UCLA study reveals how many Americans identify as transgender – and it’s only 1%
Despite the rising number of anti-trans executive orders and bills in the United States of America, just one per cent of the population aged 13 and over identifies as transgender, according to a new study from UCLA.
Newly published research from the UCLA Williams Institute looked at data from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and the Youth Risk Behaviour Surveillance System (YRBS) in the study, published this week.
It estimates the rate of trans identity in those aged 13 years old and older across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, excluding Puerto Rico.
Researchers found that over 2.8 million people, comprised of around 2.1 million adults (aged 18 and older) and 724,000 youth (aged 13-17), identify as transgender in the US. As per the study, that means just one per cent of the American population aged 13 and older identify as trans.
The study outcome is a stark reminder of gender identity in the US, compared to incessant misinformation from the right. Back in March, President Donald Trump wrongly claimed, “Everything is transgender, everybody is transgender”.
In 2024, 120 anti-trans bills were passed in the US, across gender-affirming care, education, legal recognition, and the right to publicly exist – and that was before Trump’s second term in office began in 2025.
Since he entered the White House for the second time, Trump has repeatedly targeted the trans community. He has made a continued effort to ban transgender athletes from sports, a slew of anti-LGBTQ+ executive orders in the first days of his presidency, overseen the shutdown of an LGBTQ+ suicide prevention hotline and more.
Although trans and nonbinary people make up just 1 per cent of the total population in the US, the rate is around 3.3 per cent for youth aged 13 to 17, who represent around a quarter of the trans population in its entirety.
Younger adults were found to be “significantly more likely” than older adults to identify as trans, researchers noted, compared to previous studies on trans populations.
Our research released today estimates that 2.8 million people aged 13 and older in the U.S. identify as transgender. This includes 724,000 youth (13 to 17) and 2.1 million adults (18+). https://t.co/l8A80e3lns pic.twitter.com/u3Dwhl6aEr
— Williams Institute (@WilliamsPolicy) August 20, 2025
Jody Herman, senior scholar of public policy at the Williams Institute and the lead author for the study, said via a Wednesday press release: “Younger generations are more likely to identify as transgender, and we expect that trend to continue.
“Youth and young adults are more likely to identify as transgender due to a variety of factors, including a greater willingness among younger individuals to disclose that they identify as transgender on surveys.”
Trans populations were similarly split across the four U.S. regions, as per the data; however, the number of trans people per capita was slightly lower in the South, compared to the West, Midwest and Northeast.
The lowest rate of trans people identified was 0.4 per cent in New Mexico, compared to the highest rate of 1.21 per cent in Minnesota.
Of the 2.1 million adults who identify as transgender, 32.7% (698,500) are transgender women, 34.2% (730,500) are transgender men, and 33.1% (707,100) are transgender nonbinary adults.
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