MBTI Types by Percentage of Population: Rarest to Most Common

Quick answer: the rarest and most common MBTI types

The most widely cited US figures put INFJ as the rarest Myers-Briggs type, at about 1.5% of the population. ENTJ (about 1.8%) and INTJ (about 2.1%) come next. At the other end, ISFJ is the most common type at about 13.8%, ahead of ESFJ (about 12.3%) and ISTJ (about 11.6%).

Treat these numbers as estimates. They come from US samples collected decades ago, and different datasets rank the rarest types a little differently. The overall pattern holds up well, though: intuitive types (the ones with an “N”) are much less common than sensing types (the ones with an “S”).

All 16 MBTI types by percentage of the US population

Here are the 16 types from rarest to most common. The percentages are the ones published with the MBTI Manual (third edition) and repeated by the official publisher’s sites and many career sites.

Nicknames differ from one publisher to another. The ones above mix the most familiar labels, and none of them is part of the official MBTI instrument.

The percentages add up to a little over 100% because each one is rounded. Men and women differ a lot here, and some types are several times more common in one gender than the other. We cover that in our breakdown of MBTI types by gender.

Where these percentages come from

According to the official publisher’s consumer site, the figures combine several US samples of people who took the actual MBTI assessment rather than a free online quiz:

• the Center for Applications of Psychological Type (CAPT) database, which holds a very large number of records gathered over many years
• a national representative sample collected by the Myers-Briggs Company (then CPP) for the MBTI Manual
• a smaller sample from the Stanford Research Institute (SRI)

Keep three limits in mind when you read the table:

1. It’s US data. The distribution may differ in other countries, and the table doesn’t tell you anything about the global population.
2. It’s old. Most of the data was collected in the 1990s or earlier. Newer data released by the publisher reportedly shuffles the very rarest types a little, and some samples put ENTJ below INFJ.
3. Types are self-reported preferences. The MBTI sorts people by which answers they choose. It doesn’t measure anything biological, so the numbers describe how people answer the questionnaire.

The four rarest types

All four of the rarest types share two letters: N (Intuition) and J (Judging). In type theory, every NJ type leads with or strongly uses Introverted Intuition, a mental process focused on patterns, meanings and where things are heading. Taken together, the NJ types make up only about 8% of the US population in this data.

INFJ (about 1.5%)

INFJs are usually described as insightful, idealistic and private. They combine a focus on meaning with real concern for other people. Several things make them rare: they are Intuitive in a Sensing-majority population and Introverted, and they pair the Feeling preference, which is more common in women, with the Judging preference. Male INFJs are especially rare, at roughly 1.3% of men in the published data.

ENTJ (about 1.8%)

ENTJs are described as decisive, strategic and comfortable taking charge. The type is uneven between genders: in the published US data it makes up about 2.7% of men but fewer than 1% of women. Some newer samples put ENTJ as the single rarest type.

INTJ (about 2.1%)

INTJs are known for independent, long-range thinking and high standards. Like ENTJ, the type shows a large gender gap: about 3.3% of men and under 1% of women. That makes INTJ one of the two rarest types for women.

ENFJ (about 2.5%)

ENFJs are warm, persuasive and focused on helping other people grow. They are rarer than many people expect for such an outgoing type. In the published data they are especially uncommon among men, at about 1.6%.

The most common types

The three most common types are all Sensing–Judging (SJ). Together they account for over a third of the US population.

• ISFJ (about 13.8%): dependable, caring and detail-minded. It’s the most common type overall and especially common among women, at nearly 1 in 5.
• ESFJ (about 12.3%): sociable, organized and attentive to other people’s needs.
• ISTJ (about 11.6%): responsible, practical and methodical. It’s the most common type among men in the published data.

Being common says nothing good or bad about a type. It just means that type’s way of approaching the world is widely shared.

How the four preferences split

Looking at the type table one letter at a time explains most of the rarity pattern. In the same US data the splits are roughly:

The Sensing–Intuition split is the lopsided one. About three in four people prefer Sensing, so any type with an N starts out at a disadvantage. That’s why every type in the bottom six of the ranking is an intuitive type.

Rarity by temperament group

Many writers group the 16 types into four temperaments, following the approach popularized by David Keirsey. Adding up the table above gives roughly these shares:

The NT group is the smallest, at roughly one person in ten. The SJ group is close to half the population.

