can lower the utilization that gets reported.
3. Don't close your oldest cards. Length of history helps your score, so keep old accounts open (and used occasionally) even if you've moved on to better cards.
4. Apply for new credit sparingly. Each application can cause a small, temporary dip, so don't open several accounts at once.
5. Check your reports for errors. You're entitled to free reports from the three bureaus at AnnualCreditReport.com - disputing a genuine error can bump your score quickly.

Most of these work in the background once you set them up. My jump from the 640s to the 720s took about a year, and honestly, the hardest part was just paying attention for the first month.

Does Checking Your Own Credit Score Hurt It?

No - and this myth stops far too many people from tracking their progress. Checking your own score is a soft inquiry and never affects it. Only a hard inquiry, which happens when a lender pulls your credit for an application, can cause a small temporary dip. So check your score as often as you like; you can't hurt it by looking.

Good Credit Is a Tool, Not a Trophy

A good credit score isn't about bragging rights - it's about how much you pay to borrow for the big things in life. The difference between a 640 and a 760 can be tens of thousands of dollars across a mortgage, a car, and credit cards over the years. That's the real reason to care. And the two habits that move it most - paying on time and keeping balances low - are the same ones that keep the rest of your finances healthy. If you're carrying expensive credit card debt while trying to build your score, tackling that debt does double duty; here's how the debt snowball and avalanche methods can help you pay it down faster. Good credit and good money habits are the same project.

What Does a Specific Credit Score Mean?

People rarely look up a range - they look up the exact number they just saw on an app. Here's where the common ones land:

The pattern is worth internalising: the scale is not linear in value. Moving from 655 to 700 changes what you pay to borrow. Moving from 800 to 844 changes almost nothing. If your score is in the 600s, that's where the real money is.

Is an 800 Credit Score Good? (And How Rare Is It?)

Yes - 800 sits in the "exceptional" band and is about as strong as a score needs to be. But it's less rare than people assume. According to Experian data from June 2026, roughly 23% of US consumers have a FICO Score of 800 or higher - about one in four.

A genuinely perfect score is another matter: only 1.71% of consumers reach 850, up slightly from 1.67% a year earlier.

Here's what nobody tells you before you start chasing points: the ones above roughly 780 buy you almost nothing. Most lenders reserve their best pricing for the upper 700s, around 780 and up, so the practical difference between a 780 and an 830 is close to zero. An 820 isn't a rarer key to cheaper credit - it's the same key with nicer engraving.

Which is why the valuable jumps aren't at the top at all. They're crossing 670 into "good," and then reaching the 740s, where competitive rates genuinely begin.

Average Credit Score by Age

Scores climb with age, and the spread between generations is wide. Approximate averages from Experian's data:

Nearly 70 points separate the youngest adults from the oldest, and hardly any of it is about discipline. Length of credit history is 15% of a FICO Score, and it is the one factor nobody can speed up. A 26-year-old paying every bill on time cannot manufacture twenty years of history.

So if you're in your twenties and sitting in the 600s, you aren't behind your peers - you're where the maths puts you. Compare yourself against your own age band rather than the national average, keep the accounts open, keep the payments on time, and the gap closes by itself.

Is Your Specific Credit Score Good? A Score-by-Score Guide

Short answer: On the 300 to 850 FICO scale, 670 and up is "good," 740 and up is "very good," and 800 and up is "exceptional." Anything in the 580 to 669 band is "fair," and below 580 is "poor." So a 700 is good, a 640 is fair, and a 760 is very good. Where you land matters less than which side of 670 you are on, because that is the line most mainstream rates are built around.

People rarely search "what is a good credit score." They search their own number: is a 640 good, is a 672 good, is a 705 good. The honest answer is that a single point almost never changes a lending decision.

What changes it is the band your score sits in, because lenders price in tiers, not point by point. Here is where the common scores fall and what each one realistically gets you.

Two things to read from that table. First, the US average FICO is 713, so a score in the low 700s is squarely normal, not exceptional. Second, the dollar difference between "fair" and "good" is large, while the difference between "very good" and "exceptional" is small.

Experian's average new-car rates for Q2 2026 run about 13.5% at a 585, about 9.7% in the low 600s, about 6.2% once you clear 661, and about 4.4% once you pass 780. The expensive gap is the one below 670, which is exactly why closing it is the highest-value move for most people.

Is a 640 credit score good?

No, 640 is "fair," not good. You will be approved for most loans and cards, but at rates above what someone over 670 pays. The upside is that 640 is close to the line. Lowering your credit-card utilization and letting on-time payments age are often enough to reach the "good" band within a few months.

Is a 672 credit score good?

Yes, barely. A 672 just clears the 670 "good" threshold, so mainstream approvals and solid rates are available. It is at the lower end of good, so you will not see the best everyday pricing yet, but you are out of the "fair" penalty zone.

Is a 705 credit score good?

Yes. A 705 is comfortably in the "good" band and sits just under the US average of 713. You will qualify for most credit products at competitive, if not best-in-class, rates. Pushing past 740 is what opens the "very good" pricing tier.

Is a 753 credit score good?

Yes, a 753 is "very good." It is above the national average and earns very competitive rates on cards, auto loans, and mortgages. The remaining gap to "exceptional" (800+) buys a small cushion rather than a meaningfully lower rate, because most lenders' best pricing tier starts around 780.

What about a score below 580?

Scores under 580 are "poor." Approvals are harder and often come with deposits, co-signers, or the highest rate tiers. This is not permanent. Because payment history (35%) and amounts owed (30%) drive two-thirds of a FICO score, the two moves that help fastest are never missing a due date and getting card balances down. For a step-by-step plan, see our guide on where credit scores start and how to build from scratch.

Is a 668 credit score good?

Not quite. A 668 is the top of the "fair" band, two points under the 670 line where "good" begins. In practice almost nothing changes between a 668 and a 672 — lenders price in tiers, not single points, and both land in the same auto-loan pricing tier at roughly 6.2% on a new car. What does change is the handful of automated approval rules set exactly at 670. If you are at 668, the cheapest way over the line is lowering your card balances before the statement closes, because utilization updates faster than anything else on your file.

Is a 682 credit score good?

Yes. A 682 is in the "good" band (670–739), so mainstream credit cards, auto loans and mortgages are available at reasonable rates. It is still in the lower half of good, so you are not seeing the best everyday pricing — that tends to start around 740 and again near 780. A 681 is the same answer; one point does not move a lending decision.

Is a 692 credit score good?

Yes, and it is close to typical. A 692 is comfortably "good" and sits just under the US average FICO Score of 713. You will qualify for most everyday credit without penalty pricing. The next real step up is 740, where the "very good" tier begins.

Is a 746 credit score good?

Yes - a 746 is "very good," not just good. It clears the 740 threshold, so you are past the point where rates stop being the main obstacle. Worth knowing: the best-priced tier at most lenders starts nearer 780 than 800, so the remaining gap is smaller than people assume. Our guide to what an 800 credit score actually gets you covers that last stretch.

Our take: stop chasing a specific number. The only line that changes your pricing in a big way is 670, and the next one is roughly 780. If you are under 670, closing that gap is the best return on effort you can get in personal finance. If you are already over 740, you have essentially won the rate game; more points mostly buy bragging rights. For the mechanics of getting to the top tier, read what an 800 credit score actually gets you, and use our credit card payoff calculator to see how fast lowering a balance can move your utilization.