This is a list of the occupations of Presidents before they entered politics. Often, previous career experience is minimal; however, many presidents did spend their younger years in college and/or the military.
| Order |
President |
Previous occupation(s) |
| 1 |
George Washington |
Land Surveyor, Farmer/plantation owner, Soldier (General of United Army of the Colonies) |
| 2 |
John Adams |
Lawyer, Farmer |
| 3 |
Thomas Jefferson |
Land Surveyor, Writer, Inventor, Lawyer, Architect, Farmer/Plantation owner |
| 4 |
James Madison |
Farmer/plantation owner, Lawyer |
| 5 |
James Monroe |
Farmer/plantation owner, Lawyer |
| 6 |
John Quincy Adams |
Lawyer |
| 7 |
Andrew Jackson |
Soldier, Lawyer |
| 8 |
Martin Van Buren |
Lawyer |
| 9 |
William Harrison |
Soldier |
| 10 |
John Tyler |
Lawyer |
| 11 |
James Polk |
Lawyer, Plantation owner |
| 12 |
Zachary Taylor |
Soldier (Army Major General) |
| 13 |
Millard Fillmore |
Lawyer |
| 14 |
Franklin Pierce |
Lawyer |
| 15 |
James Buchanan |
Lawyer, Diplomat |
| 16 |
Abraham Lincoln |
Land Surveyor, Lawyer |
| 17 |
Andrew Johnson |
Tailor |
| 18 |
Ulysses Grant |
Soldier, General of the Army |
| 19 |
Rutherford Hayes |
Lawyer |
| 20 |
James Garfield |
School teacher, minister, soldier |
| 21 |
Chester Arthur |
School teacher, lawyer, collector of tariffs |
| 22, 24 |
Grover Cleveland |
Sheriff, lawyer, assistant teacher |
| 23 |
Benjamin Harrison |
Lawyer, journalist |
| 25 |
William McKinley |
Lawyer |
| 26 |
Theodore Roosevelt |
Public Official, Rancher, Soldier |
| 27 |
William Taft |
Lawyer, judge, law reporter, dean of law school at the University of Cincinnati |
| 28 |
Woodrow Wilson |
Lawyer, professor, president of Princeton University |
| 29 |
Warren Harding |
Newspaper publisher/editor |
| 30 |
Calvin Coolidge |
Lawyer, Vice President of Northampton Savings Bank |
| 31 |
Herbert Hoover |
Engineer, Investor |
| 32 |
Franklin Roosevelt |
Lawyer |
| 33 |
Harry Truman |
Farmer, Men's clothing retailer |
| 34 |
Dwight Eisenhower |
Soldier, General, President of Columbia University, |
| 35 |
John F. Kennedy |
Writer, Sailor (Navy Lieutenant) |
| 36 |
Lyndon Johnson |
Teacher, Public Official |
| 37 |
Richard Nixon |
Lawyer, Sailor (Navy Lieutenant Commander) |
| 38 |
Gerald Ford |
Sailor (Navy Lieutenant Commander), Lawyer |
| 39 |
Jimmy Carter |
Sailor (Navy Lieutenant),[1] peanut farmer,[2] writer |
| 40 |
Ronald Reagan[3][4] |
Actor & broadcaster, President of the Screen Actors Guild[5] |
| 41 |
George H. W. Bush |
Pilot (Navy Lieutenant, Junior Grade),[6] Businessman (Oil)[7] |
| 42 |
Bill Clinton |
Lawyer, Law lecturer |
| 43 |
George W. Bush |
Businessman (Oil,[8] baseball)[9] |
| 44 |
Barack Obama |
Public Interest professional, Lawyer, Law Professor [10] |
