There is no single UBE passing score — the minimum depends on the state.
On the legacy UBE, passing scores run from 260 to 270 on the 400-point scale, no jurisdiction requires more than 270, and each jurisdiction's minimum applies to test-takers and transferred scores alike.
Connecticut, Idaho, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, Washington and the Virgin Islands now give the NextGen UBE, where announced cuts run from 610 to 620 on a separate 500–750 scale.
What UBE score passes in each state?
There is no single UBE passing score: each UBE jurisdiction sets its own minimum, and that minimum applies both to people who take the exam there and to people transferring a UBE score in.
NCBE coordinates the exam and publishes the score tables; each jurisdiction independently decides its own passing score, alongside who may sit and be admitted, educational requirements, character and fitness, retake limits and the rest of its admission rules.
The UBE total is reported on a 400-point scale, combining the MBE, the MEE and two MPT tasks at weights of 50%, 30% and 20% — how those pieces become one score is the bar exam scoring question.
What this page covers is the cut: the minimum each jurisdiction compares that total against.
Forty-two jurisdictions have adopted the UBE since 2011, and as of October 2026 NCBE's map shows 35 of them still administering the legacy exam.
Connecticut, Idaho, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, Washington and the Virgin Islands switched to the NextGen UBE with the July 2026 exam, so the legacy minimums shown for them apply to exams taken before the switch.
Which jurisdictions sit where is its own UBE jurisdictions question.
Here is NCBE's legacy UBE minimum score table, accessed October 2026, with Wisconsin added from its own court's pages:
| Minimum score | Jurisdictions |
|---|---|
| 260 | Alabama, Iowa*, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, Wisconsin† |
| 264 | Indiana |
| 266 | Connecticut, District of Columbia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Washington, Virgin Islands |
| 268 | Michigan |
| 270 | Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming |
* Iowa's minimum is 260 for the July 2026 and future legacy UBE administrations; it was 266 for exams before July 2026.
† Wisconsin, which first gave the UBE in July 2026, is not on NCBE's minimum score table; the Wisconsin court system's bar admission pages set its passing score at 260 and accept transferred UBE scores of 260 or higher.
The switchers' new numbers live on a different scale.
The NextGen UBE reports one score on a 500–750 scale, and NCBE's announced NextGen passing scores (accessed October 2026) are:
| Minimum score | Jurisdictions |
|---|---|
| 610 | Iowa, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, Washington |
| 612 | Guam, Palau |
| 614 | Indiana |
| 615 | Oregon (July 2026 exam only — rises to 620 after), Northern Mariana Islands |
| 616 | Connecticut, District of Columbia, Idaho, Kentucky, Maryland, Virgin Islands |
| 620 | Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont |
Most jurisdictions adopt the NextGen UBE between July 2026 and July 2028, so an announced score applies once that jurisdiction starts giving the new exam.
Kentucky's announced 616, for example, attaches to its first NextGen administration in July 2027.
Cut scores move — confirm before you rely on one
The lowest and highest UBE cut scores
At the bottom of the legacy table, the minimum is 260 — set for Alabama, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Utah on NCBE's table, and for Wisconsin by its own court.
Iowa's place in that band is new: its passing score dropped from 266 to 260 starting with the July 2026 exam.
At the top, 270 is the highest minimum on NCBE's table, listed for Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming.
The ceiling is 270, not 280 — no UBE jurisdiction requires more than 270, whatever older score-range summaries say.
On the NextGen side, the announced cuts span 610 at the low end to 620 at the high end, and NCBE says most jurisdictions have set passing scores between those two numbers.
That range lives on the 500–750 NextGen scale, not the legacy 400-point one.
No cross-scale math
Transfer minimums: the score you need coming in
On the legacy UBE, the transfer minimum is the same number as the sitting minimum.
Each UBE jurisdiction's passing score applies to its own test-takers and to people transferring a score in, so the legacy table above is also the legacy transfer table.
For NextGen transfers, NCBE's adoption table lists each jurisdiction's minimum transferred score in its own column, separate from its passing score, so check that column rather than the NextGen table above.
That rule has a useful flip side: a score that fell short where you tested can still transfer if it meets the receiving jurisdiction's passing score.
A total that misses a 270 state's cut can still clear a jurisdiction set at 266 — the receiving authority applies its own minimum to your score, no matter which jurisdiction graded your essays.
Transferred scores do not stay fresh forever, and the window varies by jurisdiction: 2 years at the short end (North Dakota, Rhode Island), 5 years at the long end (Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Texas), with most jurisdictions using 3 years.
Some jurisdictions list a longer window that applies with practice experience, so check the specifics with the board you are sending your score to.
NextGen scores are portable to jurisdictions that accept them, and some jurisdictions still giving the legacy UBE already accept transferred NextGen scores.
NCBE's adoption table — last updated September 25, 2026 — lists, for each jurisdiction, its first administration, its passing score, the date it starts accepting NextGen transfers and the minimum transferred score it applies.
Two early marks on that table: Florida and New York will not accept NextGen transfer scores from any administration before July 2028, and Hawaii is listed as not accepting them.
Clearing the transfer minimum is not an admission by itself.
The receiving jurisdiction runs its own character and fitness review, and some require a separate jurisdiction-specific law component — a test, a course, or both — before admission.
What a 270 means in practice
A 270 is the strongest legacy-scale result a cut-score table can ask for.
It meets the highest minimum on NCBE's table, which means it meets or clears the minimum in every jurisdiction still scoring on the legacy 400-point scale — subject, always, to that jurisdiction's other requirements: the score-age window, character and fitness, and any state-law component.
It is a weighted total, not a verdict on any one component: on the legacy exam the MBE counts 50%, the MEE 30% and the MPT 20% of the 400-point sum.
And it has no NextGen translation — NCBE says the legacy and NextGen scales should not be compared directly, so a 270 does not equal any NextGen score.
The window for earning one is closing on a schedule: NCBE says the legacy UBE will be administered through February 2028, and most jurisdictions move to the NextGen UBE between July 2026 and July 2028.
On the NextGen side the same logic applies with different numbers — clear the cut where you sat, or clear a lower cut somewhere that accepts your score.
And remember that cuts move in both directions: Iowa's went down, and Oregon's announced NextGen score goes up after July 2026.
Career information, not legal advice. Minimum passing scores come from NCBE's score tables and from each jurisdiction's admitting authority; confirm the current cut — and the transfer rules — with the bar admission authority where you plan to practice.