Thursday, November 14, 2013

From the Congressional Research Service: Membership of the 113 th Congress: A Profile

Here's a demographic breakdown of the members of the 113th Congress.

Here's a chunk of what you'll find in the document. It concerns what occupations members of Congress had prior to election:


• at least 100 congressional staffers (20 in the Senate, 80 in the House), as well as
8 congressional pages (4 in the House and 4 in the Senate);
• 5 Peace Corps volunteers, all in the House;
• 3 sheriffs and 1 deputy sheriff, 2 FBI agents (all in the House), and a firefighter
in the Senate;
• 2 physicists, 6 engineers, and 1 microbiologist (all in the House, with the
exception of 1 Senator who is an engineer);
• 5 radio talk show hosts (4 House, 1 Senate), 6 radio or television broadcasters (5
House, 1 Senate), 7 reporters or journalists (5 in the House, 2 in the Senate), and
a radio station manager and a public television producer (both in the House);
• 9 accountants in the House and 2 in the Senate;
• 5 software company executives, all in the House;
• 3 pilots, all in the House, and 1 astronaut, in the Senate;
• a screenwriter, a comedian, and a documentary film maker, all in the Senate, and
a professional football player, in the House;
• 29 farmers, ranchers, or cattle farm owners (25 House, 4 Senate);
• 2 almond orchard owners, both in the House, 1 cattle farm owner (a Senator), 1
vintner (a House Member), 1 fisherman (a House Member), and 1 fruit orchard
worker (a House Member);
• 7 social workers in the House and 2 in the Senate; and
• 9 current members of the military reserves (8 House, 1 Senate), and 6 current
members of the National Guard (all in the House)