How Special is Your Snowflake?

 

By now you have probably taken numerous Enneagrams and MBTI tests online and you probably hope you’re pretty special and unique. Of course you are a unique person. No one else has had the same life experiences that you have.

However, as far as personality types go, we all pretty much fall into sixteen categories, and then of course there are the gender sub-types within those sixteen categories. Everyone hopes that they have “the rarest type”. I have seen it over and over again in various personality type groups on Facebook, even among types that are fairly common. So in all seriousness, which types are the most common? Which are the most rare?

What you read before is most likely wrong

First of all, there is a lot of conflicting information out there. I had to sort through actual data, general data that I could not use, data that was endorsed by the actual Myers-Briggs Foundation, and on and on.

Then there are myths floating around. I myself am an ENTJ female. There is a persistent myth that we are tied with INTJ females as the very rarest type out there. I have always found this a bit difficult to believe as I have always had other ENTJ friends in school, growing up. We seem to be a common type on television shows and movies. If we are so rare, why do we show up so much in pop culture? Are we that much more visible than, say, ESTPs or ESTJs? Those types are equally extraverted and strong-willed. Could it be that someone invented a myth?

I collected data from about half a dozen websites, three of which proved to be usable for statistical purposes:

Three Sources of Data

When the averages from these sites were determined, they yielded some surprises. Although Rational females are rare, we are not nearly as rare as common myth says we are, nor are ISFJ females as common as everyone thinks, either – they are not even the most common personality type. This chart is not exactly as it seems because the earth is populated with a lot more females than males. Keep that in mind, because the list below will reflect the 53% female/47% male population balance, whereas the chart does not.

It turns out that ESFJ is the most common type among females and the rarest type is a male INFJ.

How Special is Your Snowflake?

Using the figure that females constitute 53% of the population and males constitute 47% of the population, here is the exact breakdown:

ESFJ Females – 16.1% of females and 8.5% of the entire population
About one in six girls is an ESFJ.

If you are an ESFJ, you are the same MBTI type as Sarah Palin, the first woman to run for Vice President of the United States under the Republican Party.

ISFJ Females – 15.6% of females and 8.3% of the entire population
About one in seven girls is an ISFJ.

ISFJ Mother Teresa won a Nobel Prize for her charity work with orphans in India.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ISTJ males – 14.5% of males and 6.8% of the entire population
About one in seven boys is an ISTJ.

If you are ISTJ, you have the same MBTI type as George Washington, the First President of the USA.

ESTJ males – 12.7% of males and 6.0% of the entire population
About one in eight boys is an ESTJ.

If you are ESTJ, you have the same MBTI type as famous evangelical crusader Billy Graham.

ESFP females – 10.9% of females and 5.8% of the entire population
About one in nine girls is an ESFP.

If you are an ESFP, you have the same MBTI type as musician Katy Perry.

ENFP females – 8.9% of females and 4.7% of the entire population
About one in eleven girls is an ENFP.

MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow is an ENFP.

ISFP females – 8.3% of females and 4.4% of the entire population
About one in twelve girls is an ISFP.

Award-winning Celtic musician Enya is an ISFP.

ISTP males – 8.2% of males and 3.9% of the entire population
About one in twelve boys is an ISTP.

ISTP actor Tom Cruise gravitates toward action movie roles that reflect his personality.

ESTJ females – 7.8% of females and 4.1% of the entire population
About one in thirteen girls is an ESTJ.

ESTJ Dr. Condoleezza Rice managed the State Department for the Bush Administration while maintaining a passionate interest in sports and music. She is known as a highly logical and efficient administrator.

ISTJ females – 7.3% of females and 3.9% of the entire population
About one in fourteen girls is an ISTJ.

ISTJ Queen Elizabeth II has held together the traditions of the British Monarchy longer than any of the other monarchs in history.

ESTP males – 7.9% of males and 3.7% of the entire population
About one in thirteen boys is an ESTP.

ESTP George W. Bush liked to complete each day with a clean desk – mission accomplished!

ESFJ males – 7.0% of males and 3.3.% of the entire population
About one in fourteen boys is an ESFJ.

ESFJ Vin Diesel tells people he is actually a really nice guy – ESFJs believe it is important to be liked and to make others around them feel comfortable.

ESFP males – 6.6% of males and 3.1% of the entire population
About one in fifteen boys is an ESFP.

ESFP Leonardo Di Caprio can get inside many different personality types when he performs in movies, but usually plays strong extroverted characters with Gamma Quadra traits (ESFP or ENTJ).

