What Is a Good ATS Score? Score Ranges Explained

Most ATS systems filter out applications that score below a threshold of around 60 to 70 percent. Knowing what a good score looks like in practice helps you understand whether your CV is likely to reach a human reviewer.

The threshold that matters: 70 percent

Most employers set their ATS filtering threshold between 60 and 70 percent. Applications below this threshold are typically archived automatically, sometimes without anyone checking. Applications above it are passed to a recruiter queue. A score of 70 or above gives your CV a reasonable chance of reaching a human reader for most roles.

This does not mean a score of 70 is sufficient for every role. A competitive position with hundreds of applicants may have a higher effective threshold because the recruiter only has capacity to review a fraction of the applications that pass. Getting your score as high as possible, rather than just over the line, is always the better outcome.

What different score ranges mean in practice

A score below 50 typically means the ATS has found significant gaps: missing keywords from the job description, formatting problems that prevented sections from being read correctly, or absent section headings. These CVs are usually filtered out before any human sees them.

A score between 50 and 69 means the ATS can read your CV but the match to this specific job description is weak. A recruiter reviewing this pile manually might still find you, but in a competitive process you would likely be deprioritised.

A score of 70 to 84 is where most competitive applications land. The CV is compatible with the ATS, the key keywords are present, and the structure is readable. This is the functional threshold for most roles.

A score of 85 or above means the CV closely mirrors the job description in language and structure. This is achievable when you have tailored your CV specifically to this job posting rather than submitting a generic version.

Why the score is job-specific

The single most important thing to understand about ATS scoring is that it is not a fixed property of your CV. The same CV can score 82 on one role and 41 on a different role posted the same day, because the score measures how closely your CV matches the language and requirements of one specific job description. A high score on a generic "master CV" means very little. The score that matters is the one you get after tailoring your CV to each specific application.

What actually moves the score

The highest-impact improvements are using exact keywords from the job description (not synonyms), switching to a single-column layout, using standard section headings, and ensuring the specific skills listed in the job description appear in your skills section. These changes can move a score from the 40s to the 70s on the same job description in under an hour of editing.