In the most widely quoted figures, published by the MBTI’s publisher from a large sample of the US population, INFJ is the rarest Myers-Briggs personality type at about 1.5% of people, followed by ENTJ and INTJ. The most common type is ISFJ at about 14%, followed by ESFJ and ISTJ. Figures vary between samples and countries, so treat them as rough estimates. Being rare or common says nothing about how good or useful a type is.
To think about where you might fit, try a free personality test. If the four letters are new to you, start with what the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is.
All 16 types from rarest to most common
These are the estimates most often quoted, rounded to one decimal place. Because of rounding they add up to slightly more than 100%.
| Rank | Type | Approximate share of people |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (rarest) | INFJ | 1.5% |
| 2 | ENTJ | 1.8% |
| 3 | INTJ | 2.1% |
| 4 | ENFJ | 2.5% |
| 5 | ENTP | 3.2% |
| 6 | INTP | 3.3% |
| 7 | ESTP | 4.3% |
| 8 | INFP | 4.4% |
| 9 | ISTP | 5.4% |
| 10 | ENFP | 8.1% |
| 11 | ESFP | 8.5% |
| 12 | ESTJ | 8.7% |
| 13 | ISFP | 8.8% |
| 14 | ISTJ | 11.6% |
| 15 | ESFJ | 12.3% |
| 16 (most common) | ISFJ | 13.8% |
The three rarest types together make up about 5.4% of people, a little more than 1 in 20. The three most common make up about 37.7%, more than 1 in 3.
Why some types are rarer than others
The main reason is the Sensing and Intuition pair. In the same figures, about 73% of people prefer Sensing and only about 27% prefer Intuition. Every one of the five rarest types includes an N for Intuition, and every one of the three most common types includes an S for Sensing.
The other pairs are more even. Extraversion and Introversion split roughly half and half, and Judging is only a little more common than Perceiving. So a type becomes rare mainly by combining Intuition with other less common preferences.
Worked example. Why is INFJ rarer than INFP? Both are Introverted, Intuitive and Feeling. The only difference is the last letter, and in these figures INFJ is 1.5% while INFP is 4.4%. INFP is about three times as common, since 4.4 ÷ 1.5 is roughly 2.9. So among introverted, intuitive, feeling people, Perceiving is far more common than Judging, even though Judging is slightly more common across the population as a whole.
The rarest personality type for women and for men
The same publisher’s data splits the results by gender, and the pattern changes because of the Thinking and Feeling pair. In those samples, more women than men prefer Feeling, and more men than women prefer Thinking.
- Among women, INTJ and ENTJ are usually reported as the rarest types, and ISFJ and ESFJ as the most common.
- Among men, INFJ and ENFJ are usually reported as the rarest, and ISTJ as the most common.
These are differences in averages across large groups. They say nothing about any individual, and plenty of women are INTJs and plenty of men are INFJs.
Why rare types can seem common online
If you spend time in online personality communities, types like INFJ and INTJ can seem everywhere. There are two simple reasons.
- Who takes the tests. People who enjoy reading about personality and ideas are more likely to take free online tests and talk about their results. That group leans towards Intuitive types.
- Different tests. Many free online tests use the same four letters but are not the official MBTI, and they may score people differently. Their results are not a fair sample of the population.
So the share of a type in an online forum is not a good guide to how common it is in everyday life.
Does a rare type matter at work?
No. Employers do not select people because their type is rare, and the MBTI’s publisher advises against using it to choose candidates. A rare type does not mean you are more talented, and a common type does not mean you are ordinary.
What a rare type can mean is that you sometimes see things differently from most of the people around you. That can be a strength in a team, as long as you explain your thinking. People with common types often find the opposite, that their preferred way of working is widely shared and easy to build on.
Rarity in other personality models
Rarity only makes sense for type models, where everyone is sorted into a category. In a trait model like the Big Five, everyone gets a score on each trait, so there are no rare types. There are only less common combinations of high and low scores.
To see all 16 types described, read the 16 Myers-Briggs personality types. And if you are getting ready for an employer’s questionnaire, our practice personality test uses the agree and disagree format they often use.
