Is 70 a Good ATS Score for Your Resume? What It Means

You ran your resume through an ATS checker and got a 70. Now you're staring at the number wondering if you should hit "apply" or spend another hour editing. The short answer: 70 is a solid, above-average score that lands in the "good" band. But it's not the whole story.

This guide explains exactly what an ATS score measures, what a healthy range looks like across real tools, and the five levers that actually move the number.

Is 70 a Good ATS Score for a Resume?

Yes. 70 is a good ATS score. It falls in the 70-84 "good" band, which means your resume is well-aligned with the job description you're applying to. You're clearing the bar most systems set for a competitive candidate.

But "good" is not "great." A 70 says your resume is competitive with room to improve. Push it into the 80s and you maximize the odds a recruiter actually sees your name near the top of the pile.

A few things worth keeping in mind about that number:

• Context changes everything. A 70 against a dense, highly technical job description is far stronger than a 70 against a generic posting with few required keywords. The harder the target, the more a 70 means.
• Scores are tool-specific. A 70 in one checker might be a 76 or a 64 in another. There is no universal ATS score, so don't treat the number as gospel.
• It's a diagnostic, not a verdict. The score tells you where to improve. It does not decide whether you get hired.

So if you're asking whether 70 is a good ATS score for a resume, the honest answer is yes, and you should still try to do better before you hit submit on a role you really want.

What Is a Good ATS Score? Score Bands and Benchmarks

A good ATS score generally falls at 70 or above. Most tools break the 0-100 scale into four bands: below 50 needs major work, 50-69 is fair, 70-84 is good, and 85-100 is excellent.

Why does any of this matter? According to a Jobscan study, 87% of Fortune 500 companies use ATS software to filter candidates before a human ever reads a resume. A weak score means your application gets buried before anyone sees your personality or your work.

Most experts recommend targeting 80+ before applying to competitive roles. A 70 gets you in the conversation. An 85 gets you toward the front of it.

Here's the catch that trips people up. The same resume and job description pair, run through four different tools, came back at 72, 81, 76, and 79 (Resume Optimizer Pro). Across 20 tests, the average spread was 11.4 points and the maximum was 18. Your 70 in one checker could easily read as a low 80 somewhere else.

ATS Score Ranges at a Glance

Score Band	What It Means	Recommended Action
Below 50	Poor. Resume is poorly aligned or hard to parse.	Rebuild formatting and keywords before applying.
50-69	Fair. Partial alignment with real gaps.	Tailor keywords and skills to cross into the good band.
70-84	Good. Well-aligned and competitive. 70 and 72 both live here.	Fine-tune to reach 80+ for tough roles.
85-100	Excellent. Strong keyword and skills match, clean formatting.	Apply with confidence.

Both 70 and 72 sit comfortably in the good band. There's no meaningful difference between them, which brings us to the next question.

Is 72 a Good ATS Score? (And Why Small Differences Rarely Matter)

Yes, 72 is a good ATS score. It sits in the same 70-84 band as a 70 and is functionally identical. If you're bouncing between a 70 and a 72 on two edits, you're chasing noise.

Here's why obsessing over two points wastes your evening: tool variance alone dwarfs that margin. When the same resume swings 11.4 points on average just by switching checkers, a 2-point difference inside a single tool tells you almost nothing.

Spend your energy on the things that actually change your outcome:

• Cross band thresholds, don't chase points. Moving from 69 to 75 matters. Moving from 70 to 72 does not.
• Treat the score as direction, not a grade. It's a compass pointing at your gaps, not a report card.
• Fix the biggest gap first. If your keyword match is dragging, that one change moves the number more than a dozen tiny tweaks.

So is 72 a good ATS score? Yes. So is 70. Move on to the fixes that get you into the 80s.

How Is an ATS Score Calculated?

An ATS score is a weighted composite, not a single measurement. Different components carry different weights, and each tool weights them differently. That's the entire reason four checkers can disagree by 15 points on the same resume.

cvtailor.ai uses a clear five-component model that totals 100 points. It's a useful map for understanding what any ats score is really measuring:

The 5 Components of an ATS Score

• Keyword Match (40 points): Alignment between the terms on your resume and the language in the job description. This is the heaviest lever by far.
• Skills Alignment (20 points): Whether the required hard and soft skills actually appear and are relevant to the role.
• Experience Relevance (20 points): How closely your past roles map to the target position.
• Overall Presentation (10 points): Parseable formatting. Single-column layout, no tables, text boxes, or special characters.
• Qualifications Match (10 points): Education, certifications, and hard requirements the posting asks for.

One detail most people miss: context beats keyword stuffing. A keyword buried in a full achievement sentence scores higher than the same word floating alone in a skills list. "Led cross-functional teams using Agile methodology" beats a bare "Agile" tag every time (Uppl.ai). The system reads the surrounding words and rewards evidence over labels.

