The analysis shows that a majority of LGBTQ+-identifying adults are below the age of 35.
By Daniel Villarreal
LGBTQ+ people now make up 12% of adults across the United States, a percentage accounting for roughly 26.5 million people (higher than the entire population of Florida), according to an analysis of U.S. Census data conducted by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, the HRC’s educational and programmatic arm.
The foundation analyzed 2.4 million entries in the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Plus Survey, a self-reported federal data collection method which captured some LGBTQ+ information from 2021 through 2024, before the current presidential administration removed sexual orientation and gender identity measures from hundreds of federal data collections. The foundation’s analysis estimates that among U.S. adults, 2.34% are transgender or gender expansive, 3.27% are lesbian or gay, and 7.08% are bisexual.
Among LGBTQ+ adults, the foundation estimated that approximately 65% are bisexual, 30% are lesbian or gay, and 21% also identify as transgender or gender expansive (with 5% overall identifying as both straight-identifying and trans or gender-expansive).
About 54% of LGBTQ+ adults are younger than 35 (while only 22% of non-LGBTQ+ adults are below that same age), and 32% of them being between the ages of 18 and 24, the foundation reported.
Interestingly, the foundation also estimated that 18% of LGBTQ+ adults are Hispanic (compared to 13% of non-LGBTQ+ adults), while LGBTQ+ people only make up 4% to 7% of adults in other racial groups.
Also, the foundation estimated that 10% of the adults in 40 out of 50 states identify as LGBTQ+. The states with lower percentages of LGBTQ+ adults included five southern states, three mid-western states, New Jersey, and West Virginia.
While the foundation admits that there is no single definitive count of LGBTQ+ adults, the methods and conclusions of its recent analysis differ from other recent estimates. Gallup’s estimates, released last February, found that 9% of U.S. adults identify as LGBTQ+, but its count was based on telephone interviews. The foundation wrote that the privacy of self-reporting surveys may encourage more people to out themselves as LGBTQ+.
This data is particularly important considering the fact that, since January 2025, approximately 360 federal data collections have removed at least one sexual orientation or gender identity measure.
“Removing LGBTQ+ people from federal data does not make communities disappear — it makes them harder to see, understand, and serve,” the foundation wrote.
“Reliable data are essential for understanding who lives in this country and what our communities need to thrive. Removing sexual orientation and gender identity questions from surveys like the one used for this analysis introduces significant gaps in this understanding. These findings show that LGBTQ+ people are a substantial and growing segment of the population, underscoring the need for our continued inclusion in data collection efforts,” said HRC Foundation Sr. Director of Research and Education Tari Hanneman.
