The U.S. LGBTQ+ Population Is Growing At A Rapid Pace, Approaching 10%

With a rapidly growing population, the LGBTQ+ community is set to make up over 10% of America’s total soon!

The U.S. LGBTQ+ population has been increasing for a while now, but it’s only recently that the numbers have really skyrocketed. The results of a new Gallup poll show that the LGBTQ+ population has doubled in just ten years.

7.1% of adults identify as LGBTQ+

This poll that was conducted in 2021 on 12,416 American adults shows that LGBTQ+ people now represent a total of 7,1%. They were only 3,2% in 2012 - the year the measurement of LGBTQ+ identification began!

And, when asked to identify themselves, 86,3% of the other respondents said that they are heterosexuals, but 6,6% did not wish to give an opinion on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

But let’s have a look at the data!

By generation

About a quarter of Gen Z are LGBTQ+

“The increase in LGBT identification in recent years largely reflects the higher prevalence of such identities among the youngest U.S. adults compared with the older generations they are replacing in the U.S. adult population,” Gallup noted.

In fact, 21% of Americans from Generation Z identify as LGBTQ+. This means that there is a quarter of young people born between 1997 and 2003 are part of our community! That is nearly double the proportion of Millennials who identify as LGBTQ+.

But don’t get it wrong

The number of Millennials born between 1981 and 1996 has also increased by 4,7% making them a whopping 10,5%.

Generation X, Baby boomers, and Traditionalists

But the number of LGBTQ+ adults decreases as they get older.

Thus:

• 4,2% of Generation X (between 42 and 57 years old) identify as LGBTQ+
• 2,6% of Baby boomers (between 58 and 76 years old)
• 0,8% of Traditionalists (over 76 years old)

By gender - women vs. men

There seems to be a significant difference between women and men when it comes to their identification.

Women are more likely than men to identify as bisexual, with 6% identifying in this way compared to 2% of men.

But men are more likely to identify as gay (2,5%).

Within the LGBTQ+ community

4% of Americans identify as bisexual

With no surprise, a large majority of LGBTQ+ people identify as bisexual. They represent 57% of the community and 4% of Americans.

And again, the number of people identifying as bi increases with the younger population, as you can see below.

Representation of the bisexual population by age:

• 15% of Gen Z
• 6% of Millennials
• 2% of Generation X (42 to 57 years old)
• less than 2% of Baby boomers (58 to 76 years old) and Traditionalists

The rest of the community

No worries, gays, lesbians, transgender, and queer people are still there.

Gay men represent 21%, lesbians come in second with 14%, followed by transgender people who make up 10%. The other 4% identify as ‘Other’ like queer or same-gender-loving.

The future to be LGBTQ+!

With 1 in 10 Millennials and 1 in 5 Gen Zs identifying as LGBTQ+, it’s clear that this trend will only continue and reach more than 10%.

“Given the large disparities in LGBT identification between younger and older generations of Americans, the proportion of all Americans who identify as LGBT can be expected to grow in the future as younger generations will constitute a larger share of the total U.S. adult population,” Gallup concluded. “The proportion of LGBT Americans should exceed 10% in the near future.”