Approximately _____ percent of americans identify as gay or lesbian.

approximately _____ percent of americans identify as gay or lesbian.

We Are Here: Homosexual Adult Population in Combined 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 Domestic 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: Comprehending 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 domesticated probability survey of adults in the United States, at least 20 million adults in the Joined States could be woman loving 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 displaying that bisexual people portray the largest single contingent of LGBTQ+ people, at about 4% of resp

One in Four U.S. Adolescents Identify as Non-Heterosexual, Comparative Analysis Finds  

A recent Northwestern Medicine comparative analysis of national survey results start that one in four U.S. adolescents in grades 9 through 12 reported their sexual identity as non-heterosexual, according to findings published in JAMA Pediatrics.  

The study, led by Gregory Phillips II, PhD, associate professor of Medical Social Sciences and of Preventive Medicine in the Division of Epidemiology, emphasizes the need for inclusive approaches when working with sexual and gender minority youth in academic and healthcare settings, among others.  

“These findings indicate that every available person who works with youth needs to be aware of and competent with addressing LGBTQIA+ youth as a general competency in practice,” said Lauren Beach, JD, PhD, assistant professor of Medical Social Sciences and of Preventive Medicine in the Division of Epidemiology and senior author of the study.   

The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System is a biennial set of surveys conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Established in 1991, the survey measures he

Adult LGBT Population in the United States

This report provides estimates of the number and percent of the U.S. adult 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 numbers for these estimates. Pooling multiple years of facts provides more stable estimates—particularly at the state level.

Combining 2020-2021 BRFSS data, we estimate that 5.5% of U.S. adults identify 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. live 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 reside in the Northeast (2.6 million).

The percent of adults who identify as LGBT

What’s Behind the Rapid Rise in LGBTQ Identity?

Newsletter March 6, 2025

Daniel A. Cox, Jae Grace, Avery Shields

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

The steady go up in LGBTQ self among the widespread is worth noting, but it’s not the most vital part of the story. Most of the uptick in LGBTQ identity over the past decade is due to a dramatic grow among young adults, particularly young women. In less than a decade, the percentage of immature women who name as LGBTQ has more than tripled.

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

LGBT Identification in U.S. Ticks Up to 7.1%

Story Highlights

  • LGBT identification up from 5.6% in 2020
  • One in five Gen Z adults identify as LGBT
  • Bisexual identification is most common

Learn more in Gallup’s 2024 LGBTQ+ update.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The percentage of U.S. adults who self-identify as lesbian, gay, pansexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual has increased to a new lofty of 7.1%, which is double the percentage from 2012, when Gallup first measured it.

Gallup asks Americans whether they personally identify as straight or heterosexual, lesbian, gay, pansexual, or transgender as part of the demographic information it collects on all U.S. telephone surveys. Respondents can also volunteer any other sexual orientation or gender identity they prefer. In addition to the 7.1% of U.S. adults who consider themselves to be an LGBT identity, 86.3% say they are straight or heterosexual, and 6.6% execute not offer an opinion. The results are based on aggregated 2021 facts, encompassing interviews with more than 12,000 U.S. adults.

Line graph. Americans' Self-Identification as Lesbian, Gay, Double attraction, Transgender or Something Other than Heterosexual.