What Is an ATS-Optimized Resume?

An ATS-optimized resume is one structured and worded so ATS software can accurately parse, rank, and surface it to recruiters. What does that look like in practice? A document that speaks the machine's language without becoming unreadable to the human who reviews it next.

The core traits are consistent across every credible source:

• Relevant keywords used in context, not dumped in a list.
• Quantifiable achievements (percentages, dollars, time saved).
• Standard section headings like "Experience" and "Education."
• Clean, single-column formatting with no graphics.
• Error-free, spell-checked text.

University career services spell out the formatting rules bluntly. Your resume should be single column with no tables, multiple columns, or text boxes. Skip special characters and accented words. Keep punctuation out of your name: no parentheses, slashes, or hyphens. And spell-check it, because an ATS won't recognize a misspelled keyword, and the human reading it after won't be impressed either (UIC Career Services).

That last part is the whole point. The goal isn't just to pass the software. It's to pass the ATS and stay readable for the recruiter who reads you next. Optimize for both or you've only done half the job.

How Do I Raise My ATS Score? 5 Proven Fixes

Raising your score comes down to strengthening the five components above. The most important rule first: a resume is scored against a specific job description, not in the abstract. Tailor per job or none of this works. Here's the order I'd tackle it in.

1. Match Keywords in Context

Keyword Match is worth 40 points, so start here. Mirror the exact terms from the job description and embed them inside achievement sentences. Don't just add "project management" to a skills list. Write "Owned project management for a 12-person team, delivering three launches ahead of schedule." Same keyword, far more weight. Pull your resume keywords straight from the posting's language.

2. Align Skills With the Job Description

Include both the spelled-out and acronym versions of key skills, like "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)." Systems match on different forms, so cover both. Prioritize the skills listed in the required-qualifications section of the posting over the nice-to-haves.

3. Strengthen Experience Relevance With Metrics

Reframe your bullets to highlight relevant, quantifiable achievements. Numbers do two jobs: they prove impact to the human and they signal relevance to the machine. "Reduced processing time by 30%" beats "responsible for processing." Cut the bullets that have nothing to do with the target role.

4. Fix Presentation and Formatting

Use a single-column layout with standard headings. Drop the tables, columns, text boxes, and graphics that break parsing. Run a spell check before every submission. This is the easiest 10 points on the board and the most commonly wasted.

5. Close Qualification Gaps

Surface the certifications, degrees, and licenses the ATS is scanning for. If the posting lists a must-have requirement you genuinely hold but didn't mention, add it. Don't fabricate anything, but don't leave real qualifications off the page either.

Why ATS Scores Differ Between Tools (Don't Panic Over One Number)

There is no universal ATS score. Every tool uses its own weighting and its own algorithm, so the same resume produces different numbers depending on where you check it.

The data makes this concrete. Across 20 resume and job description tests, scores showed an average spread of 11.4 points, with a maximum spread of 18 (Resume Optimizer Pro). That's not a bug. It's the nature of composite scoring with different weights.

So here's how to stay sane about it:

• Pick one tool and stick with it. Consistency lets you track real progress instead of comparing apples to oranges.
• Tailor per job and watch the trend. A jump from 68 to 82 on the same tool means something. A 76 here versus an 81 there means nothing.
• Remember what the score is for. It's a diagnostic aid, not a hiring guarantee. The human recruiter still makes the call.

A good score gets you past the gatekeeper. It doesn't get you the offer. Keep the number in its lane and it becomes genuinely useful.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good ATS score?

A good ATS score is generally 70 or above, which lands in the 70-84 "good" band and signals your resume is well-aligned with the job description. For competitive roles, aim for 80+. Anything below 50 needs significant rework before you apply.

How is an ATS score calculated?

It's a weighted composite of several factors. cvtailor.ai uses five components totalling 100 points: Keyword Match (40), Skills Alignment (20), Experience Relevance (20), Overall Presentation (10), and Qualifications Match (10). Keywords used in full achievement sentences score higher than standalone list entries.

How do I raise my ATS score?

Match keywords from the job description in context, align your listed skills with the required qualifications, add quantifiable metrics to your experience bullets, use clean single-column formatting, and surface any certifications the posting asks for. Tailor your resume to each specific job rather than reusing one generic version.

Is 72 a good ATS score?

Yes. A 72 sits in the 70-84 good band and is functionally identical to a 70. The difference between them is smaller than the normal variance between tools, so it's not worth chasing. Focus on crossing band thresholds instead, like moving from 69 to 75+.

What ATS score do I need to get an interview?

There's no guaranteed threshold, because the score gets you past the software, not through the interview. A score of 80+ maximizes the odds a recruiter sees your resume. From there, the human decides based on your actual experience and fit.