America's Most Admired Professions

It takes a special breed to run into a burning building. So it comes as little surprise, particularly after the tribulations of Sept. 11, 2001, that the firefighting is now the most admired profession in America.

That’s according to a recent Harris poll that surveyed 1,020 adults to measure public perceptions of 23 common professions across the country. A full 63% of those polled rated firefighters as having a “very prestigious” job, a seven point increase from last year, when the “bravest” tied with scientists for the top spot.

Close behind this year are doctors, nurses and scientists, all of whom were deemed to have prestige levels of “very great” or “considerable” by at least 79% of respondents. Military officers also scored high, with 51% judging their prestige to be “very great” and another 30% as “considerable.”

See the most admired professions in America.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, Americans have become especially appreciative of first responders and others who serve and protect. “People who give service of most any kind tend to be greatly admired,” says Regina Corso, the research director at Harris International who oversaw the firm’s 30th annual poll.

That sentiment extends to the classroom, where an old saying that “those who can, do, while those who can’t, teach” isn’t backed up by this year’s Harris poll. With three-quarters of respondents rating the profession as having either “very great” or “considerable” prestige, teachers are clearly the apple of Americans’ collective eyes.

But that wasn’t always the case. The job didn’t register 50% or better on the “very great” prestige meter until 1998, after not having even reached 40% until the early ’90s. Teacher’s grades have improved by an average of 23 percentage points over the past 15 years.

On the flip side, no group has slipped and fallen more than lawyers, whose “very great” marks are down 15% over the same span, to 21%. One-fifth of those polled rated an attorney as having “hardly any prestige at all.”

Athletes and politicians rate in the middle of the pack, with positive and negative responses spread out pretty evenly.

And despite America’s reputation as a celebrity obsessed culture, Hollywood doesn’t rank very high on the country’s admiration list. A full 37% rated actors as having “no prestige at all,” giving that profession the lead role in that category. Only 12% considered an acting job as “very prestigious,” putting them near the bottom of the group alongside the likes of union leaders and, yes, journalists.

An interesting twist in the survey’s results are that none of the top-ten most admired jobs can be accurately described as being driven by the profit motive–quite a contradiction in a country that was built on it. The A-list is comprised of those who serve others, including engineers (they build things) and farmers (who “feed the world”).

People reserved their biggest thumbs-down for business executives, stockbrokers and real estate agents, even though it’s these free-market capitalists who drive the economy and create the tax dollars used to pay soldiers, police officers and fire fighters.

Why? It may be that those who seek fortune are to seem crass by appearing to support professions that support their own interests.

But others say there’s more to it than that. “As people gain economically, they develop more of an appreciation for those who take care of them, who make their own gains possible,” says Robert Billingham, a professor of human development at Indiana University.

He’s noticed a spike in volunteer work among students since the 2001 attacks, part of a greater sense of community that’s especially acute with the younger set. For their baby-boomer parents, “there’s a sense that there is a part of life they missed, which is a sense of responsibility toward others,” Billingham says.