ISFJ males – 6.4% of males and 3.0% of the entire population
About one in fifteen boys is an ISFJ.

ISFJ Mitt Romney believes in donating to his church and keeping his family unit strong. He became very upset when allegations were made during a political campaign in 2012 that he mistreated his dog on a road trip.

ISFP males – 6.2% of males and 2.9% of the entire population
About one in sixteen boys is an ISFP.

If you are a male ISFP, you probably have a unique sense of style like rock’n’roll legend Elvis Presley.

ENFP males – 6.1% of males and 2.9% of the entire population
About one in sixteen boys is an ENFP.

ENFP men are known to be charming, creative, to have strange marital attractions to nerdy women, and are rather infamous for being promiscuous. I’ll leave it at that.

ESTP females – 4.9% of females and 2.6% of the entire population
About one in twenty girls is an ESTP.

Anything for attention is the mantra of the ESTP, even though you are probably actually kind of a private person and don’t have a lot of close friends. Do what it takes to win.

ENTP males – 5.0% of males and 2.4% of the entire population
About one in twenty boys is an ENTP.

ENTP men were often bad boys as teens, experimenting with juvenile delinquent behavior. They often take unconventional career paths, but ultimately find their way to success in life.

INTP males – 4.8% of males and 2.3% of the entire population
About one in twenty-one boys is an INTP.

INTP Ben Stein revels in his geekiness. If you are an INTP male, you probably enjoy dazzling your friends with historical posts and trivia on social media.

ENFJ females – 4.4% of females and 2.3% of the entire population
About one in twenty-two girls is an ENFJ.

ENFJ Reese Witherspoon isn’t afraid to explore her dark side by playing dark characters from time to time. She continues to exude her positive energy to remain a likeable actress.

INFP females – 4.2% of females and 2.2% of the entire population
About one in twenty-four girls is an INFP.

Out of the imagination of INFP J.K. Rowling emerged a universe of witches and wizards and the Hogwarts Academy in the Harry Potter book series.

ENTJ males – 4.2% of males and 2.0% of the entire population
About one in twenty-four boys is an ENTJ.

ENTJ Jack Welch thinks ahead of the curve to anticipate crises before they happen in the business world.

INTJ males – 3.3% of males and 1.6% of the entire population
About one in thirty boys is an INTJ.

INTJ Mark Zuckerberg lives by his introverted intuition, and it has made him rich beyond his wildest dreams. Here he is with the INTJ death stare.

INFP males – 3.2% of males and 1.5% of the entire population
About one in thirty-one boys is an INFP.

Out of the rich imagination of another INFP came the worlds of Westeros and Essos in  the Game of Thrones. Who doesn’t love George R.R. Martin?

ISTP females – 2.8% of females and 1.5% of the entire population
About one in thirty-six girls is an ISTP.

Diva and ISTP Cher has definitely been very aware of  pushing the limits of her body over the decades.

ENTP  females – 2.8% of females and 1.5% of the entire population
About one in thirty-six girls is an ENTP.

ENTP Comedienne Amy Poehler loves to connect with her friends and fans as well as make people laugh.

INFJ females – 2.0% of females and 1.1% of the entire population
About one in fifty girls is an INFJ.

INFJ Natalie Portman once announced in a press release that she put away her Oscars somewhere out of sight “because they were idols”.

ENTJ females – 2.0% of females and 1.1% of the entire population
About one in fifty girls is an ENTJ.

ENTJ Adele is very serious about her music career and composes her own songs. Many ENTJs are very musical.

ENFJ males – 2.0% of males and 0.9% of the entire population
About one in fifty boys is an ENFJ.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson loves teaching others about science, combining the ENFJ’s love for mentoring and tinkering.

INTP females – 1.6% of females and 0.8% of the entire population
About one in sixty-two girls is an INTP.

Tina Fey melds her keen observations  and her scathing INTP criticism into a very rapier wit when she does her SNL skits. You are equally likely to torment your friends with game requests on social media or haunt Comic Con in elaborate Batgirl costumes.

INTJ females – 1.5% of the female population and 0.8% of the entire population
About one in sixty-six girls is an INTJ.

Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton is a female INTJ – doubly rare.

INFJ males – 1.1% of the male population and 0.5% of the entire population
About one in ninety boys is an INFJ.

Mohandas Gandhi was the rarest of the rare – a male INFJ. So was Carl Jung, the psychologist who invented the personality typing system. So there you have it!