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The rarest personality types, ranked

ISFP is the rarest of the 16 personality types in our reference group: 4.0% of 135,965 people read this way, against 10.1% for ENFJ, the most common.

ISFP 4.0%16ISFP4.0%ENTJ 4.3%15ENTJ4.3%ESFP 4.9%14ESFP4.9%ESTJ 5.1%13ESTJ5.1%INTJ 5.4%12INTJ5.4%ESTP 5.5%11ESTP5.5%ENTP 5.5%10ENTP5.5%INFP 5.6%9INFP5.6%INFJ 5.8%8INFJ5.8%ISFJ 6.2%7ISFJ6.2%ISTJ 6.9%6ISTJ6.9%INTP 6.9%5INTP6.9%ISTP 7.2%4ISTP7.2%ESFJ 8.2%3ESFJ8.2%ENFP 8.3%2ENFP8.3%ENFJ 10.1%1ENFJ10.1%

Shares come from the reference group of this test (people who took a public research questionnaire online, mostly aged 16 to 39), with each letter cut at the group's middle. They are not census figures, and other tests cut letters differently, so their rankings differ.

All 16 types in the reference group

RankTypeAllWomenMen
1ENFJ The Guide10.1%10.7% #19.3% #2
2ENFP The Firefly8.3%8.8% #37.5% #4
3ESFJ The Hearth8.2%10.0% #25.7% #11
4ISTP The Climber7.2%6.3% #68.4% #3
5INTP The Alchemist6.9%5.0% #119.6% #1
6ISTJ The Anchor6.9%6.7% #57.3% #5
7ISFJ The Confidant6.2%8.0% #43.7% #14
8INFJ The Lighthouse5.8%6.2% #75.2% #13
9INFP The Poet5.6%5.4% #95.9% #9
10ENTP The Spark5.5%4.5% #146.9% #7
11ESTP The Pilot5.5%5.2% #105.9% #8
12INTJ The Navigator5.4%4.2% #157.1% #6
13ESTJ The Conductor5.1%4.8% #125.5% #12
14ESFP The Bonfire4.9%6.1% #83.2% #15
15ENTJ The Strategist4.3%3.3% #165.7% #10
16ISFP The Artist4.0%4.7% #133.1% #16

Rarest personality type for women and for men

Among the 78,890 women in the reference group, the three rarest types are ENTJ (3.3%), INTJ (4.2%) and ENTP (4.5%) and the three most common are ENFJ (10.7%), ESFJ (10.0%) and ENFP (8.8%).

Among the 57,075 men in the reference group, the three rarest types are ISFP (3.1%), ESFP (3.2%) and ISFJ (3.7%) and the three most common are INTP (9.6%), ENFJ (9.3%) and ISTP (8.4%).

Does rarity change with age?

In the reference group, four types move most between the youngest and the oldest age band: ISFJ, INFJ, ESTP and ENFP. Each cell is the type's share within the band; the number under each band is how many people it holds.

Type16–19
42,465		20–29
59,927		30–39
19,730		40–49
9,473		50–99
4,370
ISFJ3.9%5.8%7.9%11.9%14.6%
INFJ3.7%5.6%7.3%10.2%13.0%
ESTP9.1%4.8%2.8%1.6%1.0%
ENFP10.9%8.3%5.9%4.3%2.8%

Why these numbers differ from others you have seen

Each letter here is cut at the middle of the reference group, so every letter splits the group close to half and half (the larger side holds at most 53.1%) and the 16 types land between about 4.0% and 10.1%.

Other sources use other questionnaires, other samples and other cut points, so their rankings differ from this one.

The reference group is people who chose to take a research questionnaire online: 58.0% of them are women and 89.8% are under 40. It is not a population sample.

What about the 64 types?

The fifth letter, Steady or Sensitive, splits the whole group close to half and half (49.8% have the Sensitive letter), but not every type evenly: within a four-letter type, the share with the Sensitive letter runs from 28.1% (ENFJ) to 73.2% (ISTP).

The sixth letter, Collaborative or Self-reliant, has no reference data yet, so no ranking of the 64 types is published.

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