The 5 most ethical professions, according to Americans — and the 5 least ethical; Quartz, February 2, 2026

Ben Kesslen, Quartz ; The 5 most ethical professions, according to Americans — and the 5 least ethical

A new Gallup poll finds that Americans believe car salespeople are more honest and ethical than members of Congress

"Every year, Gallup polls Americans on the most and least ethical professionals, asking people how they regard everyone from doctors to teachers to police officers.

The findings often reflect what’s happening in the country. Gallup said doctors and nurses scored all-time high ratings during the pandemic. Both have since fallen a little. Meanwhile, the poll's results show that Americans believe car salespeople are more honest and ethical than members of Congress, which certainly speaks to how everyday people regard politicians. 

Continue reading to see the five professions Americans deemed most and least honest and ethical."

Ethics Ratings of Nearly All Professions Down in U.S.; Gallup, January 22, 2024

 MEGAN BRENAN AND JEFFREY M. JONES, Gallup; Ethics Ratings of Nearly All Professions Down in U.S.

"Americans’ ratings of nearly all 23 professions measured in Gallup’s 2023 Honesty and Ethics poll are lower than they have been in recent years. Only one profession -- labor union leaders -- has not declined since 2019, yet a relatively low 25% rate their honesty and ethics as “very high” or “high.”

Nurses remain the most trusted profession, with 78% of U.S. adults currently believing nurses have high honesty and ethical standards. However, that is down seven percentage points from 2019 and 11 points from its peak in 2020.

At the other end of the spectrum, members of Congress, senators, car salespeople and advertising practitioners are viewed as the least ethical, with ratings in the single digits that have worsened or remained flat."

Nurses Retain Top Ethics Rating in U.S., but Below 2020 High; Gallup, January 10, 2023

 MEGAN BRENAN, Gallup; Nurses Retain Top Ethics Rating in U.S., but Below 2020 High

"Nurses continue to garner the highest ethics rating from Americans among a diverse list of professions, a distinction they have held for more than two decades. The 79% of U.S. adults who now say nurses have “very high” or “high” honesty and ethical standards is far more than any of the other 17 professions rated. Still, the current rating is 10 percentage points lower than the highest rating for nurses, recorded in 2020, when they were on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic and their ethics ratings soared.

Two other health-related professions that enjoyed similar bumps in their ethics ratings in 2020 -- medical doctors and pharmacists -- now rank second and third behind nurses, with 62% and 58% of Americans, respectively, rating them highly. And like nurses, both of these professions’ ethics ratings dropped significantly in 2021 and edged down further this year. All three are now below their prepandemic levels."

Military Brass, Judges Among Professions at New Image Lows; Gallup, January 12, 2022

LYDIA SAAD, Gallup ; Military Brass, Judges Among Professions at New Image Lows

"Gallup's annual rating of the honesty and ethics of various professions finds five of the 22 occupations rated this year at new lows in public esteem. While the majority of Americans continue to believe military officers have high ethics (61%), the score is down 10 percentage points since it was last measured, in 2017. TV reporters' ethics rating has fallen nine points to 14% over the same period, and judges' has declined five points to 38%...

The latest results are based on Gallup's annual Honesty and Ethics survey, conducted Dec. 1-16, in which Americans were asked to rate the honesty and ethics of different occupational groups as very high, high, average, low or very low.

Gallup first conducted its Honesty and Ethics poll in 1976 and has updated it annually since 1990. A handful of professions have been on the list every year, while Gallup asks about others periodically.

Nurses Still Lead Honesty and Ethics List

For the 20th straight year, nurses lead Gallup's annual ranking of professions for having high honesty and ethics, eclipsing medical doctors in second place by 14 points -- 81% vs. 67%."

Two New York nurses charged with forging Covid vaccine cards to earn more than $1.5 million; CNBC, January 29, 2022

Jessica Bursztynsky, CNBC ; Two New York nurses charged with forging Covid vaccine cards to earn more than $1.5 million

"Two nurses on New York’s Long Island are being charged with forging Covid-19 vaccination cards and entering the fake jabs in the state’s database, a scam that allegedly raked in more than $1.5 million."

Nurse who treated Pittsburgh shooter: 'I'm sure he had no idea I was Jewish' ; The Guardian, November 4, 2018

Martin Pengelly, The Guardian; Nurse who treated Pittsburgh shooter: 'I'm sure he had no idea I was Jewish'

"Mahler said he would not go into great detail, because of privacy rules. But he wrote that the gunman “thanked me for saving him, for showing him kindness, and for treating him the same way I treat every other patient.

“This was the same Robert Bowers that just committed mass homicide. The Robert Bowers who instilled panic in my heart worrying my parents were two of his 11 victims less than an hour before his arrival.

“I’m sure he had no idea I was Jewish. Why thank a Jewish nurse, when 15 minutes beforehand, you’d shoot me in the head with no remorse?

“I didn’t say a word to him about my religion. I chose not to say anything to him the entire time. I wanted him to feel compassion. I chose to show him empathy. I felt that the best way to honour his victims was for a Jew to prove him wrong. Besides, if he finds out I’m Jewish, does it really matter? 

The better question is, what does it mean to you?”

In conclusion, Mahler wrote: “If my actions mean anything, love means everything.”"

Rude Doctors, Rude Nurses, Rude Patients; New York Times, April 10, 2017

Perri Klass, New York Times; 

Rude Doctors, Rude Nurses, Rude Patients

"Just how much rudeness is there in the hospital, and who bears the brunt of it?

A few weeks ago I wrote about a study that looked at what happens to medical teams when parents are rude to doctors. In these studies of simulated patient emergencies, doctors and nurses working in the neonatal intensive care unit were less effective in teamwork and communication, and in their diagnostic and technical skills, after an actor, playing a parent, made a rude remark about the quality of the hospital."