One in 13 U.S. adults — and more than one in five Generation Z adults — identify as LGBTQ+, according to Gallup’s annual survey.


What You Need To Know

  • One in 13 U.S. adults — and more than one in five Gen Z adults — identify as LGBTQ+, according to Gallup’s annual survey

  • That number has risen from 5.6% four years ago and 3.5% since Gallup first began tracking sexual orientation and transgender identity in 2012

  • Gallup found the percentage of people who identify as LGBTQ+ roughly doubles with each new generation

  • Women are nearly twice as likely to identify as LGBTQ+ as men — 8.5% vs. 4.7%

The poll results, released Wednesday, found that 7.6% of Americans age 18 and older identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or some other sexual orientation besides heterosexual.

That number has risen from 5.6% four years ago and 3.5% since Gallup first began tracking sexual orientation and transgender identity in 2012.

Among Gen Z adults — who were 18 to 26 years old when the survey was conducted in 2023 — 22.3% identify as LGBTQ+.

The poll is based on telephone surveys with more than 12,000 Americans.

Gallup found the percentage of people who identify as LGBTQ+ roughly doubles with each new generation. 

One in 10 millennials (ages 27-42) identify as LGBTQ+, while 4.5% of Generation X’ers (ages 43-58), 2.3% of baby boomers (ages 59-77) and 1.1% of the Silent Generation (78 and older) do.

Bisexual people account for 57.3% of the LGBTQ+ community, more than any other group, followed by gay (18.1%) and lesbian (15.1%). Transgender people make up 11.8% of all LGTBQ+ Americans. No other group accounted for more than 1.7%.

Overall, 85.6% of those surveyed identify as heterosexual, while 6.8% declined to respond.

Women are nearly twice as likely to identify as LGBTQ+ as men — 8.5% vs. 4.7%. 

Bisexuality is the most common form of LGBTQ+ identification among women, while men are equally likely to be gay or bisexual, the survey found.

The analysis did not include nonbinary people, who represent about 1% of U.S. adults. Gallup said there was insufficient data from the 2023 survey to provide estimates. But combining polls from the past two years, it estimates that about 80% of nonbinary adults identify as LGBTQ+ — with one-third of them being bisexual and one-third transgender.

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