A large new Gallup telephone survey of more than 13,000 U.S. adults finds that roughly 9% now describe themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or another non-heterosexual identity. That figure is more than twice the share Gallup reported when it first asked about sexual orientation in 2012 (about 3.5%), and most of the change appears concentrated in younger Americans rather than older adults changing their identities.
Highlights
– Sample: Gallup telephone interviews with 13,000+ U.S. adults (combined dataset).
– Key finding: An estimated 9% of U.S. adults identify as LGBTQ+; about 86% identify as heterosexual; roughly 5% declined to answer.
– Breakdown: Bisexual people make up the largest single category within the LGBTQ+ group—around 5.3% of all adults and more than half of LGBTQ+ respondents. Gay and lesbian identities are each roughly mid-to-high single digits within the LGBTQ+ share; transgender and identities like queer or pansexual each account for about 1–2% of adults.
– Main driver: Generational differences—especially higher identification among younger cohorts.
Who is driving the increase?
The uptick in self-reported LGBTQ+ identity is strongest among the young. About 23% of adults under 30 now identify as LGBTQ+. That share drops to roughly 10% for people aged 30–49 and to about 3% or less for those 50 and older. Analysts interpret this pattern largely as cohort replacement: Generation Z is entering adulthood with higher rates of non-heterosexual identification, and as that cohort ages it will raise the national share of people reporting these identities.
What the shift reflects
Several forces help explain why younger Americans report different identities than older generations:
– Greater social acceptance and visibility of diverse sexual and gender identities.
– Wider availability of language and labels that let people describe themselves more precisely.
– Media representation and public discussion that normalize a range of identities.
– Technology and social apps that expose users to varied communities and vocabulary, making it easier to explore and adopt new terms.
Related signals
Other studies and private-sector data line up with Gallup’s results. For example, a UCLA Williams Institute study cited here found that a disproportionate share of the U.S. trans population is young—an indicator of a broader youth skew in gender-diverse demographics. Dating apps and social platforms have reported localized increases in users identifying as bisexual or nonbinary, especially in urban areas like New York City. These pockets of earlier change can foreshadow wider national trends.
Demographic patterns
Identification varies across gender, location and partisanship. Women report bisexual identities at higher rates than men. Urban residents are more likely than suburban or rural residents to identify as LGBTQ+. And Democrats are more likely than Republicans to report non-heterosexual identities—an outcome shaped by differences in political climates, lived experience and party positions on rights issues.
Implications for policy, services and institutions
The changing makeup of reported identities carries practical consequences:
– Health care: Providers may need expanded training, more inclusive intake forms and services tailored to younger, gender-diverse patients.
– Education: Schools will face questions about curricula, access to services and protections for students whose identities fall outside older norms.
– Workplaces: Employers may be pressed to update policies and benefits to reflect a more diverse workforce.
– Research and planning: Demographers, policymakers and market researchers should improve question design, boost sample sizes for younger cohorts and combine survey data with platform metrics to distinguish lasting shifts from temporary reporting changes.
What to watch next
Future monitoring should focus on whether these higher rates persist as Generation Z ages, and on how disclosure patterns evolve as language and social norms continue to change. Better-quality data—larger samples, clearer categories and longitudinal tracking—will be crucial for teasing apart enduring identity change from short-term fluctuations in self-description.
Behind the numbers are people and communities whose identities are reshaping how institutions provide services and how society counts itself. The recent Gallup data add detail to a broader picture: the rise in bisexual identification, a pronounced generational divide, and mounting implications for policy, health care and the marketplace.