Editor 's note : CNN.com has a business partnership with CareerBuilder.com , which serves as the exclusive provider of job listings and services to CNN.com . Let 's admit it : We all need to feel special sometimes . Well , if you 're a firefighter , scientist or teacher , you should . After all , a new Harris poll indicates that plenty of Americans already think you are . Firefighters have one of the most prestigious jobs , according to a new Harris poll . U.S. adults , according to a recent survey by Harris Interactive , see firefighters , scientists and teachers as the most prestigious occupations while bankers , actors and real estate agents are the least prestigious occupations . The 2007 `` Most Prestigious Occupations '' poll measured the public perceptions of 23 professions . Participants were asked to rank these professions as having `` very great prestige , '' `` considerable prestige , '' `` some prestige , '' or `` hardly any prestige at all . '' They could also opt not to rank them or say they were n't sure . Sixty-one percent of adults consider firefighters to have `` very great prestige , '' making this occupation the most prestigious on the list . Five other occupations were ranked as having `` very great prestige '' by over 50 percent of the adults surveyed : Scientists and teachers are considered very prestigious by 54 percent of adults , followed by doctors and military officers , who earn the prestige of 52 percent of Americans , and nurses , whom half of all adults consider very prestigious . Among the least prestigious occupations are real estate brokers , actors and bankers . Only 5 percent of survey participants ranked real estate brokers as very prestigious ; 9 percent gave actors this label , followed by 10 percent for bankers . Accountants , entertainers , stockbrokers , union leaders , journalists , business executives and athletes all also ranked low on the list : Less than 20 percent of adults consider any of the aforementioned occupations to have `` very great prestige . '' Consequently , five occupations are perceived to have `` hardly any prestige at all '' by at least a quarter of adults : stockbrokers ( 25 percent ) , union leaders ( 30 percent ) , entertainers ( 31 percent ) , real estate brokers ( 34 percent ) and actors ( 38 percent ) . Harris Interactive started conducting its `` Most Prestigious Careers '' survey in 1977 and included only 11 professions . The most significant change since the survey 's inception is that , with the exception of teachers and clergy , the perceived prestige of every one of the original 11 occupations has actually decreased over the years . The most drastic drop occurred among scientists , lawyers and athletes , whose prestige dropped by 12 points , 14 points and 10 points , respectively . Clergy members are considered prestigious by a percentage point more of the population than they were 30 years ago , while teachers ' perceived prestige increased by 25 percent . Understandably , the year-to-year changes are less drastic . Scientists ' perceived prestige has n't changed in the last year , and despite a significant jump from 1977 , teachers ' perceived prestige has increased by only two percentage points . Bankers and athletes showed the most drastic drop in prestige : Both are down seven points from last year . The profession that saw the biggest increase in prestige from 2006 was that of farmers , who rose five points . While the survey measures the degree to which certain occupations are considered prestigious , it offers no indication as to why people consider certain occupations more prestigious than others . For more information and to see the complete results of the survey , visit http : //www.harrisinteractive.com/ . E-mail to a friend . Copyright CareerBuilder.com 2009 . All rights reserved . The information contained in this article may not be published , broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority .
Sixty-one percent of Americans say firefighters have prestigious job . The survey was conducted by telephone from June 19 to July 2, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Bankers , athletes and journalists get low marks .