How rare is the ESFP personality type?

ESFP isn’t rare. At about 8.5% of the US population, it ranks around sixth most common out of 16. It’s more common among women (about 10%) than men (about 7%). ESFPs, often called Entertainers or Performers, are usually described as lively, spontaneous and people-focused, and those traits fit a Sensing type well.

Some online lists put ESFP among the rarest types. Those lists usually draw on self-selected quiz takers rather than representative samples, which we explain below.

Why are some types rarer than others?

Nobody fully knows why the distribution looks the way it does, but a few explanations come up again and again:

• Preferences combine. Even a modest skew on one letter (such as S over N) multiplies across four letters, so some combinations end up small.
• Culture may reinforce certain preferences. The publisher’s own writers have noted that American culture tends to reward behavior associated with Extraversion, Sensing, Thinking and Judging. People may develop or report those preferences more readily.
• Gender norms affect answers. The Thinking–Feeling split differs sharply between men and women, which pushes some types (such as INTJ and ENTJ for women, or INFJ and ENFJ for men) very low within one gender.
• Some traits are partly heritable. Personality research suggests broad traits are partly genetic and partly environmental. The MBTI isn’t a genetic test, though, and nobody has shown a direct biological cause for any type’s frequency.

Why other rankings disagree

If you’ve seen a ranking that says ENFP is the rarest type, or one where INFP is the most common, these are the usual reasons:

• Self-selected online samples. People who take free personality quizzes, and especially people who share their results in forums, aren’t a random cross-section of the population. In online communities, intuitive types seem to be heavily overrepresented.
• Different models. 16Personalities, the most popular free test, uses its own model that blends MBTI-style letters with Big Five–style traits and adds an Assertive/Turbulent dimension. Its user statistics aren’t comparable to official MBTI data.
• Invented figures. Some listicles publish numbers with no clear source, such as treating “INFJ-T” as a separate type with its own percentage. If a ranking doesn’t name its data source, be skeptical of it.
• Different countries and years. Samples from other countries and later decades can legitimately differ from the older US figures.

Does it matter if your type is rare?

Rarity is a description, not a ranking of worth. A rare type isn’t smarter, more gifted or more “special.” We look at the intelligence question in our guide to whether any MBTI type is the smartest.

Being a rare type can still have real effects on how life feels day to day. People with less common types sometimes say they feel out of step with classmates or coworkers, or that they found it hard to meet people who think the way they do. People with common types may find it easier to fit in, but they can be overlooked as “typical.” Both experiences are normal.

You may also be interested in other ways people rank the types, such as friendliness, sensitivity and open-mindedness, or which type is the quietest. These rankings rest on opinion and stereotype rather than population data, so take them more lightly.

FAQ

How rare is your type of personality?

Find your type in the table above. As a rough guide, anything under about 3% (INFJ, ENTJ, INTJ, ENFJ) counts as rare, 3–6% (ENTP, INTP, ESTP, INFP, ISTP) as uncommon, and anything above about 8% as common.

What are the top 5 rarest personality types?

In the widely cited US data, the five rarest MBTI types are INFJ, ENTJ, INTJ, ENFJ and ENTP, in that order. ENTP and INTP are within about 0.1 percentage points of each other, so their order can flip from one sample to the next.

What is the hardest MBTI type to be?

No type is objectively harder to be. People often name INFJ and INTJ, mostly because rare types can feel misunderstood. A type’s difficulties depend heavily on your environment, though. An introverted feeler may struggle in a sales-driven office, and an outgoing explorer may struggle in a slow, rule-heavy job.

How common is MBTI testing?

The MBTI is one of the most widely used personality questionnaires in the world, especially in workplace training and career counseling. The publisher reports that millions of people take it each year. Many psychologists still prefer trait models such as the Big Five for research, because those models have stronger evidence behind them.

Can your MBTI type change over time?

According to MBTI theory, your underlying type stays stable, but your test results can and often do shift. We explain why in can your MBTI type change over time?

What MBTI type are famous people like Elon Musk or Donald Trump?

Public figures’ types are almost always guesses made by fans or commentators. Different sources assign the same person different types, so treat celebrity typings as entertainment rather than data.