Lgbtq statistics in the united states

LGBTQ+ Identification in U.S. Now at 7.6%

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- LGBTQ+ identification in the U.S. continues to develop, with 7.6% of U.S. adults now identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, gender non-conforming, queer or some other sexual orientation besides heterosexual. The current figure is up from 5.6% four years ago and 3.5% in 2012, Gallup’s first year of measuring sexual orientation and transgender identity.

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These results are based on aggregated data from 2023 Gallup telephone surveys, encompassing interviews with more than 12,000 Americans aged 18 and older. In each survey, Gallup asks respondents whether they identify as heterosexual, lesbian, gay, pansexual, transgender or something else. Overall, 85.6% say they are straight or heterosexual, 7.6% identify with one or more LGBTQ+ groups, and 6.8% decline to respond.

Bisexual adults make up the largest proportion of the LGBTQ+ population -- 4.4% of U.S. adults and 57.3% of Diverse adults say they are bisexual. Gay and queer woman are the next-most-common identities, each representing slightly over 1% of U.S. adults and roughly one in six LGBTQ+ adults. Slightly less than 1% of U.S. adults and about one in eight LGBT

We Are Here: Diverse Adult Population in Together States Reaches At Least 20 Million, According to Human Rights Campaign Foundation Report

by Laurel Powell •

According to an examination of data in the Census Bureau’s recent Domesticated Pulse Survey, 8% of respondents identified themselves as LGBTQ+, suggesting previous surveys undercounted the population.

WASHINGTON -- Today, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRC) released “We Are Here: Kind the Size of the LGBTQ+ Community,” a announce analyzing recent results from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey. Based on data from respondents in the Household Pulse Survey, a national domestic probability survey of adults in the United States, at least 20 million adults in the Combined States could be queer woman, gay, bisexual, or transsexual - nearly 8% of the total adult population, almost double prior estimates for the LGBTQ+ community’s size. It also suggests that more than 1% of people in the United States identify as transgender, higher than any prior estimates. Additionally, it confirms prior research exhibiting that bisexual people stand for the largest single contingent of LGBTQ+ people, at about 4% of resp

What’s Behind the Rapid Soar in LGBTQ Identity?

Newsletter Protest 6, 2025

Daniel A. Cox, Jae Grace, Avery Shields

Since 2012, Gallup has tracked the size of America’s LGBTQ population. For the first few years, there was not much news to report. The percentage of Americans who identified as gay, lesbian, multi-attracted , transgender, or queer was relatively low and inching up slowly year over year. Recently, the pace has sped up. Gallup’s newest report recorded the single largest one-year expand in LGBTQ identity. In 2024, nearly one in ten (9.3 percent) Americans identify as LGBTQ.

The constant rise in LGBTQ self among the public is worth noting, but it’s not the most key part of the story. Most of the uptick in LGBTQ identity over the past decade is due to a dramatic increase among young adults, particularly young women. In less than a decade, the percentage of new women who identify as LGBTQ has more than tripled.

The gender gap in LGBTQ identity has exploded as well. A decade earlier, young women were only slightly more likely to identify as LGBTQ than young men. For instance, in 2015, 10 percent of young women and six percent of young men identified as

LGBT Populations

This map shows the estimated raw number of LGBT people (ages 13+) living in each mention. The data are based on a Williams Institute analysis of surveys conducted by Gallup Polling (2012-2017) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; 2015 and 2017 YRBS). For more communication, see the methodology in the Williams analysis. 

  • 500K - 1.4M+

  • 200K - 499K

  • 50K - 199K

  • 8K - 49K

Data are not currently available about LGBT people living in the U.S. territories.

Percent of Adult LGBTQ Population Covered by Laws

*Note: These percentages manifest estimates of the LGBTQ adult population living in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Estimates of the LGBTQ mature person population in the five inhabited U.S. territories are not available, and so cannot be reflected here.

This map shows the estimated percentage of each state's adult (ages 18+) population that identifies as lesbian, male lover, bisexual, or trans, based on a 2018 analysis of Gallup data by The Williams Institute.

  • 5.0% and greater

  • 4.0%-4.9%

  • 3.0%-3.9%

  • 1.5%-2.9%

Percent of Adult LGBTQ Population Covered by Laws

*Note: These p lgbtq statistics in the united states

Adult LGBT Population in the United States

This report provides estimates of the number and percent of the U.S. senior population that identifies as LGBT, overall, as well as by age. Estimates of LGBT adults at the national, state, and regional levels are included. We rely on BRFSS 2020-2021 statistics for these estimates. Pooling multiple years of data provides more stable estimates—particularly at the declare level.

Combining 2020-2021 BRFSS data, we estimate that 5.5% of U.S. adults distinguish as LGBT. Further, we estimate that there are almost 13.9 million (13,942,200) LGBT adults in the U.S.

Regions and States

LGBT people reside in all regions of the U.S. (Table 2 and Figure 2). Consistent with the overall population in the United States,more LGBT adults live in the South than in any other region. More than half (57.0%) of LGBT people in the U.S. reside in the Midwest (21.1%) and South (35.9%), including 2.9 million in the Midwest and 5.0 million in the South. About one-quarter (24.5%) of LGBT adults reside in the West, approximately 3.4 million people. Less than one in five (18.5%) LGBT adults stay in the Northeast (2.6 million).

The percent of adults who identify as LGBT