To round up this year in 2021, it is essential to talk about how many LGBTQ+ people are currently living in the United States. By having more information about the number of LGBTQ+ folks in this country, there will be a better likelihood to support these communities. 

Statistics from the Human Rights Campaign

According to a recent report via the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, at least 20 million adults living in the United States identify as LGBTQ+. Furthermore, HRC determined that 8% of respondents to the United States Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey identified as LGBTQ+, with an extra 2% identifying their sexual orientation as something other than gay, lesbian, bisexual, or straight.

The Household Pulse Survey

Another report from The Household Pulse Survey indicated that over 2 million adults (more than 1% of adults in the nation) identified as transgender. An additional 2% reported not identifying as either cisgender or transgender.

One important thing to note is that this is the first time the Census Bureau has ever asked about sexual and gender identity in a survey. Thankfully, the Biden Administration and Census Bureau finally decided to include the LGBTQ+ community to be counted within the report. 

While the report said numbers were higher than they anticipated, HRC stated it is likely still an under the estimation of the actual size of the country’s LGBTQ+ population. 

For those who haven’t come out and those who don’t identify with labels in the survey, HRC believes there could be millions more LGBTQ+ people than indicated in the Household Pulse report. 

Ultimately, the survey concludes that a significant portion of Americans identifies as LGBTQ+. However, there is still such a long way to go before LGBTQ+ people are fully represented by the Census Bureau. This is because HRC determined that the Bureau’s two most extensive surveys, the U.S. Census and the American Community Survey, don’t ask any questions about LGBTQ+ identity, creating a loss for the community regarding essential federal funding.

What Are the Statistics Like for Age Groups That Identify as LGBTQ+?

According to polls from this year, the group leading the way for more LGBTQ+ identification are members of Generation Z (ages 18 to 23). For instance, approximately one in six, or 15.9%, identify as an identity within the LGBTQ+ community. LGBTQ+ identification declined gradually when it came to each older generation—for example, only 2% or fewer of Americans born before 1965 identified as LGBTQ+.

Across various age groups, researchers also found certain trends, like more than 70% of surveyors who identified as LGBTQ + identified as bisexual.

In addition, women were more likely than their male counterparts to identify as LGBTQ+ in general, at 6.4 versus 4.9%. They also considered themselves bisexual across all age groups, at 4.3 versus 1.8%.

**Note: This language features gender dichotomously as that is what is indicated in the research, and it does not talk about any variability. We have used the language in these statistics because this is what was reported in the study.

Of those respondents who identified as LGBTQ+, 54.6 % of them identified as bisexual, 24.5% as gay, 11.7% as lesbian, and 11.3% as transgender. In addition, over 3% said they used a different term for their identity, like queer or pansexual.

LGBTQ+ People In Summary 

These survey results are a good sign of growing support for the LGBTQ+ community and their rights. According to a June 2020 Gallup report, 67% of Americans support same-sex marriage, up by 53% since 2012. Hopefully, these trends will continue to increase in the coming years, and that there will be more laws in place that will protect the rights of LGBTQ+ people. 

Overall, these statistics are positive and more inclusive; however, there is still a long way to prioritize the well-being of LGBTQ+ folks in the United States.