Step 2 CK Score Percentiles: The 2026 USMLE Norm Table

Step 2 CK percentiles are one of the most searched numbers in board prep, and also one of the most misquoted. USMLE publishes a single official norm table in its Score Interpretation Guidelines, updated on August 17, 2026. Every figure below comes from that document. Where we add advice, it is our own, and we say so.

By Dr. Sahith Valluru. For The Boards Professor, founded by Dr. Sean Moazezi, DO. Published October 21, 2026. Updated October 28, 2026.

Step 2 CK percentiles at a glance

Checked October 28, 2026. The norm table changes every year; the linked documents are the authority.

Topic	Official figure	Source
Passing score	218, for exams on or after July 1, 2025	USMLE: results and scoring
Mean score	251, standard deviation 15 (2025-2026 academic year)	USMLE Score Interpretation Guidelines
Reference group	First-takers from LCME-accredited schools, July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2026 (67,824 examinees)	USMLE Score Interpretation Guidelines
Score error	Standard error of the estimate about 8 points	USMLE Score Interpretation Guidelines
Results	Typically within four weeks of the test date; allow at least eight	USMLE: results and scoring

1. Know what a USMLE percentile means

USMLE defines the percentile rank as the percentage of a reference group who scored lower than a given score. Its own example: a Step 2 CK score of 240 is at the 23rd percentile, which means 23% of the reference group scored lower than 240. The reference group is first-takers from LCME-accredited medical schools who tested between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2026 (N = 67,824). From the 2025-2026 academic year, Canadian schools were removed from that group.

Two consequences follow. First, if you are an international graduate, a DO student or a repeat taker, you are measured on the same scale but you are not in the reference group, so the percentile describes where your score would sit among U.S. and LCME first-takers, not among people like you. Second, the table moves every year, because USMLE drops the oldest year of examinees and adds the newest.

2. Look up your score in the official norm table

Scores are reported from 1 to 300. Here is the Step 2 CK column of the current table, in the 5-point steps USMLE publishes:

Source: USMLE Score Interpretation Guidelines, Table 2. USMLE lists 280 and above at the 100th percentile, and 200 and below at 0.

3. Put the passing score and the mean on the same line

The minimum passing score is 218 for exams on or after July 1, 2025 (USMLE results and scoring). On the norm table that sits between 215 (2nd percentile) and 220 (3rd), so nearly all LCME first-takers clear it. The mean has edged up each year: 249 for 2023-2024, 250 for 2024-2025 and 251 for 2025-2026, each with a standard deviation of 15.

Because the mean sits near 250, a score of 250 lands just under the middle of the table at the 44th percentile. Each 5 points near the middle moves you roughly 12 to 14 percentile places; out in the tails, the same 5 points barely moves the rank. That is why a jump from 245 to 255 looks dramatic in percentile terms while 270 to 275 does not.

4. Allow for measurement error before you compare scores

USMLE states the standard error of measurement for Step 2 CK is about 6 points, the standard error of difference about 8 points, and the standard error of the estimate about 8 points. In plain terms: if you re-tested without learning or forgetting anything, your score would land within about 8 points of the first one two times out of three. Two scores 4 or 5 points apart are not meaningfully different, even if their percentiles look far apart.

USMLE also tells programs to use scores alongside grades and evaluations, not as the only basis for decisions, and warns against comparing scores taken more than three to four years apart.

5. Do not convert between Steps

USMLE prints Step 2 CK and Step 3 percentiles in the same table, but says plainly that the scores are not comparable: a 220 on Step 2 CK is not equivalent to a 220 on Step 3. The same applies to old three-digit Step 1 scores, so there is no official way to "translate" a Step 1 score into a Step 2 CK target.

6. Understand why Step 1 has no percentile now

Since January 26, 2022, Step 1 has been reported as pass or fail only (USMLE pass/fail announcement), so the current guidelines carry no Step 1 percentiles at all. Any Step 1 percentile chart you see online describes three-digit scores from before 2022. For residency programs, that shifts the weight of a three-digit score onto Step 2 CK, which is why its percentiles get so much attention.

7. Turn the table into a target

This part is our advice, not USMLE's. Start from the passing score, then decide where you need to sit relative to the mean for your goals, and set a band rather than a single number because of the 8-point error above. Track it with full-length practice exams under real timing, and judge readiness on the trend across several of them, not one result.

For what counts as a strong score, see what is a good Step 2 CK score; for the official passing standards across exams, see USMLE and COMLEX passing scores; and for help building the plan, see Step 2 CK tutoring.

