Learn about the types of people who become legislators. This page goes into detail about the employment, gender, and ethnic ratios of the workplace.


Info

Gender Mix By Career Interest, 2024

This graph shows the distribution of females and males that are interested in becoming a legislator. Four or five star ratings on CareerExplorer indicate interest.

More men than women are interested in becoming legislators at a ratio of 1.63 to 1.

Info

Actual Gender Mix, 2024

62% of legislators are female and 38% are male.

Info

Gender Bias, 2024

This is one of the most compelling statistics we collect. Gender bias shows the difference between gender interest in being a legislator and the actual gender mix of people in the career.

If there is a significant difference, then it means there is a gender imbalance between those interested in becoming a legislator and those who end up becoming one.

In this case there are significantly more men interested in becoming a legislator than those actually working as one. It is hard to pinpoint the exact reasons why, but there are likely various forces at play, from changing interests over time to societal norms and biases.

Info

Ethnic Mix, 2019

The largest ethnic group of legislators are White, making up 57% of the population. The next highest segments are South Asian and Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish, making up 12% and 10% respectively.