# Does height affect income? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 30, 2001, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-height-affect-income/96166 "2001-11-30T18:32:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-height-affect-income/96166/1 "2001-11-30T18:32:01Z")
Is it true that a person’s income is partially determined by his or her height? If so, by how much? I’ve heard something like $500/inch/year, but I’m not sure what the sample’s base salary was. For what height range is this linear relationship valid? Also, is this also true for women, or just men? ---
**Author:** ![Morgainelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Morgainelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgainelf)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-height-affect-income/96166/2 "2001-11-30T18:44:17Z")
I’ve heard this as well, but don’t know the ratios. However looking around the office, there are no senior management level men shorter than 6’2", and no women shorter than 5’7". I’ve always guessed that people are more comfortable with others of similar height. I wonder if this subtly impacts hiring practices? Just a thought… ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-height-affect-income/96166/3 "2001-11-30T20:49:24Z")
Perhaps there was some statistical study done that may indicate something of that sort, but I wouldn’t put any faith at all in it as a useful indicator of my future wealth. I know all kinds of tall poor people, and there are plenty of short rich people. Their heads have about 95% of the influence over their income… not their vertical distance from the ground. Maybe once you get two people with identical brains and job potential their comparative heights (or looks, charm, sense of humor, influential friends/conacts) would have an influence on who gets the opportunities. Just seeing some person on the street who’s 6’ and trying to figure out how much they make from their height is impossible. You could probably compare height and finacial success with height and dating success. If you’re goo-looking and tall you SHOULD do well, but there are all kinds of ugly little weasles who somehow do even better. Height could have an influence on income, but a very weak and flawed one if so. ---
**Author:** ![Pop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3be4f8/32.png) [@Pop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pop)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-height-affect-income/96166/4 "2001-11-30T21:27:52Z")
For a demonstration of this predudice in action, check out the NBA! Call a lawyer! 😛 5’8", middle management ---
**Author:** ![Rutabegger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de0a6/32.png) [@Rutabegger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rutabegger)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-height-affect-income/96166/5 "2001-11-30T21:49:38Z")
I understand there’s one in Seattle… On the other hand I was told any number of times in school that there was a correlation between height and perceived leadership ability. We were told that it was important for shorter speakers to grab the audience’s attention and interest quickly if debating a taller speaker, etc. I suspect that you could probably form a nice cluster of “tall”, “leader”, and “money”. Does perception drive reality? Or reality drive perception? ---
**Author:** ![Rutabegger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de0a6/32.png) [@Rutabegger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rutabegger)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-height-affect-income/96166/6 "2001-11-30T22:09:43Z")
According to an article in the Wesleyan “Hermes”: “Dr. David B. Allen and colleagues from the University of Wisconsin Medical School cited one study of business school graduates and found graduates more than six feet tall receive starting salaries 12% higher than their shorter classmates.” Steven Pinker has written a book called “How the Mind Works” which purports to answer (among other questions) “Why does a man’s annual salary, on average, increase $600 with each inch of his height?” This also appears to be a popular example in statistical exercises. I wonder whether this is an urban myth? Take a few many statistics classes and maybe you begin to believe the examples… ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-height-affect-income/96166/7 "2001-11-30T22:17:18Z")
Hmmmm, so I should run out and buy a pair of lifts before my next review? ---
**Author:** ![cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-height-affect-income/96166/8 "2001-11-30T23:23:06Z")
I also found this: [http://www.shortsupport.org/News/0106.html](http://www.shortsupport.org/News/0106.html) > [@](#): > > \*\*Professional status. Looking at several professions, one study found that people in high-ranking jobs 'were about two inches taller than those down below, a pattern that held even when comparing men of like educational and socioeconomic status. Senior civil servants in Britain, for instance, tend to be taller than junior ones. Shorter people also have worse: > > Jobs. Give job recruiters two invented resumes that have been carefully matched except for the candidates’ height, as one study did in 1969. Fully 72% of the time, the taller man is ‘hired’. And when they are hired, they tend also to earn rather more: > > Money. In 1994 James Sargent and David Blanchflower, of America’s Dartmouth College, analyzed a sample of about 6,000 male Britons whose progress was monitored from birth to early adulthood. Short teenaged boys made less money when they became young adults (aged 23) than their taller peers - even after other attributes, such as scores on ability tests or parents’ social status, were factored out. For every four inches of height in adolescence, earnings went up more than 2% in early adulthood. Another survey, of graduates of the University of Pittsburgh, found that those who were 6’2" or taller received starting salaries 12% higher than those under six feet. > \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-height-affect-income/96166/9 "2001-12-01T00:19:37Z")
Given that attractive people frequently receive better compensation or are hired more often, it isn’t much of a jump to the taller = better pay equation. The psychological implications are pretty easy to trace. With relatively few exceptions (i.e., Napolean, Alexander the Great) most historical leaders are of average or greater height (SWAG). It would seem fairly easy to trace this back to prehistoric (or more recent) times where the outcome of single combat determined fitness to lead or rule. The advantages in reach, leverage and, frequently, strength made height an assett when contesting the right to primacy. It is hard _not_ to imagine that humans are coded to have intrinsically greater respect (or fear) of someone who is taller. This translates into tall people being able to more often impose their will without being challanged, a key aspect to successful management. While not wishing to downplay the importance of intelligence, height is more than likely a factor. Good looks tend to endow a person with greater self-confidence and, therefore, statistically more opportunities to attempt or succeed at various endeavors. The preponderance of such chances increase the likelihood that an attractive person will have obtained more profitable life lessons or experience. Similarly, a tall person will experience more situations where their word or will goes unchallenged. This tends to breed stronger leadership and self-confidence. All of these self-reinforcing aspects serve to entrench successful behavior patterns. Likewise, those on the receiving end also fall into these preprogrammed motifs, only strengthening the common perceptions. The fact that modern business practices (and the paychecks that derive therefrom) perpetuate these perceptions and behavioral modes serves as a final button on the coat of this seemingly superficial straightjacket. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-height-affect-income/96166/10 "2001-12-01T01:13:10Z")
I’m sure the height-income description only is relevant for jobs that don’t require much competence – hospital adminisrators are always tall.