The percentage of U.S. adults who identify as LGBTQ or something other than heterosexual increased to 9.3%, from 7.6% in 2023.
The percentage of U.S. adults who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual has continued to rise, hitting an all-time high of 9.3%, up from 7.6% in 2023, according to a Gallup report released Thursday.
Jeff Jones, senior editor at Gallup, said in a phone interview that he didn’t expect that increase to happen so fast.
“I didn’t think we would get to 10% as quickly,” Jones said. “We’re not quite there yet, but it seems like maybe it’s only a few years away, where before I thought it could have been a couple decades or so. We’re getting pretty close to that 1 in 10 figure, which I think would be a notable milestone.”
Gallup conducted random telephone interviews over the last year with 14,000 adults living in all 50 states and found that about 900 identified as LGBTQ. That data was then weighted to ensure that the sample accurately reflects the demographics of the national population, which is how Gallup estimated that 9.3% of U.S. adults are LGBTQ. The survey reported margins of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points among LGBTQ respondents.
The increase in LGBTQ identification over the last year, Jones said, is due to more of Generation Z, who are 19 to 28, reaching adulthood. Nearly one-quarter, 23.1%, of Gen Z identify as LGBTQ, according to the Gallup report, compared with 14.2% of millennials, who are 29 to 44; 5.1% of Generation X, who are 45 to 60; 3% of baby boomers, who are 61 to 79; and 1.8% of those 80 and older.
“The more Gen Z people who become adults, the higher that number is going to go,” Jones said.
Over the last few years, LGBTQ identification among U.S. adults leveled off, at 7.6% in 2023, up only slightly from 7.2% in 2022.
