Objective We sought to compare age-related performance on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) across the adult lifespan in an asymptomatic, presumably normal, sample. Background The MMSE is the most commonly used brief cognitive screening test; however, the MoCA may be better at detecting early cognitive dysfunction. Methods We gave the MMSE and MoCA to 254 community-dwelling participants ranging in age from 20 to 89, stratified by decade and we compared their scores using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. Results For the total sample, the MMSE and MoCA differed significantly in total scores as well as in visuospatial, language, and memory domains (for all of these scores, P <0.001). Mean MMSE scores declined only modestly across the decades; mean MoCA scores declined more dramatically. There were no consistent domain differences between the MMSE and MoCA during the 3rd and 4th decades; however, significant differences in memory (P <0.05) and language (P <0.001) emerged in the 5th through 9th decades. Conclusions We conclude that the MoCA may be a better detector of age-related decrements in cognitive performance than the MMSE, as shown in this community-dwelling adult population.