Twice as many LGBTQ+ people in US than in 2012, study shows
Around nine per cent of US adults identify as LGBTQ+. (Getty Images)
Last year LGBTQ+ identification remained steady at nine per cent in the US, according to a survey.
Data from 2025 telephone interviews conducted by Gallup with more than 13,000 US adults revealed that around nine per cent of US adults identify within the LGBTQ+ community.
The percentage remains unchanged from the year before, but remains more than double of 2012, the first year Gallup measured the LGBTQ+ population.
Between 2021 and 2023, Gallup recorded readings of roughly seven per cent.
The results followed respondents being asked whether they identify as heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something else.
A majority of 86 per cent said they are heterosexual, while nine per cent said they identified with one of the LGBTQ+ identities. Five per cent gave no response.
The largest share of LGBTQ+ adults said they are bisexual, representing about five per cent of the entire US adult population.
Meanwhile, 17 per cent of LGBTQ+ adults identify as gay, 16 per cent as lesbian and 12 per cent as transgender, each representing between one and two per cent of all US adults.
Since Gallup began measuring LGBTQ+ identities as separate categories in 2020, it has found the bisexual identity to have consistently been the most common, and even growing.
In 2020, just over three per cent of US adults said they were bisexual, compared with the current number of just over five per cent.
But it isn’t just bisexual identities that have increased – all others have as well.
The increase in LGBTQ+ identities has been found to be driven by higher rates among adults under the age of 30. Women also have a higher rate of LGBTQ+ identification, while Democrats are more likely than Republicans to report being part of the community.
Last year, a report by dating app Hinge revealed that Gen Z are more open-minded than millennials when it comes to their sexuality.
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