WASHINGTON, D.C. — Continuing the pattern seen in the years after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage nationally in 2015, LGBTQ+ Americans in cohabiting same-sex relationships remain more likely to be married than living with a domestic partner. However, the 55% now in same-sex marriages is down slightly from the high of 61% between June 2016 and June 2017, the second full year after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in its June 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision.
In the months leading up to that decision, when same-sex marriages were legal in most but not all states, 38% of cohabiting same-sex couples reported being married, while 62% were in domestic partnerships.
The latest figures are based on combined Gallup poll data from 2021-2024, the period since Gallup last reported on same-sex marriage rates in 2021 (using 2020 data). The 2021-2024 sample includes responses from more than 2,700 LGBTQ+ adults, of whom 525 are in same-sex cohabiting relationships.
In all Gallup poll surveys, Americans are asked for their marital status and whether they identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something else. LGBTQ+ respondents who indicate they are married or living with a partner are then asked whether their spouse or partner is the same sex or the opposite sex. This is Gallup’s fourth update on same-sex marriage statistics.
One in 12 LGBTQ+ Adults Married to Same-Sex Spouse
Overall, 14.4% of all LGBTQ+ adults are in a cohabiting relationship with a same-sex partner, including 8.0% who are married and 6.4% who are living with a domestic partner. These figures represent less than 1% of U.S. adults each.
A higher percentage of LGBTQ+ Americans, 22.8%, are in a cohabiting relationship with an opposite-sex person, including 11.3% who are married and 11.5% living together.
The largest share of LGBTQ+ adults — 51.1% — report that they are single or have never married, reflecting that young adults are disproportionately likely to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual. By comparison, 23.7% of all U.S. adults have never married.
About 6% of LGBTQ+ adults say they are divorced; it is not known whether their former spouse was the same sex or the opposite sex.
The higher rates of LGBTQ+ people in opposite-sex rather than same-sex unions are driven by bisexual adults — the largest share of LGBTQ+ adults. Bisexual adults are much more likely to be in a committed relationship with someone of the opposite than of the same sex. According to the combined 2021-2024 data, 16% of bisexual adults are married to an opposite-sex spouse, and 2% are married to a same-sex spouse. The proportions are similar for bisexual people in domestic partnerships: 17% have opposite-sex partners and 2% same-sex partners
The percentages are essentially reversed among gay or lesbian adults: 19% are married to a same-sex spouse and 2% to an opposite-sex spouse, while 15% have a same-sex partner and 1% an opposite-sex partner.
LGBTQ+ Marriage Rate Dips
The 8.0% of LGBTQ+ adults in same-sex marriages is lower than what Gallup has reported in prior releases, typically around 10% since the Obergefell decision. The current figure is in fact essentially the same as it was before same-sex couples could legally wed in any U.S. state (7.9%).
Lower same-sex marriage rates among LGBTQ+ adults may simply reflect changes in societal values toward marriage, generally, over the past decade. Between 2015 and 2017, 60% of non-LGBTQ+ adults aged 30 to 50 — the prime marriage age range — were married; over the past four years, the average has fallen to 54%.
The lower same-sex marriage rate for LGBTQ+ adults is not related to higher proportions of LGBTQ+ identification among people who have just recently entered adulthood — namely, members of Gen Z. Among LGBTQ+ adults aged 30 through 50, the percentage who are married to a same-sex partner has fallen from 14.0% in the immediate wake of the Obergefell ruling to 10.2%.
Lower LGBTQ+ Same-Sex Marriage Rates, but More Same-Sex Marriages in Total
Even though the percentage of LGBTQ+ adults who are married to a same-sex spouse has declined, the number of same-sex marriages in the U.S. is still likely higher than in the past. That is because the percentage of LGBTQ+ adults in the U.S. population as a whole is increasing more than the marriage rate among LGBTQ+ adults is decreasing.
Given these patterns, the 0.7% of all U.S. adults currently in a same-sex marriage is up from 0.3% before the Obergefell ruling, and from 0.4% in the first two years after same-sex marriages became legal nationwide.
Using the current same-sex marriage rate among U.S. adults and the size of the U.S. adult population — currently 266 million — an estimated 1.86 million adults are in a same-sex marriage, equal to 930,000 same-sex marriages. Gallup estimated that there were 368,000 same-sex marriages in the U.S. before the 2015 Obergefell decision, and 491,000 in the first year after. By 2020, the figure was 750,000 same-sex marriages.
Bottom Line
The 10th anniversary of the Obergefell decision is an opportune time to assess its impact. Since 2015, the number of U.S. adults in a same-sex marriage has increased, even though a smaller percentage of LGBTQ+ adults than in the past are married to a same-sex spouse.
Additionally, Americans’ support for same-sex marriage has increased over the past 10 years, to near 70%. However, the percentage of Americans in favor of legal same-sex marriage appears to be leveling off, if not declining slightly, because of reduced support among Republicans.
The past decade has also seen a sharp increase in the number of LGBTQ+ adults in the U.S., with these identities now common among the youngest U.S. adults.
These trends indicate that the number of same-sex marriages in the U.S. is likely to continue to grow.
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