Since 2002, nurses have annually outpaced every other profession as the most trusted profession, but their lead is narrowing amid decaying trust in healthcare workers, according to Gallup.
Gallup’s 2025 Most Honest and Ethical Professions Poll, which published results Jan. 12, recorded a 75% high and very high honesty and ethics ranking for nurses. After hitting a record high at 89% in 2020, the profession’s ranking has slowly declined while maintaining the No. 1 spot.
Other top-ranked professions in 2025 were military veterans, physicians and pharmacists. Members of Congress and telemarketers were among the professions that poll respondents trust the least, with 71% indicating low or very low trust in Congress members and 62% selecting the same for telemarketers.
The 2025 poll included 21 professions.
Since 1999, when Gallup added nurses to the poll — which began in 1976 — the profession has dominated as the public’s top-rated honest and ethical workforce. Shortly following 9/11, firefighters were chosen as the most trusted profession in 2001.
“Although nurses are held in the highest esteem, their latest ethics rating is near the 73% low for the profession and 14 percentage points shy of their record high in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Gallup said. “Similarly, the ratings of medical doctors and pharmacists have fallen 20 and 18 points, respectively, since peaking during the pandemic and remain below pre-pandemic ratings.”
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