Almost 96% of all dental hygienists are women. Six out of seven lawyers are white. And the racial and ethnic makeup of paralegals, hairdressers and dietitians closely mirrors that of the overall U.S. workforce.   

The Bureau of Labor Statistics each year publishes data looking at the gender and racial composition of hundreds of occupations, offering a snapshot of how workers sort themselves into many of the most important jobs in the country.

There are sociology textbooks’ worth of explanations for these numbers. One clear conclusion: Many occupations skew heavily toward one gender or race, leading to a workforce where 96.7% of preschool and kindergarten teachers are women, two-thirds of manicurists and pedicurists are Asian, and 92.4% of pilots and flight engineers are white.

For about 200 occupations, the numbers are too small to analyze through the government’s sampling techniques. Those occupations include legislators (12,000 in the U.S.), funeral-home managers, economists and ship captains.