Step 2 CK score ranges at a glance

Grouping the norm table into bands is the quickest way to see what a score means. The percentile ranges below are read straight from the USMLE table at each band's edges.

What your percentile means for residency

Programs do not see your percentile; they see the three-digit score. The best official guide to how those scores line up with specialties is NRMP's Charting Outcomes for the 2026 Main Residency Match. Its Step 2 CK scores come directly from the USMLE program. For U.S. MD seniors, the median Step 2 CK score was 253 for those who matched and 244 for those who did not.

A median is the middle matched applicant, not a cut-off: half of the people who matched scored below it. Scores are one factor among many, and NRMP reports research, honours and other measures alongside them. See USMLE scores by specialty for every specialty in the report.

NRMP also reports the mean for each specialty, which sits a point or two from the median where scores bunch at the top or bottom. These are the 2026 figures for U.S. MD seniors who matched to their preferred specialty (NRMP Charting Outcomes 2026):

Specialty	Mean Step 2 CK, matched	Median	Matched applicants
Dermatology	258	258	356
Orthopaedic Surgery	258	259	628
Internal Medicine	252	254	3,236
Pediatrics	249	249	1,127
Family Medicine	244	244	1,148

Read a specialty mean against the norm table the same way as any score: a 252 sits a little above the 44th percentile, and a 258 a little below the 71st. Neither number is a cut-off.

Worked example: from a practice score to a percentile

Say your most recent NBME practice result estimates 245. NBME gives its CCSE estimate a standard error of 8 points (NBME), so a fair band is roughly 237 to 253. On the USMLE table, that band runs from just above the 15th percentile (235) to just above the 44th (250). The single number says "32nd percentile"; the honest reading is "somewhere between the mid-teens and the mid-40s". That is why one practice test should not decide your test date.

A study timeline built around the table

This timeline is our standard advice; adjust it to your clerkship schedule. For the official sample questions, see how to use the Free 120.

How the norm table has shifted

USMLE updates the table each year by dropping the oldest group and adding the newest, and the means show a slow rise: 249, then 250, then 251 across the last three academic years (USMLE). A rising mean means a given score can slip a little in percentile over time, which is why USMLE asks everyone to use the current table rather than an old chart.

When are Step 2 CK scores released?

USMLE says results for Step 1, Step 2 CK and Step 3 are typically available within four weeks of your test date, but that a number of factors may delay score reporting, so you should allow at least eight weeks when you choose a test date (USMLE results and scoring). USMLE also states that scoring is not expedited for any individual or group.

When the score is ready, the organization that registered you sends an email, and the score report stays on its website for about 365 days. After that, you can get your scores only as an official transcript, for a fee. USMLE does not give scores or outcomes by phone, email or fax.

Your Step 2 CK result is also reported to your medical school. If you do not want that, USMLE asks you to email webmail@nbme.org from your email account of record at least 10 business days before your test date, with a separate request for each exam.

When	What happens	Source
Within about four weeks	Typical time for the result	USMLE
Up to eight weeks	The time USMLE says to allow when planning	USMLE
About 365 days after the email	Score report removed; transcript only after that	USMLE
10 business days before the exam	Last day to ask that Step 1 or Step 2 CK results not go to your school	USMLE

Our advice: if a residency application or a program request depends on the score, count back eight weeks from that date, not four.

USMLE percentiles for every Step

Searches for "USMLE percentiles" usually mean one of three different things, because each Step is reported differently. Only Step 2 CK and Step 3 have percentile ranks in the current Score Interpretation Guidelines, and each has its own reference group and its own scale.

Sources: USMLE Score Interpretation Guidelines and USMLE results and scoring, checked October 28, 2026.

Step	How it is reported	Percentiles published?	Mean on the current table	Passing score
Step 1	Pass or fail only since January 26, 2022	No	None published	Pass/fail (196 on the old three-digit scale)
Step 2 CK	Three-digit score with pass/fail outcome	Yes	251, SD 15 (2025-2026)	218 (from July 1, 2025)
Step 3	Three-digit score with pass/fail outcome	Yes	227, SD 15 (2025)	200 (from January 1, 2024)

The Step 3 group is first-takers from LCME schools who tested between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2025 (64,576 examinees), so its percentiles cannot be swapped with the Step 2 CK column. A 240 is the 23rd percentile on Step 2 CK but the 80th on Step 3, and the Step 3 passing score of 200 sits at the 4th percentile of its group. The full Step 3 column is on our Step 3 percentiles page. COMLEX-USA uses a different scale run by NBOME; see COMLEX percentiles.