7.2 Percent of U.S. Adults Identify as LGBTQ+: Gallup Poll

Polling firm Gallup has found that a little over 7 percent of adults in the U.S. identify as LGBTQ+. That’s double what Gallup found when it first measured LGBTQ+ identification 10 years ago.

Gallup surveyed more than 10,000 adults across the U.S. in 2022, asking each respondent if they identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or something else.

Over half of those surveyed and identified as LGBTQ+ identified as bisexual — 4.2 percent. The poll found that 20 percent of LGBTQ+ adults said they were gay, 13.4 percent said they were lesbian, and almost 60 percent identified as bisexual. Almost 9 percent said they identified as transgender.

Gallup also asked respondents for the first time to note identities besides gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. Between 1 and 2 percent of respondents who identified as LGBTQ+ said they were either pansexual, asexual, queer, or “other LGBT,” respectively.

Generationally, Gen Z identified as LGBTQ+ the most — 19.7 percent. A little over 11 percent of millennials, 3.3 percent of generation X, 2.7 percent of baby boomers, and 1.7 percent of the silent generation identified as LGBTQ+

The polling company noted that the proportion of bisexual-identifying adults is higher in younger people than older people.

“In older generations, less than half of LGBT adults say they are bisexual, although it is still the largest subgroup of LGBT adults in Generation X. In the oldest two generations, LGBT individuals are most likely to identify as gay,” Gallup reports.

Jeff Jones, a senior editor with Gallup, said that since Gallup has been tracking LGBTQ+ identities, the only notable difference seen over time in how certain generations identified came from millennials.

“Since we started tracking LGBT identification, we’ve only really seen a notable increase among one generation – the millennials. That went from 5.8 percent in 2012 (before all millennials had reached adulthood), to 7.8 percent in 2017 and 11.2 percent this year. The other generations’ figures are very similar to what we have measured back to 2012,” Jones told The Advocate in an email.

Jones added, “Most of the increase we’ve seen in the larger U.S. adult population has been tied to Gen Z and Millennials reaching adulthood and being much more likely to identify as LGBT than adults in older generations, rather than seeing increases in all or most generations.”

The Gallup poll comes as state legislatures across the country target LGBTQ+ rights. There are 340 anti-LGBTQ+ bills that the Human Rights Campaign is tracking. Of those bills, 150 would restrict the rights of transgender people, according to the organization. Several states have recently put limits to gender-affirming care, especially limiting trans youth from accessing such care.