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IQ Ranges of Occupations

Check out the results from a study on the IQ distributions of people:

Photo 21727

What I can't believe is how broad the ranges are… there are some Janitors that have higher IQs than some Doctors!


  1. Sureshbala saidWed, 26 Nov 2008 06:18:49 -0000 ( Link )

    Very interesting info. The strangest thing to me is the IQ range of Policemen & Detectives. It is in the range of 85-118 which is less compared to that of Computer Occs which is in the range of 91-129. Hey…my IQ is better than that of a detective. Some good news for me…

    By the way thanks a lot John. Please keep them coming….

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  2. rkmittal saidWed, 26 Nov 2008 07:04:12 -0000 ( Link )

    I am not sure about the reliability of the source from where this data may have been taken. It is difficult to believe (as shown by this data) that no occupation, other than just 4, viz. natural scientists, lawyers, college professors and doctors, has an IQ exceeding 130 (which represents about 98 percentile or top 2 % population)! By the way, I am a Civil Engineer and have a tested IQ of 142.

    Thanks for an interesting information any way.

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  3. oLahav saidThu, 27 Nov 2008 16:07:31 -0000 ( Link )

    Well, this is an average, so I’m not too surprised this distribution doesn’t cross 130 very often. But they don’t give a standard deviation or variance, so it’s hard to comment.

    I do find it very ironic that plumbers are fairly well below creative occupations, yet on average they earn quite a lot more. But on average I guess this order is what one would expect… doctors and lawyers near the top, janitors and truck drivers at the bottom. It’s important to remember- who cares about how smart you are, as long as you enjoy what you do, does anything else really matter?

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  4. KathyGreen saidThu, 27 Nov 2008 18:13:12 -0000 ( Link )

    Need more background on the testing-sample-size and demographics:number and type of questions:time of day administered: data analysis- and so on….. Very interesting study…..then there is the whole area of emotional intelligence…..as important?? measurable?? correlation to employment or IQ??

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  5. JohnPhilipGreen saidThu, 27 Nov 2008 19:12:36 -0000 ( Link )

    This graph was adapted from Figure 12 of Hauser, Robert M. 2002. Meritocracy, cognitive ability, and the sources of occupational success. CDE Working Paper 98-07 (rev). Center for Demography and Ecology, The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin. The figure is labelled “Wisconsin Men’s Henmon-Nelson IQ Distributions for 1992-94 Occupation Groups with 30 Cases or More”.

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