Editor's Note: This article was revised on March 18, 2024, to reflect Gallup's latest estimate of Americans’ identification as LGBTQ+.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Gallup finds 7.6% of U.S. adults identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or something other than straight or heterosexual. The percentage has more than doubled since Gallup first measured LGBTQ+ identification in 2012.
Overall, 85.6% of U.S. adults say they are straight or heterosexual, 7.6% identify with one or more LGBTQ+ groups, and 6.8% decline to respond.
U.S. LGBTQ+ identification breaks down in the following manner:
- Bisexual adults make up the largest proportion of the LGBTQ+ population (57.3%).
- Gay (18.1%) and lesbian (15.1%) are the next-most-common identities.
- About one in eight LGBTQ+ Americans are transgender (11.8%).
- Smaller proportions of LGTBQ+ adults volunteer another identity, such as queer, pansexual or asexual.
LGBTQ+ Identification is most common among young adults.
LGBTQ+ identification is much more common among younger adults than older adults. Also, 8.5% of adult women and 4.7% of adult men identify as LGBTQ+.
By generation, adults in Generation Z (born 1997-2012) and millennials (born 1981-1996) are far more likely than those in older generations to identify as LGBTQ+,
Learn more in Gallup’s 2024 LGBTQ+ update.
Explore more Gallup articles about LGBT issues on the LGBT Topics page.
Explore Gallup questions and trends about gay and lesbian rights on Gallup's Topics A-Z page.
For more articles in the "Short Answer" series, visit Gallup's The Short Answer page.
