Overview

 

The percent of US adults who identify as LGBT has risen, according to a new Gallup poll.

7.6% of US adults identified as LGBT in 2023, compared to 7.2% in 2022.

LGBT identification has steadily risen since 2012, when Gallup first began asking Americans if they’re LGBT. 

In 2012, 3.5% of US adults identified as LGBT.

By 2020, that number rose to 5.6%. 

 

 

Gallup conducted its poll through telephone surveys with more than 12,000 US adults.

Gallup asked respondents whether they identify as heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or something else.

Overall, 85.6% of US adults said they are straight or heterosexual.

A total of 7.6% of US adults identify with one or more LGBT groups, and 6.8% of US adults declined to answer the question.  

 

 

As always, it’s worth bearing in mind that these statistics represent the number of US adults who are willing to disclose their sexual orientation and gender identity in polls.

There could be additional LGBT people who don’t feel comfortable sharing that information in public surveys.

 

 

 

How many Americans are LGBT? 

 

According to the US Census, there were 262 million adults living in the United States in 2023.

According to Gallup, 7.6% of US adults identified as LGBT in 2023.

That means there were about 19.9 million LGBT US adults last year.

Rounding to the nearest million, about 20 million US adults are LGBT.

 

 

I compared the sizes of LGBT identities to the populations of US states, and the sizes of US racial minorities, in “How many Americans are LGBT?” 

Let’s compare the number of LGBT US adults, based on Gallup’s total, to these figures.

Surveys generally don’t ask children and adolescents about their sexualities and gender identity, due to privacy concerns.

So bear in mind, the numbers in this article for US states and racial minorities include all ages, whereas the number for LGBT Americans only includes adults.

 

 

I created this bar graph using Flourish, a website that allows users to create compelling visual aids. 

 

 

Based on data from the US Census, 21.1 million US residents are exclusively Asian American.

The US Census describes this racial category in its reports as referring to Americans who are, “Asian, alone”.

 

 

US States in the following list are ranked by population.

 

1. California                         39.0 million

2. Texas                               30.5 million

3. Florida                             22.6 million

           

Asian, alone                        21.1 million

LGBT adults (Gallup)          19.9 million

 

4. New York                         19.6 million

5. Pennsylvania                   13.0 million

 

 

The number of LGBT US adults, based on Gallup’s total, is closest in size to the population of New York.

 

Based on Gallup’s data for 2022, there were fewer LGBT US adults than residents of New York.

Based on Gallup’s 2023 data, there are now more LGBT US adults than New York residents.

 

 

 

LGBT Identity by Generation

 

We’ll conclude today’s analysis by comparing the percent of Americans who identify as LGBT by generation.

The generational differences are surprisingly large.

 

 

 

 

Generation                                                           % LGBT

 

Gen Z (born 1997-2012)                                        22.3%

Millennials (born 1981-1996)                                 9.8%

Gen X (born 1965-1980)                                         4.5%

Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964)                            2.3%

Silent Generation (born 1945 or before)                 1.1%

 

 

I find these numbers remarkable in both directions.

The number of Gen Z adults who identify as LGBT is stunningly large.

Simultaneously, I find the incredibly small numbers of LGBT identification among the Silent Generation and Baby Boomers surprising as well.

Millennials, at 9.8% LGBT, are the closest in size to the percent of US adults overall who identify as LGBT, 7.6%.

 

Gallup determined 19.7% of Gen Z adults identified as LGBT in 2022.

The percent of Gen Z adults who identify as LGBT has risen to 22.3% in 2023, an increase of 2.6%.

Gen Z saw the largest change of any generation compared to 2022.

 

 

I created a line graph, using Flourish, to visualize the percent of each generation that identified as LGBT in each of Gallup’s annual surveys since 2020.

 

 

Two interesting observations can be easily seen on this graph. 

First, in each annual survey, the generational pattern holds. Each younger generation has a higher LGBT value than the one that came before. 

Second, the value for US adults overall is always between the values for Millennials and Gen X.

 

Here is a table of the values used to create the line graph above.

 

 

 

In the next article in this series, we’ll compare the sizes of individual LGBT identities, and see how those numbers have changed since last year.