AFQT categories: from Category I to Category V
Type an AFQT percentile to see its category, whether it reaches the incentive bands and whether it falls in Category IV, which the law caps.
AFQT 45 falls in
Category IIIB
Range 31 to 49
| Incentive categories (IIIA or higher) | No, 5 points short |
| Category IV (10 to 30), capped by law | No |
| Branches whose minimum you meet | 4 / 4 |
Categories from Official ASVAB; Category IV cap and the 31 floor for non-graduates from 10 U.S.C. § 520.
| Category | Percentiles |
|---|---|
| I | 93 - 99 |
| II | 65 - 92 |
| IIIA | 50 - 64 |
| <strong>IIIB</strong> | 31 - 49 |
| IVA | 21 - 30 |
| IVB | 16 - 20 |
| IVC | 10 - 15 |
| V | 1 - 9 |
Prepared by Radif Partners · Method · official sources read on October 22, 2026 · published formulas and tables
The services group AFQT percentiles into eight bands. Category I covers 93 to 99, Category II 65 to 92, Category IIIA 50 to 64, Category IIIB 31 to 49, Category IVA 21 to 30, Category IVB 16 to 20, Category IVC 10 to 15 and Category V 1 to 9. Official ASVAB states that applicants in Category IIIA or higher may qualify for enlistment incentives. At the other end, 10 U.S.C. § 520 caps active duty recruits from Category IV, the band from 10 to 30, at 4 percent a year, unless the Secretary of Defense raises the limit. The same law requires a score of at least 31, the bottom of Category IIIB, from anyone without a high school diploma. In sums of standard scores, IIIB starts at 183, IIIA at 202, II at 216 and I at 249.
The eight bands
The table gives each category with its AFQT range, as published by Official ASVAB on its enlistment eligibility page, and the range of sums of standard scores that produces it in the 1997 conversion table. A category is only a label on the percentile: two applicants with the same AFQT always fall in the same band, whatever their subtests.
| Category | AFQT percentiles | Sum AR + MK + 2VE |
|---|---|---|
| I | 93 - 99 | 249 or more |
| II | 65 - 92 | 216 - 248 |
| IIIA | 50 - 64 | 202 - 215 |
| IIIB | 31 - 49 | 183 - 201 |
| IVA | 21 - 30 | 171 - 182 |
| IVB | 16 - 20 | 163 - 170 |
| IVC | 10 - 15 | 152 - 162 |
| V | 1 - 9 | 109 - 151 |
What the law says about the low bands
Section 520 of title 10 of the United States Code, read on the Cornell Legal Information Institute site, sets two rules. The first limits the persons whose AFQT falls between the 10th and 30th percentiles, Category IV, to 4 percent of the active duty enlistees of each service in a fiscal year; the Secretary of Defense may raise that limit up to 20 percent at a service's request. The second requires that a person who is not a high school graduate score at or above the 31st percentile. The law also says a lack of diploma alone may not block an enlistment needed to meet strength targets. The services then set their own floors, above the legal ones for most applicants: the minimum score page lists them.
Which band is this AFQT?
AFQT 31 falls in
Category IIIB
| Incentive categories (IIIA or higher) | No, 19 points short |
| Category IV (10 to 30), capped by law | No |
| Branches whose minimum you meet | 3 / 4 |
What the upper bands bring
Official ASVAB writes only that Category IIIA or higher may qualify for incentives. The services decide which incentives, for which jobs and for how long, and they change them often, so this site does not list amounts. What is stable is the logic: recruits in Categories I to IIIA are the ones every service needs most, which gives them more room to choose a job, a station or a contract length. If you are a few points below 50, the good score page shows how many points of sum separate you from it.
Bands and job choice
A category does not open or close a job by itself. A Category II applicant with a low Mechanical percentile may still miss a mechanical job, while a Category IIIB applicant with strong technical subtests may qualify for it. Jobs read line scores. Use the category to know where you stand for enlistment, then the AFQT calculator and the line score tools to see what is open.
Moving up a band
The band edges are fixed sums, so the effort to change band is measurable. From the top of IIIB, a percentile of 49, one or two points of sum can be enough to reach IIIA; from the middle of IIIB, ten points or more may be needed. Remember that VE counts twice: a VE gain of three points adds six to the sum. Retests follow fixed waiting periods, a month for the first two and then six months, and a jump of 20 AFQT points or more within six months leads to a confirmation test, so plan the retest once the practice scores are stable.
Where the categories come from
The bands have kept the same percentile limits through changes of scale, which lets the services compare the quality of recruits over decades. Because the percentiles refer to the 1997 youth sample, a category describes where an applicant would have stood in the general population of young adults, not among other recruits. That is why the services can report, year after year, the share of their recruits in Categories I to IIIA and in Category IV: the yardstick does not move. For you, the practical reading is short: below 31 most doors are closed, from 31 they open, from 50 you are in the group the services court.